Jamie Otis Decides to Rehome Dog to Protect Daughter: 'This Is the Hardest Thing'

Kelli Bender

Married at First Sight‘s Jamie Otis has decided to rehome her dog Foxy to another owner.

“This was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in a long time,” Otis, 33, wrote about the choice on Instagram.

According to her post about the difficult decision, Otis first fostered and then adopted Foxy three year ago, after convincing her husband, Doug Hehner, to keep the pet. From there, Foxy helped Otis through some of her saddest struggles, including losing her baby boy Johnathan four months into her pregnancy in October 2016.

“When I lost my first born son, Johnathan, Foxy was there to constantly cuddle me and lick away the tears,” Otis wrote. “She has been the sweetest, most loving pup. She loves to play and snuggle …unless there’s food around.”

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This was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in a long time...💔 • 3 years ago we began fostering our pup, Foxy. She was found by a dumpster in LA scrapping for food. She was hobbling around on a broken leg.😰 She was going to be euthanized bc the cost to fix her leg and then feed her/vaccinate/etc just was too much I guess.🤷🏻‍♀️ • Thankfully the rescue company I adopted our first dog, Lady, from asked us if we’d be willing to foster Foxy until they found her a home. ...Let’s just say, we went to pick her up and it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.😍 {Unlike with my hubby.🤣 lol.} I BEGGED @doughehner to keep her.🙏🏻 • She has been with me through some of the hardest times in life. When I lost my first born son, Johnathan, Foxy was there to constantly cuddle me and lick away the tears.🙏🏻 She has been the sweetest, most loving pup. She loves to play & snuggle ...unless there’s food around.😬 • When there’s human food around she kinda stares you down like she’s about to put her fighting gloves on & go to war to get that food at whatever cost. Her whole disposition changes.😐 • I thought it was trainable (and maybe it could be if I had more time or worked harder at it). I thought we could just separate Foxy from @henelygracehehner when food was out (which we were able to do for the longest time). But now Gracie is big enough to get into cupboards and grab snacks, she can get down from the table with her chicken nuggets in hand to go play. • My biggest fear as Gracie gets older is that one day I’ll turn my back while Gracie has food in her hand and Foxy goes to get the food and bites her...she has bit Doug in the past and she growls and snarls at me occasionally.😰 I would never forgive myself if an accident were to happen with Gracie and Foxy. And it’d be 100% my fault bc I’ve known Foxy has had this issue. • I have held off as long as I could bc I *adore* this pup, but it’d be irresponsible of me to naively hope for the best when I know Foxy has food aggression and Henley is at an age now where she walks around with food. • Continue reading in the comments below💗

A post shared by J a m i e O t i s ✨ (@jamienotis) on Aug 4, 2019 at 11:42am PDT

Unfortunately, Foxy’s “whole disposition changes” when there’s human food around, according to Otis’ post, and she will “go to war to get that food at whatever cost.” After Otis gave birth to her daughter Henley Grace in August 2017, she kept the dog separated from “Gracie” whenever she was feeding her daughter, which worked “for the longest time.”

“But now Gracie is big enough to get into cupboards and grab snacks,” Otis wrote in her post about the situation.

She added, “My biggest fear as Gracie gets older is that one day I’ll turn my back while Gracie has food in her hand and Foxy goes to get the food and bites her.”

According to the post, Foxy has bit Hehner and has snarled at Otis before.

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“I would never forgive myself if an accident were to happen with Gracie and Foxy. And it’d be 100% my fault bc [because]I’ve known Foxy has had this issue,” the mom of one wrote.

In her Instagram post, Otis says she thought she could train Foxy out of her food aggression, but was not able to. Since Henley is now at the age where she is starting to walk around with food in hand, Otis decided to find a new owner for the dog.

“Thankfully, I’ve found the PERFECT home for Foxy. Meet Lovely Betty,” Otis wrote in her Instagram post, which includes a photo of her, Betty and Foxy, who is shown sitting in Betty’s lap. “She just had a hip replacement and has been searching for a companion. She doesn’t have a lot of family nearby and she typically spends the day inside alone watching tv bc she has trouble walking. Betty fell in love with Foxy just as fast I did.”

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Otis added that Betty “has welcomed me and my fam to go over and see Foxy whenever we’d like” and that she feels “blessed” with how this tough situation has turned out “as best as it possibly could.”

“She’s in a safe home with a lovely lady who needed her company AND we still get to see her often since she’s only about 10 min away!” reads the conclusion of the post.

Otis’ followers on Instagram have been supportive of her decision to rehome Foxy, agreeing with Otis that she handled a difficult situation in a way that was the best for all the humans and animals involved.

“You are such a good mom to your human and fur babies. This was a really wonderful act of kindness and you did the right thing. Thanks for being a friend to animals and putting so much thought into finding her a new home,” commented one of Otis’ 387,000 followers.