Life With A Quirky Dog Named Chachi

Over the past 11 years, our lives have been blessed by the love of a wonderful dog. Chachi was a quirky Lhasa Apsa/Poodle mix, who loved to eat dirty tissues, dirty paper towels, and beg for any and all food. When he begged, he stood on his hind legs and pumped his front feet.  He would pump them twice (in unison) and then wait and then pump them twice again.  He had the longest tongue we'd ever seen, and he loved giving kisses. Chachi loved his long walks, he loved meeting new people and he loved other dogs - as long as they weren't too forward. Chachi went everywhere with us. He loved his car rides; in fact, he would come running when he heard the keys jingling. He could be anywhere in the house and he would come running right away at that sound. He loved chasing the red dot of a laser pointer and would come running when he heard that sound too. 

We got Chachi in 2001, when he was 3 years old. I wasn't really looking for another dog when I found his information on Petfinder. But something about Chachi grabbed at my heart. It was like we had a connection before I even met him. I called the rescue, filled out the paperwork, and made an appointment to meet him. 

When I got to the rescue, they told me that he had snapped at a boy in his foster home. I got to meet him, but only briefly, because he was going to a special foster home to be analyzed. They gave me the name of the foster and told me to contact her after a week or two. I contacted her and she told me she did not see any aggressive behavior. We made an appointment and met him on a Sunday afternoon with our other dog, Mocha. Mocha promptly put Chachi in his place and Chachi respected it. While Mocha didn't seem too keen on having a "brother", Marty and I thought it would be good for all of us. So, after visiting for a couple of hours and watching both dogs play, we knew it was a match. We adopted him and brought him home. 

Even though the name "Chachi" is unusual, we didn't change it. It suited him. We felt he was like Chachi on Happy Days - kind of annoying in a cute way, and always wanting to kiss you. Chachi gave lots of kisses from the moment we brought him home. He had a lot of fun running in the yard and playing with toys, which was something Mocha never did. He shredded stuffed toys and played with balls. He was a real character and always had a smile on his face. He loved my niece and when she would come visit, he would sleep with her. He had the cutest little nubbin' butt - no tail, just a nubbin' and it wiggled all the time.

We loved him. 

About 5 months after we got him, we had an open house (we were trying to sell our home). That morning, we got up, had breakfast and let "da boyz" - as we came to call Mocha and Chachi - clean off the plates. Both dogs had beards, so food particles were stuck in both dog's beards. Marty went to clean off Mocha's face with a wet wash rag. Mocha, as always, enjoyed the attention from Marty. However, when Marty went to clean off Chachi's face, Chachi let out a growl and snarled. Marty backed off. Marty decided to take the dogs outside to do their business and when they all came back in, Marty noticed a leaf on Chachi's fur. Marty tried to remove it, but Chachi was still upset over the wash rag in his face and again growled at Marty. Marty backed off. Then, Marty was making the bed. Both dogs jumped on the bed, and Marty did a little of his usual playful rough housing with Mocha. He went to do the same with Chachi, but Chachi hadn't had enough time to forget about the wash rag. It had only been about 5 minutes between these 3 occurrences, so this time Chachi didn't growl. He had already growled twice, so this time he bit. He got Marty's nose and we wound up going to the E.R. and Marty had 11 stitches in his nose. 

We called his previous foster for advice. We loved Chachi and didn't want to put him down because of this. We wanted to work with him and learn how to help him. We called a couple of trainers and found one who helped us. She taught us that we needed to read Chachi's signals, and we needed to try to understand what he was telling us. She explained to us that Chachi didn't get much socialization - we knew that his previous owners kept him in a crate almost all day. Because of this, he lacked confidence in many situations. She worked with us on building his confidence by teaching him tricks. She taught us how to get him to focus on us, by reinforcing him when he looked at us. She also taught my 12 year old niece to work with Chachi, which built confidence for both of them.   

Chachi was a fear biter. If he was afraid of something, he tried to communicate his fear through body language - what I refer to as "wonky eye" or "whale eye", or a freeze in his body stance, or a snarl, or growl. These warning signs came first, and if the object or person he was afraid of didn't back off, he would bite. The trainer helped us to think about it through Chachi's eyes: Chachi was all of 22 pounds and about 22 or 23 inches high at his head. Marty is 6' 5" tall and is built like a linebacker. That makes Marty about 10 times Chachi's size. Imagine if some creature about 10 times our size tried to shove a wet wash rag in our face? Well, I, for one, would growl, snarl and/or bite -- kick and scream too. Especially if I didn't understand what that creature was saying. Thinking about things from Chachi's point of view - and learning to read his signals - helped us to manage his behavior. We had a couple of close calls, but because we understood his signals and body language, we were able to back off in time, or get Chachi out of the situation. 

