It has taken a long time for Pup pup's (AKA Kuma) owners to get me pictures, I had to finally start begging. Since I'm a pictureaholic when it comes to my pets it's hard for me to realize that others aren't. But now that I have finally pictures of Pup I'll post the story of how I got him to D.C.
I told Pup's new owners that I wouldn't book a flight for him until I had their check and it was cashed, so they sent the check and I got it the night before they wanted him shipped. When John went to deposit it he got funny looks from the teller and she left to the backroom not saying a word to him.
She brought out her manager with him and they told John that the bank the cashier's check was from no longer existed and thought John was trying to pull a fast one on them. After explaining the situation to them they realized that John wasn't trying to screw them, but then worried that we might get screwed over. They tried to call the bank that bought out the no longer existing bank, but weren't having much luck since it was Thursday night and everyone on the east coast had gone home for the day. It was really crappy calling Anita, Pup's owner, to tell her that I couldn't put Pup on the plane without the check going through. She understood, but was kind of upset. I would have been too.
Friday the bank called and said that the check was okay to cash and everything was in the clear, so I started trying to book Pup's flight. With dogs being shipped you have to call the cargo department of the airline to book. You have to have the address, phone number and name of the person picking up the dog, the weight of the dog in the carrier, the flight number you want and know the airport code for the destination. You also have to have a flight health exam done by the vet and bring the papers with you when checking the dog.
Luckily I knew all this from shipping Garner and Enna to Texas, but finding an airline that did a non-stop flight that could be booked only hours before the flight was the hard part. After calling multiple airlines and being put on hold numerous times I got the flight booked and was ready to roll.
John was going hiking up the Aspen Grove Trail in Provo/Orem and to do so meant that he needed to leave the night before Pup's flight and stay the night at his grandparents. I was not happy about spending the evening alone with 4 dogs since Pup would go into a barking frenzy at Winston who would then try to play and then Makoa had to police the playing and would get into a scuffle with Winston. It was a nightmare trying to keep everyone apart, but somehow I managed. I probably lucked out and everyone just slept, but it's been so long that I don't remember since I sent him to DC September 3rd.
Saturday morning came and I had to be at the airport at 6AM so pup could get to his flight on time. I wasn't too worried since I knew how to actually get to the building and when sending Enna it only took a matter of minutes so I could back into bed in no time.
When I get there the guy behind the counter was new and the billing machine was printing in Chinese. Nice. At one point the poor boy was on 3 phones at once trying to get it to work. It was getting really hard to say goodbye to Pup Pup the longer I stood there and heard him crying in his crate. 45 minutes later he charged my card the old fashion way by running it under one of those sliding boards, I didn't know they still had those, and I was finally on my way home.
I then waited very nervously for the phone call from his new owners to say he arrived safely. He was suppose to be there at noon our time, that time came and went and I thought maybe they were driving home, then they'd call. When 2:00 rolled around I was getting nervous and tried to call all the numbers I was given to get a hold of someone to tell me this puppy was safe and no one was answering. I then started calling the airlines, but they were no help. I was in a complete tizzy by 3:30 when Anita finally called me to tell me that they had Pup pup, she said that she emailed me right after, but it went to my work email. I was just so relieved.
So I finally thought everything was hunky dorry, but then after a couple days I checked my banking account and the airlines charged me twice. Calling someone to deal with this is the most rediculous thing I have ever had to deal with and was transfered at least 8 times where I had to leave a voicemail. I still didn't get a call back the next day so I called the final number I was given where I was rudely helped by Ms. Grumpy Butt. She told me that there was nothing they could do until the billing showed up in their system which would be at least a month, I even offered to have my bank call then but that was a no go. I was furious and was going to have John call them the next day, but when he checked the banking account then we had NO charges for the airlines. I figured that I got free shipping since dealing with that airlines was such a pain and I wasn't going to call them to tell them their mistake. I did send a nasty email to the airlines complaining about the situation, but I have yet to hear back from them....
Anywho, here are pictures of Pup at 5 months old. He looks so much like his mama and I'm excited to see him grow! I'm told that I'll get more soon, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm not sure why everything Klee Kai related in my life has to be so difficult! Winston's breeder is a dream to work with, but of course I never have to contact her!
Here are pictures of John and Makoa on the hike they took that day. Makoa was so exhausted after the hike that he didn't move except from dog bed to dog bed for two days.
They were almost done with the hike in this last picture. John said that everytime they stopped to rest Makoa would lay down and then when they started walking again he'd have to call Makoa a couple times to get him to stand up and continue. What a little trooper. He was also so muddy that he wasn't really white anymore, but I felt so bad for him I didn't want to make him stand in the bathtub for a bath so I let him stay dirty.
