When emotion enters the door, good sense often flies out the window

We had gotten Joey from a lady - let's call her Karen -off of craigslist in March. When she was dropping him off, I got a little nervous because she was so anxious to get rid of him...made me think that I may have gotten a rotten apple. Well, he turned out to fit in our home almost perfectly - he's great with the boys and very obedient. When we had gotten him, we were going out of town the next weekend, so while viewing him, I asked Karen if I could have him stay with her for that weekend. She was happy to do it. When we picked him up, she showed us all of her other dogs (Joey's parents and siblings) and told us that if we ever went out of town again, to call her - she would love to watch him.
Fast forward to the beginning of August. We were going to California to be with my parents. Karen calls me a couple of days beforehand, asking how Joey was doing. After talking to her for a bit, I ask her if she wouldn't mind watching him while we were in California. She was thrilled to do it. So, the day before we left, Liz drove Joey down to Karen's house (which is an hour away). I had told Karen that we would be getting back really late the following Saturday night, so I would be coming by Sunday after church to pick him up. She was excited about that because she had moved since we had seen her last and she wanted us to see what a great situation her dogs were in now.
Sunday Todd and I were going to go pick up Joey while the boys took their naps. Before we left I called Karen to let her know that we were coming. I only got voicemail, so I left a message. After driving 10 minutes, Karen called back. They were in Sandusky for the day, and wouldn't be back until really late. I told her that was okay, then asked what time on Monday could I pick him up. She didn't know. She had no clue how long she would be working, nor when her sister who lives with her would get off work. I asked her to call me when she had a better idea. I then asked how Joey was doing. She tells me that he's having a great time. He's loving being with Pebbles (his "twin"), he loves the new yard and house, this is really going to be difficult to have him go. After our conversation, I turned to Todd and said, "I think she wants to keep Joey."
The next morning I received an email from Karen. In it she said that when she gave up Joey, they were having issues with him, and was happy that he went to a loving home. But now, he has blossomed. He loves Pebbles and should be with her. She has been so sad that she ever gave Joey away, because he is one of her own children. Joey and Pebbles and all the other dogs were meant to be together. It would be like separating my boys, and giving one of them another home. She asked me to find it in my heart to let Joey be happy.
Because of my conversation the night before, I wasn't surprised. I did understand that Karen loves Joey, but so do my kids and I. I wasn't going to let her keep him, so I called her up. I was as sympathetic as I could be, but I also let her know that we wanted him back. I kept asking her when a good time was for us to come pick him up that evening. She avoided those questions and kept on asking me questions about how we treat Joey and what we do for Joey as if to determine if we are worthy to have him back or if there were any reason that she could keep him. She asked if I had taken Joey to the vet. I am an honest person, cannot lie, so I replied that I hadn't. She thought that was terrible - but what she doesn't realize is that my 2 month old baby hasn't been to the doctor - I just do not do well baby ...or dog check ups. At one point she said, "Well, I don't know what my rights are". I tried to explain to her that when she sold Joey to us, she lost her rights to him. After trying to convince her that Joey was taken care of in our home, and trying to let her know that I knew it was difficult for her, I finally just told her that Todd and I would be coming after he got off work, to which she hung up.
Monday evening Todd and I are driving to her place. Halfway there I look at my phone and realize that I missed a call, it was Karen and she left a voicemail. In the voicemail she informed she just can't let go of Joey because her heart wouldn't let her do it. She said that if we came down it would just be a waste of time because we would not get Joey. "So, get your lawyer or whatever 'cause you are not getting him!"
I wasn't totally shocked by this. I knew that it was going to be difficult to get her to return our dog, but we were still going to be friendly and sympathetic. But she just drew the line in the sand. We called the police department in her area (they were excellent by the way) and Todd told the officer about our situation. The officer laughed many times in disbelief that someone was acting this crazy. He then told us to stop by the station and they would have an officer go to her house with us.
We sat in our car while the officer went to the door. He was in there for a while. So we just sat there hearing a lot of dogs barking, and a woman (Karen) yelling. He came out once to tell us that Karen offered to buy the dog back to which we refused. Try telling my boys that we sold our dog back to a woman that had six other dogs in her home. The officer tried to reason with Karen, telling her that even though he couldn't force her to give up Joey, we would file a theft report so he would just have to come back later and arrest her... and we would still get the dog. She wouldn't give him up, now the reason was because we abused him (not that her heart won't let her). The officer gave us a card letting us know that a detective would be getting a hold of us in a couple of days and we went home empty handed.
Sure enough, Wednesday morning I got a call from the detective. He had me tell my story. He then said,"I know you love your dog and everything, but the law sees him as a property" - thank you. Afterwards he asked me if I would still want to press charges if she returned the dog within a certain time. I told him that I had no desire for her to be arrested, and would prefer that she wouldn't so I would totally be up for that. He said he would be calling me back in 10-15 minutes.
45 minutes later he called and said, "I just got off the phone with Karen and her sister...um.. very interesting people." He then informed me that they were claiming that I couldn't handle Joey anymore, so I had returned Joey but now wanted him back -- what happened with the abuse story? I told him that Karen was just very emotional, to which he said was a very good way of explaining her, and that she was just trying to get anything she could. Karen had asked why they couldn't just keep him and have a civil trial for him. He told her that it was because they were breaking the law. After awhile (bless the detective's heart) she finally agreed to drop off Joey at the police department at 3 PM. The detective then recommended that I do not have any more contact with Karen, which I didn't need to be told that.
Up until that time, Karen tried to call me several times. I had nothing to gain by talking to her, so I let it go to voicemail. Now, if you ever want to have a good laugh you will want to listen to these voicemails. In one she goes on for a minute and a half crying, asking us to love Joey and take good care of him. She will be praying for us every day and please pray for her everyday because this is really hard on her. Then the next one, which is just minutes later - no joke -she goes on for two minutes in an anger rage. She tells me that she was planning on returning the dog, but she just wanted to see my kids with him (no way, not now) but we were the ones who had to be nasty and get the cops involved, but now she knows what kind of people we truly are (did she forget all about the lawyer comment). She knows that Joey isn't going to be happy without Pebbles. "Pebbles... she'll be okay...but Joey..he won't be okay without Pebbles....Joey's the real loser in this deal...the only reason you want Joey back is because you're greedy" [who has the six dogs?] Then, minutes later I got the next message. "Ummm, Loni, ....since you viewed me as a kennel...umm...I need compensation....because kennels are expensive....and especially after what you put me through" - now, had we picked him up on Sunday and she expressed a desire to be compensated, we would have agreed, but after having to travel an hour away -twice - and with the gas prices, and having to go through all of this there was no way - besides, we're "greedy people".
Because I had plans to take the kids swimming with my friend, I had Liz go pick up Joey. She was 45 minutes late because she got lost. She was only a mile away, but she kept on driving the same couple of blocks over and over - she use to be quite bright. After she got Joey she called me. "I've got him...I think"
"What do you mean you think"
"Well, he looks bigger....'Joey'.....he responds to his name .....no... I'm pretty sure it's him" It was him. Liz really use to be smart, I think being around my kids has made her ditzy. Hope she gets better before she starts school next month.
We were all happy to see Joey, and he was thrilled to see us. We really do love him, and I really do feel badly for Karen. I know she has some screws loose, but I still hate to think that she's so terribly unhappy. I hope that she can deal with this. Now, the only problem is that Joey smells better than I have ever smelled him but I can't call Karen and ask her what shampoo she uses.