On July 22nd after this Instagram reel of mine and Atlas's reunion, surprisingly went semi viral; with over 8 million accounts reached, almost 625,000 interactions, and hundreds of messages, everyone wants to know more about how my Siberian Husky ended up in the arms of a stranger, for 18 months.
In 2020, after the ending of a 7 year, mentally and emotionally draining marriage, I met my southern gentleman. At the time, we were living in Alaska, (my family and I had moved there in December of 2018 for the ex's job), and we all wanted to leave. On top of that, my fiance, has 4 kiddos in Florida, and the Georgia bred man wasn't vibing with the dreary Alaska summer.
My kiddos and I were all eager to meet the new, soon to be, family members, so we made our plans to depart for the "sunshine state". We listed everything we owned for sale, in preparation for our big move. It didn't take long before nearly everything was sold, and it was time to purchase our tickets. After previously being told the airline would be able to accomodate Atlas's pet travel, we discovered there was a travel embargo, early due to COVID19, and my precious fur baby would not be able to travel with us. I enlisted the help of my ex-husband, who still resided in Alaska, and was a known family member to Atlas. As much as it killed me to temporary leave him with his former "dad", I knew he would be cared for in my absence. And so, we departed on August 2nd, 2020.
Warmth, and sandy beaches were a nice, inviting contrast to the 52 degrees we had left behind in Alaska. We fell in LOVE, but the home we had intended to move into, fell through. So we found a location to camp, while we looked for something else. The campground we found was perfect! Right at the beach, yet secluded enough to have critters visit us in the night. We ended up camping for almost 2.5 months, roughly 2 weeks prior the travel embargo ending. I was beyond excited to get moved in because, I knew, it meant I would soon be reunited with my fur baby!
Soon after moving in, I excitedly starting making plans to get Atlas sent out to me. However, my ex was reluctant to give me any information. On his end, I needed him to get Atlas into the vet for his travel certificate, and he came up with every excuse as to why he couldn't. After several days of no information, he finally confessed that he had enlisted the help of a woman he met (at the hospital was the story I got at the time, however that has evolved), to watch Atlas, due to his heavy workload as a respiratory therapist. My gut turned when he told me this information, and I demanded that I get, in writing, an acknowledgement from her stating she knew it was temporary.
She complied and sent a message to my ex, which he took a screenshot of, and sent to me a day or two later. In her message to my ex, she stated "I know you know this already, but we LOVE Atlas. I told the kids the other day that your ex might come and get him and they cried, begged to buy him and cuddled him all night long." She went on to say how he comforts her kids, and said "thank you for trusting us to take care of him." Her words of "might" and "could" put me in panic mode, as to why she even had "might" in her vocabulary regarding this. There was never a chance I would sell Atlas. He's my furry child! So I asked the ex to make it perfectly clear to her that the "might" and "could" were not good enough, and I needed a clear response. So she went on to say "I feel like she's like my friends ex....not going to be happy no matter what is said." She continued on with saying "So you know, we know we are watching Atlas for you and this arrangement wouldn't be permanent as your ex planned on picking him up." she also continued on to say "I would hope that she would be glad that we loved him like he's our own, But that's me."
I continued on trying to get things prepared to get Atlas out by calling the animal shipping department of the airlines, and getting quotes and other information. Just after I got off the phone with them, my late husband popped in with another needed message. "You better get back out to Alaska or you're going to lose your fluffy boy forever." Despite having those messages of acknowledgment of the temporary situation, I trusted my gut, and that message. So we worked on looking for a place yet again, in Alaska. Something temporary, like a month to month lease. I felt in my gut that it would be longer than I hoped to get him, but I didn't think it would be 18 months. I did still try to get the ex to send Atlas out to me, but there was always excuse after excuse.
Now we are in January, and we have finally found a place out there. Definitely not an ideal situation, but a place we could stay for a month or two.