We had many, many happy days as a family with Mocha and Chachi. Toward the end of Mocha's life, Chachi took to mothering Mocha. Chachi would steer him around the house. If he saw Mocha walking toward a wall, he would get in between Mocha and the wall and help Mocha get around. We called him Chachimama. But Mocha passed on when he was 17 years old. He was our first pet together, so it was very hard on us to let him go. We were devastated, but Chachi was devastated too. He was no longer a happy dog. He was listless and didn't want to do much of anything. 

We talked to the shelter and to our trainer, and they both said he probably needed to have another dog. We didn't feel ready, but 2 weeks after Mocha passed, we went to meet Boe, a 4 year old Lhasa Apsa that was left behind by her owners. Chachi tried to play with her right away - she put him in his place and he respected her. A match made in heaven. 

We took Boe home. While the two haven't been best friends, Chachi's mood picked up. He was back to that happy-go-lucky little dog we had before Mocha died. He was playing with his toys again. He was asking to go for car rides and long walks. Most of all, he was listening to Boe. But the name "Boe" didn't fit her, so we asked our friends to help rename her. One of our friends said, "She looks like she's a security guard with a little attitude, like Security Chief Tasha Yar on Star Trek the Next Generation." So, Tascha got her name. Since Mocha and Chachi both had the "cha" in their name, we added a "C" in her name as tribute to Mocha.

Over the years, another dog joined our family. We were looking for a dog to foster, and went back to the shelter to see if there might be a fit. Well, we met several dogs that day, but Louie the little Cairn Terrier mix, about 6 months old, stole our hearts. He was in need of socialization, and we knew we could help him with that. Chachi met Louie and actually played with him. It was quite fun to watch. We brought Louie home to foster him - at least, that was the plan. That first day when we got home, we took about a 3 hour nap. I woke up to find Louie in my arms, lying upside down like a baby. He turned to me and gave me a little kiss on the nose. I looked around, and I saw Tascha at the end of the bed, and Chachi on the other side of the bed, and I knew we were a family. Louie was meant to be a part of us. So I told Chachi and Tascha to get used to him, because he was staying. That's how we got our third dog. Of course, since we have the "cha" in all 3 previous dogs' names, we had to find something with a "cha" in it. In doing some research, I found a Polish word kochany (pronounced ko-ha-na with emphasis on the ha) and it means "my dearest" or "loveable". Marty is Polish, so it fit! Our new dog was renamed Kochany and we call him Kochi (coachee) for short. 

Chachi participated in day care on our little dog days. He liked other small dogs, and especially liked a little Cavalier named Zoey. The first day he met her, he begged to play with her (see far left picture above). She was up in one of the small Little Tikes towers and he sat at the bottom of the steps on his hind legs just begging for her to come down. He just loved his day care friends like Zoey, and Bonnie Blue - and he just loved being in that group. 

As time went on, however, he was getting a little temperamental in the group and snarling at the other dogs if they bumped him. His back legs were hurting. You see, when Chachi was about 5 years old, he was diagnosed with luxating patella in both knees (back leg joints). Both legs required surgery. He healed nicely from his surgery, but the vet had warned us about arthritis - and sure enough, arthritis was setting into his back legs and he was in pain. We put him on a good glucosamine/chondroitin supplement with salmon oil and it helped. However, he couldn't jump onto the ottoman any longer and he would snarl if you didn't pick him up just right. We did some research and enrolled him in swimming at See Spot Swim. Julie, his "coach", was great with him. After time, we felt so comfortable in his swimming ability, that he was able to swim "naked". He truly enjoyed swimming. It was the one place he could really move without hurting. Swimming strengthened his back legs too. It was wonderful for him. 

He was 14 years old. Everyone told us he looked great for a 14 year old dog - and he did! But, age was taking a toll and he wasn't comfortable any longer and he was growling more and more. He started having problems seeing. He started peeing a lot - he would just stop and pee inside. And he and Tascha got into a few scuffles. Chachi was definitely no longer comfortable.

