Cherylin Haus is living every dog owner's worst nightmare.
Upon her return from a recent vacation, the Barrie woman encountered an unexpected and disturbing situation when she learned her beloved dog Cola had been rehomed without her permission or even knowledge.
The Barrie woman says she thought she was leaving Cola in a safe place when she left for Cuba late on the evening of December 25, returning a week later.
According to Haus, she dropped Cola off with a relative in Orillia on the 22nd with an arrangement to pick up the Lab/Boxer cross on January 4. But when she called to pick up Cola, she says she was told the pup had been rehomed with a family of four who have a hobby farm in Vasey, a hamlet in Simcoe County, in the southern Georgian Bay region.
“He’s claiming that I had no intention of picking up my dog,” says Haus, adding her two children, who didn’t go on the trip, are very upset that their best friend is no longer there.
“He took it upon himself to completely rehome Cola. He told me an apartment is no place for a dog. Everybody (on social media) has been making it a big thing about keeping a dog in an apartment. But he gets lots of exercise.”
According to Haus, Cola gets lots of love and walks and regularly gets to spend time running free when she visits her sister in Moonstone as well at a friends’ farm where she had been considering temporarily leaving Cola on the farm until she found something bigger.
“But I never wanted to get rid of him,” Haus says, adding that if that had occurred she and the kids would have been able to visit him whenever they wanted. “It was just a temporary option.”
He took it upon himself to completely rehome Cola. He told me an apartment is no place for a dog
She says that while three-year-old Xziryn is a bit young to fully understand the situation, her other son, 11-year-old Hudson, is devastated since "it's his dog, I got the dog for him."
Things seemed to begin to sour slightly on the morning of the 23rd when the relative called Haus to say Cola was “pooping in his crate.”
Haus says she told him that that Cola was likely just nervous in a new territory since he had never been in the man’s home before.
She says she followed up later that evening and was told everything was okay.
“I told him to please call me if there are any concerns,” Haus says, noting she didn’t receive any messages on Christmas Eve or Day so figured everything was fine as her family celebrated Christmas before her flight south.
Haus, who points out she’s a single mother and full-time student, says she’s had Cola since he was a puppy and had him neutered just three weeks ago.
"He still has a fresh scar," she says, noting that during her trip she was very anxious about not just how her kids were doing, but that Cola was okay.
She has had a number of reports of Cola sightings, but still hasn't found anything concrete.
Although one sighting from someone who had seen a dog matching Cola's description at North Simcoe Veterinary Services, which is located not far from Vasey, gave her hope. She called and was told they couldn't divulge patient information.
Haus says she also feels let down since she had helped the relative in October when he acquired flesh-eating disease and “his family wanted to put his dog down.”
She says she advocated on the dog’s behalf and helped the man out.
“He’s recovered,” Haus says, adding she is going to the police to lodge a complaint, but can’t afford any sort of lengthy court battle.
"I’m managing somehow,” she says. “I just want my dog back.”
