Today we say goodbye to two very special guests, Ina and Tola.
Their parents are moving out of state and today is their last day with us!
These girls are very near and dear to our hearts. First of all, they’ve been with us nearly every weekday for SIX YEARS.
WOOF MATH MOMENT: If there are about 52 weeks in a year, that’s 312 weeks. If there’s 5 weekdays in a week, that means Ina and Tola have been in daycare for 1560 days.
I’m not sure I did that right, but let’s just say we’ve known Ina and Tola – and their wonderful parents David and Christopher – for a really, really long time!
Second, these are the first WOOF dogs from POLAND – a breed called Polish Lowland Sheepdogs. Or, even more exotic, their native breed name is:
Polski Owczawrek Nizziny. (PONs for short).
(Say THAT fast three times.)
Here’s Ina when we first met her:
(A cool little fact about these PONs is that their hair gets lighter as they get older.)
And her big sister, Tola:
So today, we thought of all the things we could do to give these ladies a proper send-off. Of course, since the family is moving to Oklahoma, we somehow associated that with cowboys. Or, in Ina and Tola’s case, cowgirls.
A quick trip to the local San Ramon CVS pharmacy yielded the perfect hats.
That’s Tola on the left in a tiger stripe cowboy hat. And Ina on the right in a pink leopard print number. (Also Erica, Elisa and Nicole!)
Even though we think the girls were a little bit of RELUCTANT COWGIRLS, we think we got our point across.
Watch out, Oklahoma – some California girls are coming your way and they are FABULOUS.
We also thought we’d share a few Ina and Tola memories:
Elisa: “I remember Tola in group. She had one ball in her mouth and kept trying to put more in there. I call them the POLISH TORNADOES.”
Nicole: “They argue like real sisters in the morning.”
Jenna: “(David and Chris) were so cute when I picked Ina and Tola as the Dogs of the Week. Chris said, ‘I never thought my girls would make it – they’ve been here 5 years!'”
All the staff recalled how Ina’s parents would drive up with them in the car in the morning. They used special tubes with zippers to keep the girls separated on the car ride for safety. Everyone joked that they should just roll them on in here!
As I type this, Ina and Tola are spending their last couple hours in WOOF’s daycare. I can see them sleeping on their Karunda beds through the window. Soon, a car will drive up and take them to a new life.
An hour ago, we got a delivery of flowers. Of course, we knew immediately who they were from.
Thanks so much, Christopher and David. We wish you well in your new life – and just like the sign says above, we know you’ll feel right at home with Ina and Tola by your sides.
But know we’re going to miss them – and you – terribly.
This place just won’t be the same.
xoxoxo,
Your friends at WOOF