People always ask, “How do you give them away?”

Simple answer?

You don’t.

You just do it anyway.

This little goofball heads to his forever home today, and that’s exactly how it’s supposed to end. That’s the whole point of fostering. You patch them up, spoil them rotten, teach them that people aren’t all terrible, and then hand them off to a family that’s been waiting for them.

It still sucks.

The house gets quieter. You catch yourself looking for a puppy that isn’t there. You step over the spot where they always slept because muscle memory is apparently stronger than common sense. Human brains are weird like that.

The good news is this little guy won the lottery. He isn’t leaving because nobody wanted him. He’s leaving because somebody loved him before they even got him home.

That’s a win.

So today I’ll load up the puppy, hand over the leash, probably pretend I don’t have something in my eye, and drive home with one less dog in the back seat.

Then, because rescue people are apparently incapable of learning from emotional damage, we’ll eventually do it all over again.

Goodbye, little buddy. Go wear out your new family, steal their couch, and live the life every dog deserves. You earned it.