My host family’s dog, Senqui, is now the father of six puppies. The mom is the dog who lives with the family on the fourth floor of our apartment building. I actually haven’t met the puppies yet, but the thin walls and open air architecture of the building have allowed me to hear them quite a bit. I look forward to meeting them soon.
On the way to Chinatown to go grocery shopping with Mariela and Wendy last weekend, we were talking about the adoption plan for the puppies. Many of the puppies already have an excited family waiting to welcome them. To adopt the puppies, the interested families are paying about 400 soles per puppy, about $125. Wendy explained to Mariela and me that she should get a cut of the money because without Senqui, there would be no puppies.
That is true, Senqui did do his part.
But, the family on the fourth floor has done everything to take care of the puppies, feed them, walk them and more. They seem to have de facto full custody over the puppies. Senqui wasn’t present for the birth of the puppies. Wendy has not paid puppy support, but still expects to reap some paternal profit. Wendy asked Mariela and me what we thought of the family downstairs getting 2/3 of the adoption money, and Wendy getting 1/3.
In my gut, I thought the family downstairs should get more, but didn’t want to get overly involved. Mariela seemed to think that could be a fair negotiating point. And at the end of the day, it’s a few puppies, and it’s not a huge amount of money.
For the rest of the car ride, I couldn’t help but think about the larger context of this conversation. Wendy and Mariela are both hardworking single moms who rarely mention the fathers of their children at all. Both dads seem to be more or less out of the picture. From what I understand, Wendy and Mariela both have done the bulk of the child rearing, all while working, too. Yet in this pet conversation, they found themselves advocating for the uninvolved father. Woof.