We came home from swimming one Friday night. Chachi got into bed with Marty, as usual, and proceeded to curl up in the pillows. Marty saw him shivering and pulled up the blankets and patted them to have Chachi go under the covers. Chachi didn't move, so Marty attempted to pick Chachi up and move him. We also think in retrospect that Marty may have touched his back legs where they really hurt. Chachi went berserk and bit Marty again. We went to E.R. and Marty had 4 stitches above the eye, 3 on one side of the nose and 2 on the other. The hospital filed a report with Kendall County Animal Control.

We decided that Chachi was in pain and lashing out. He would have to be put down. 

I am sharing the following details because I want to help change some of the rabies related laws for dogs (please watch for a petition at the store soon!). The vet told us that if we put him down right away, we couldn't take his body to be cremated. They would have to send a sample off for rabies testing - and the only way to do that was to sever his head and send it off. There was no way I was going to let that happen! Our other option was to confine him for 10 days and have a rabies exam at the end of the 10 days. I was devastated by this situation - waiting for 10 days to send my beloved boy over to Rainbow Bridge. Marty and I discussed it and set up the rabies exam and euthanasia for the same day. In the meantime, Kendall County Animal Control called (5 days after the bite) and told us that Chachi needed an exam immediately following the bite. I argued that he has been vaccinated and up to date and has been since he was 4 months old. However, they said it's a state law and it has to be that way. So, even though we had to confine him for 10 days so he wouldn't bite, we had to take him to a busy vet clinic immediately for a rabies check. This made no sense to us. We took him to the clinic and he showed no signs of rabies. 

As more time passed, Marty was starting to feel that it wasn't Chachi's time to go. We contacted Fran with Wolfmama Animal Services to come over and help us find out what was going on. Fran said he was definitely in pain in his legs and that something felt funny in his abdomen, but she couldn't pinpoint what. Marty and I discussed it and we both had doubts about if it truly was his time. We decided it wasn't and kept the rabies check, but canceled the euthanasia.  We thought if we could do some minor tests (urinalysis) and get him back to feeling better, he would be OK. On Tuesday, it took forever to get to the vet (during the one major snowstorm of the season) and when we got out of the car, Chachi was not happy. We went in and waited. The vet came in and began to examine Chachi, but Chachi snarled and growled at the vet. The vet tech (Julie - also his swimming coach) came in and he snarled and growled at her too. He loved Julie and loved to work with her when they were swimming, but something was different here. I attempted to hold him and he growled and snarled at me too. We were starting to see clearly how much pain he was in. He wanted nothing to do with an exam. After several attempts to muzzle him to complete the exam, he was going berserk, drooling, and spitting with anxiety, fear, and pain, and I could see clearly that it was time. I called Marty and a friend, Katherine, from Go Dog Go & See Spot Swim, and they both came over. It took us about 15 minutes just to give Chachi a shot to calm him down. I finally had to put him in a headlock so the vet could give him a shot in his butt. We got it done even though Chachi was fighting the whole time. He finally sat down near me and then laid down as the sedative took effect. About 10 minutes later, he was not feeling any pain. The vet came and got him and put in a catheter for the final step to let him go.

We were moved to a bigger room and Julie had laid out a pillow and blanket for Chachi to lay on. We all said our goodbyes and then the vet administered the final shot. It didn't take long. It was very difficult to watch, but there was no way I was letting him leave this world alone. That was it, his life was over. We had to come back to work and close the store and act all happy. It hasn't been easy to act happy when we are feeling sad, but we're coping.

Wednesday, I took Chachi over to Metro Animal Services where they cremated him. I had heard horror stories of mass cremations so I was very concerned. I knew of Metro from a previous employee and contacted them. They said I could have a private cremation where I could observe them putting him into the crematory, so that I could know that I was getting his and only his ashes back. Glen and Lisa, the owners, were very compassionate. They allowed me to say goodbye and even allowed me one last little thing - to put a dirty tissue in with him because he always begged for them.

I have a huge hole in my heart. This was the most difficult decision I've made in my entire life. There was no way I could let him go on hurting as he was. But letting him cross the Rainbow Bridge - I wasn't ready for that, and neither was Marty.

I'm going to miss you Little Nubbin' Butt. You are in our hearts, always. Thank you for helping us to learn so much about dog behavior, and changing our lives. I hope that you are pain free, playing with some friends, and swimming - without a life preserver - at the Rainbow Bridge.


**Thank you to everyone that has helped us through this situation and to Molly for helping edit his story.  I don't know if I could have made it without you all - Julie, Katherine, Marty, Fran, Dr. Lombaida, our fabulous staff - Brittany, Danny, Denise, Donna, Jessie, Marcy, Samy & Shane,  and Metro Animal Services**