We "adopted" Chachi from some con woman 7 years ago. When we got him he was about 3 years old or so at least that is what the vet told us. I saw his picture on petfinder.com. He was so ugly he was cute. I had to have him. The woman that was "fostering" him was close by. I took Aidan who was a baby at the time with me to meet him. I knew right away he was ours. He came right over to me and crawled on my lap and just sat there like he already knew he found his forever home. Or so I thought. Turns out he just knew the drill by now. I would soon come to find out he had already found quite a few forever homes.
The woman that had him said we could take him that day. The adoption fee was $350. She told me she could only accept cash because so many people had screwed her with bouncing checks and no credit cards cause she didn't have a machine to process them. Okay. Cash it is. I handed over the money and she gave us the dog. I just finished strapping Aidan in the car seat when she came running out and said "Oh so glad your still here I almost forgot he has an appointment to be neutered on Friday. That was part of the adoption fee. So just bring him back here. I will take him to get it done and call you when you can pick him back up."
We had him home for three days before we had to bring him back to be fixed. He was the sweetest little thing. Happy. Playful. Affectionate. I didn't even want to hand him over for a day, but knew he had to have the procedure. I dropped him off in the morning and she told me she would call me when he was ready to come home sometime that afternoon. I checked my cell phone it felt like every 10 minutes all day anxiously waiting for our pup to come home. By evening when I hadn't heard anything I called her. No answer. Hmmmm. I waited awhile and called back. No answer. I called again and again leaving message after message. No answer. Oh my god what if the dog died during the procedure and she didn't want to tell me? What if something went wrong? Why wasn't she answering the phone?!
The next day I called her like you would when you are calling a radio station trying to when tickets by being the hundredth caller. To no avail. No answer. What he hell?! I texted. Called.Called and texted again. Nothing. I went where I dropped Chachi off with her which also happened to be her dog grooming shop. She wasn't there and neither was the dog.
I started to get the feeling that something wasn't right. I went to the local police station to see if they could help. Help how? I didn't know her full name. I gave her cash and had no receipt. She was gone and so was the dog. As I started to give the officer the description of the dog he stopped writing and said "oh that dog." Turns out I wasn't the only looking for "that dog". The scam was she would adopt the dog out. Give you the story about the neutering. Have you bring the dog back and then never return him. Oh she was good. The whole I don't take checks cause people have screwed me. I took the dog that day so I didn't think to ask for a receipt. The officer explained that since it was under $500 I would have to take her to small claims court myself. With no proof of any exchange of money it would be hard to prove that I actually gave her anything. Oh she was really good. But I was better. I went back to her shop and waited for her. When she finally showed up I snapped her picture with my phone. Told her I knew all about her and if I didn't get that dog or my money before I left I was making flyers and hanging them all over town with her picture on it. Suddenly like pulling a rabbit out of hat she produced the dog.
And that doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of this post but you have already read it so now ya know the background on how Chachi came to be ours whether you wanted to or not.
For the next 7 years Chachi would be our only fur baby. Until this past weekend when we adopted Nacho Rocky. (Rocky's adoption was totally legit) Chachi and Rocky had a meet and greet at PetSmart to make sure they were compatible before we brought the puppy home. Chachi appeared to be cool with it when we were on neutral ground. Just like Aidan with Seark when we were in the hospital. Right after I gave birth to Seark I couldn't wait for Aidan to meet his little brother. Everyday Aidan would come to the hospital with his dad to see the baby. He would hold him. Hug him. Kiss him. Tell me and the baby how much he loved him. The tide turned when we got home as it would Chachi and Rocky.
I couldn't wait to get home to Aidan with his little brother in tow and settle into what ever our new normal was going to be. I so clearly remember walking through the door with Seark and Aidan just blankly staring at me. I sat down on the couch with the baby and Aidan just turned and walked away. He went in his toy room and started playing alone. What was that about? I hadn't been home in four days that was the longest Aidan has ever been away from me EVER. He wasn't even excited to have me back to say the least. About 30 minutes passed and Aidan came back into the living room and said to me "Can you put that down and play with me?" Ummmm "that" being his little brother. That? Really? What happened to my little sweet heart that would patiently wait to feel his baby brudda kick. My bestest friend for the last five years that talked about nothing for the last month other than what a big helper he was going to be and how much he couldn't wait to have "his baby" here.
I will tell you happened. A side of Aidan I never knew existed surfaced. My little love bug told me daily how much he hated me. HATED ME?! WHAT?! he never even used that word before. I mean there was this one time when we were at the movies that he called me an asshole but he didn't even know what that word meant and it was during a tantrum. Totally different. "I hate you" he said with conviction I didn't know a boy his age could possess. "I hate you" those 3 little words tore me up inside. He would say "why don't you just take YOUR baby and leave?". As for Seark he pretty much pretended that he didn't exist for a good month or so. If Seark cried Aidan would go in another room. If he was watching something on TV he would just turn the volume up.
Chachi is going through the same thing right about now. He isn't fresh with the puppy and thank the Lord he cannot talk cause I couldn't take verbal abuse again. At the moment Chachi is just trying to pretend this little pup didn't come with us. He avoids him at all costs. Even if it means passing up a cookie. Chachi pass up a cookie?! Unheard of. He is an obese senior dog there is nothing that could make him pass up food. Nothing except for a puppy who is not as cute or amusing as he was the day they met at PetSmart.
Eventually Aidan came around. He stopped putting Seark's car seat by the door and asking when I was going to bring him back. Most days he doesn't hate me anymore. He has accepted that Seark is a part of OUR family and not just MY baby. I'm hoping Chachi comes around too, I am sure he will.
