Well keep in mind that Lila was kinda pressuring Snoopy to be her dog again. He tried telling her that could not happen, he had a new owner and while he cherished the time they'd had together enough to come to her side when she was sick, he couldn't leave his new owner either. Lila was being a little selfish in insisting Snoopy leave his new owner so they could be together again, even though she said it was his choice and she was willing to stand by that choice. It was seeing her tears as she watched him leaving from the window in her room that caused him to give in to her, whether he wanted to or not.
But at the same time you kinda have to see things from her perspective to understand why she's being so selfish. In the comics it was revealed that the reason her family had to return Snoopy was because they'd moved into an apartment building that didn't allow dogs. Now in the movie it looks like she doesn't know this to be the case until Snoopy arrives at the apartment building. So for years she's never understood why she had to give up the dog she loved so much and thinks her mom is being somewhat mean. All she's hearing is that she's not allowed to keep Snoopy, whether she's told why or not she may not hear because she may not want to hear it. Little kids may not always understand why things have to be the way they are and may only hear the way they want to. So Lila may have been told "We can't keep Snoopy because our new home doesn't allow dogs" butr she only heard the first four words. And judging from what Charlie Brown said about when he got Snoopy, you have to figure both he and Lila were real young when Snoopy came into both their lives as they seem roughly the same age. So it's gonna be even harder for a kid who was probably around four or five to be told you can have a dog and then told you can't keep it.
Of course what's equally telling is Snoopy's reaction at the going away party. He cries for everyone of the gang, but only one does he show more emotion towards missing them. When Charlie Brown gets up to attempt to say his goodbye, which he's much to sad to do, Snoopy let's out a sorrowful howl. This is the same kid he's earlier told "Fine, if you don't want me here's my collor" to make him feel bad. And just before the going away party occurs he hands him the paper that basically says "Dear former owner, good luck with your future." At the hospital he suggested he's faithful to Charlie Brown because he's his current owner, but at the party his howl says that despite how he may treat him he truly does care for him and will miss him. He's really only leaving because he feels obligated to Lila, feels that if he does not become her dog once again she'll end up back in the hospital again.
The sign at her aparement building, however, frees him of that obligation. It's almost as if a person were to sign a contract saying they had to do certain work for someone else on a given day and that day only in exchange for payment immediately after the job is done unless the second party can not pay them at the end of the job. If the second party can not live up to their end of the contract, the first party doesn't have to live up to their end. In this case Lila want's Snoopy to live with her, but because of the buildings rule of no dogs allowed she can't give him a home.
Snoopy had made the hard choice, he'd choosen to leave Charlie Brown and return to someone he'd only known and loved for a few weeks. He didn't want to do it but he'd done it anyway. Now he's excited because he can return to the home he knows and loves and an owner he cares for, in his own way.
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