We arrived on January 29th, 2021 at roughly 10 pm Alaska time. Shortly after I informed my ex of our arrival, and requested to get Atlas that night. He assured me prior to leaving Florida that he would ensure Atlas was at home with him, so we could easily get Atlas picked up and back into our arms. That isn't quite how things played out.
The next evening, Eric, two of my daughters, and I drove out to Wasilla to look at the home we were planning to move into. After not hearing from my ex, I messaged him asking if I could get Atlas since I knew he should be close to leaving work. He then informed me that he actually did not pick Atlas up yet, and that he could not get ahold of the "dog sitter" due to her blocking him on Facebook, and his phone. He gave me what info he could, so that I could attempt communication with her. I politely messaged her "Hi there, this is Aimee. Atlas's owner. I'm back in Alaska and was wondering if I can pick him up tonight?" That message did not go through. I started to panic. Not knowing if the undelivered message was due my phone signal, I then wrote on Eric's phone. "Hi this is Atlas's momma. Can I pick him up tonight? (Ex's name) gave me your number" That message was delivered. After getting no response, I wrote again. "my service is crazy. please reply if you got my message" That message did not deliver. I then asked by name if I had the right phone number. That also did not deliver.
Panic really settled in at this point, as I felt like my worst nightmare regarding this situation was coming to fruition.
After calling her number, and leaving a polite voicemail stating we would doing a police civil standby, and that we were on our way to her residence to retrieve Atlas, we called the police for further instructions. We were told to park a couple houses from hers, and to call them once we had arrived.
Not knowing her exact location, we slowly drove past her house, to get a better look, and to verify with the ex that we were at the right house.
Before we could even turn around, a large SUV peeled out of the driveway. We turned around quickly to attempt to follow to see if we could tell if it was her or not. The driver was going way too fast, and we never caught up. So we turned around, parked a couple houses down, and proceeded to call the police. As we waited, I texted my ex to update him and requested he meet us as well to set things straight.
The police arrived and knocked on the door as we waited in the car. Shortly after my ex arrived and was speaking with the police, so we made our way over to see why Atas wasn't out with them. I was then informed that she was claiming ownership. She claimed Atlas was given to her by my ex, that she could prove it, and that Atlas was already microchipped and registered in her name. I was in utter disbelief. It felt as if I were in a dark tunnel with no light at the end. I couldn't believe my worst nightmare WAS indeed coming true.
It was one of the worst nights of my life. Up there with the night I almost lost my infant daughter to bacterial meningitis, the day my late husband was diagnosed with brain cancer, and his passing of course, and this moment are part of my darkest times. I felt helpless. I didn't understand why I wouldn't be leaving with my boy. I had text message proof of her own words. Her own admission stating she knew it was temporary, when she offered no proof at that time. No microchip number. No text message stating he was given to her. Nothing.
The four of us left empty handed and heart broken.
I was able to secure a lawyer, just before getting moved into our temporary home. Just as we were getting settled in, we heard a knock at the door. It was a Wasilla police officer, serving me a court order, for alleged stalking. She actually attempted to get a restraining order against me, claiming I was harassing and stalking her and her children. That was denied as there were no grounds for a restraining order. Her attempt only slowed things down for me getting my claim in for Atlas, since my lawyer now had this to deal with. Her attorney and mine agreed on a no contact order, which was of course fine with me. I already attempted contact once, and was shown she clearly wasn't in any mind set for making things right.
I spent the next several weeks accumulating as much evidence as I could. Including messages she sent to my ex before I even knew someone else was watching him stating, "just tell her you don't have him anymore?" or "you don't owe her anything....block". This is just a portion of things I found out that made my jaw drop. I'm saving those details for my book, that will hopefully be complete by the end of this year.
The judge still has to rule on my request for financial compensation for what we went through, but I'm just happy to have my boy back. I will try to remember to update on what that ruling will be. Hopefully this won't take too long.
Here are a few pics of how Atlas has been reintegrating with our family. He seems to be settling back in just fine. ♥️
Thank you for your love and support
Have a blessed day!
XOXO {Aimee} 😘
