Saying goodbye. Andy Cohen has rehomed his rescue dog, Wacha, for the safety of his 15-month-old son, Benjamin, after taking care of the pet for seven years.
The Watch What Happens Live host, 51, announced the news that he had to place the beagle-foxhound mixed breed in another home in an emotional Instagram post on Friday, May 29.
“When he came into my life, my world changed,” Cohen captioned a clip of himself playing with Wacha on a street in New York City. “Over the nearly seven years that I’ve been blessed to have Wacha in my life, we have worked to address some occasional random signs of aggression.”
The Radio Andy host explained that “no effort was spared” to adjust to Wacha’s behavior, but Cohen was forced to make the tough decision after an “incident” a few months ago.
“Keeping him here could be catastrophic for Ben and worse for Wacha,” Cohen wrote.
However, the Bravo personality was able to place the dog in a home with a second family where he “lived every single time I went out of town.”
Although he noted that Wacha is “thriving” in his new home, Cohen shared that the transition has been difficult for him. “We still see each other, but a piece of my heart is gone,” he wrote.
Cohen signed off the post by writing that he will always be grateful for his special relationship with Wacha.
“When I think of him — let’s be honest, when don’t I think of him — it’s with the clarity that we were meant to come into each other’s lives exactly when we did, and that he’s happy, which gives me peace of mind. We did rescue each other,” he wrote.
Cohen adopted Wacha from a kill shelter in West Virginia in 2013. “I thought I was saving Wacha, but he really rescued me,” he recalled to Today in 2016.
The Most Talkative author welcomed another addition to his family — his son, Benjamin — via surrogate in February 2019. Cohen told Us Weekly in July 2019 that Benjamin and Wacha took some time to adjust to one another.
“[Wacha] goes up and gives him a lick every so often,” Cohen said at the time. “I’ve noticed in the last couple days, [Benjamin has] been really watching him and like, ‘What is he doing?’ He’s been paying attention to him, so I think he’s starting to realize, ‘Oh there’s a doggie in my house. What is that? What does that do?’”
Fans have given Cohen their two cents about how he was juggling being a dad and a pet owner. Shortly after Benjamin’s arrival, Cohen was “flooded with DMs” about Wacha chewing his newborn’s toy.
“Hey, I’ve been a dad for 12 days,” he said via Instagram at the time. “People are judge-y as f–k.”
Listen on Spotify to Us Weekly’s Hot Hollywood as each week the editors of Us break down the hottest entertainment news stories!