As I posted earlier, I'm adopting a rat terrier this Saturday.  Imagine my surprise when I returned home from work today -- and found a rat terrier already in my house!

My landlady's daughter adopted a rat terrier/jack russel cross from a local shelter.  He's an adorable little critter, a 5-year-old named Sparki. He's had a hard life and I'm glad he's found a place to settle.  What a little darling!  Meeting him has only cemented my certainty that this funny little breed is for me.

That said, I was a little put out to find Sparki in Jasper's crate and bed. Jasper, my wirehaired Dachshund mix,  was given to me by the landlady and her daughter.  They were babysitting him and didn't want another dog when they learned his owner wasn't going to take him back, so they encouraged me to take him and I did.  It was a good decision, because he is a sweet, funny, smart little dog.  His loyal, loving ways helped to fill the void that was left when my lovey cat Henry died in March.

I had Jasper for a month before he slipped past my landlady at the door and did not come back.  Since Jasper vanished, I've kept his crate and bed out on the front porch with food inside, hoping he would turn up, although my hope has been fading little by little.  When I decided to get Lola, I thought I could use Jasper's crate, at least until he turned up, but get Lola her own bed.  It's not a huge deal that I have to buy Lola a crate, even though it won't be as nice as this one -- I don't want to begrudge poor Sparki a safe place after all he's been through -- but I'm kind of stingy about the bed. I am sentimental about Jasper's bed and I don't like that it's been adopted for a new dog. It's as if the whole house assumes that Jasper is not coming back. It wasn't mine, though, so there's nothing I can do.  Am I wrong to be so sentimental?

I am really happy Sparki has a home and a loving new owner and that Lola will have a playmate who isn't geriatric or gigantic, like all the other dogs here!

It's sort of a boarding house situation.  With Lola, we will have six people, six dogs, and six cats under one roof!  Luckily it's a large house and we all fit fairly comfortably (with the exception of the morning rush hour traffic to and from the bathroom, lol).

I think I'm not going to push the issue about Jasper's bed, and instead, if (and hopefully when) I get him back, I'm just going to take him to Petsmart and treat him to a new bed.  I don't feel like it would be fair to say anything, since I didn't buy the bed in t he first place. Sparki and his owners deserve it because he's a wonderful dog and they're wonderful people.  I'm just sensitive about everyone but me seeming to give up on Jasper when he hasn't even been missing a month and I'm still actively searching for him.

That said, I am starting to think that I really won't get him back.  He's a smart dog and I think if he were free to find his way home, he already would have.  He also happens to be unbearably cute and I think he's probably been "adopted" by someone who conveniently failed to notice his collar or the hundreds of flyers I've put up all over town.  I've knocked on over 50 doors in the area handing out flyers, as well as basically wallpapering my entire small town, and I've not gotten a single call. 

I don't want to give up on him, but after my cat Henry, it's hard not to.  Henry slipped past ME one evening and darted off into the night to chase a mouse.  I searched for him for two months before finding him dead on the road less than half a mile from home.  He had been alive and well and in the area the whole time and I didn't find him! So my reserves of hope were already severely depleted by the time Jasper got away.

I won't give up on him, though.  And I also won't let Lola out of my sight if I can help it!  She's getting microchipped the very first day I get her and I'm basically putting everything short of my social security number on the tags on her collar!

That's what I'm hoping for Jasper, that he's been taken in by someone who will be good to him.  And I truly do think that's what happened to him.  The problem is, that's what I thought happened to Henry, too, until I found him.

Sparki is curled up in a peanut-sized dog circle in Jasper's bed this morning and I've definitely decided not to say anything.  I don't think Jasper would begrudge the little fella his bed.

Thanks for the tips.  Yes, I've been calling and e-mailing all local shelters and animal control, as well as visiting the pound and shelters on a regular basis to check for him.  I've put up flyers in all local veterinarian's offices, pet supply stores, groomers, grocery stores, gas stations, schools, churches, community centers, and everywhere else I could think of.  I've gone door to door to over 50 houses, put an ad in the paper, and advertised on the radio.  Nothing -- not a single phone call. 

I like the idea of teaching the "wait" command and will work on that.  I wish I'd had a chance to work on it with Jasper.  In the month that I had him, he had never so much as shown an interest in darting out the door.  He must have seen or smelled something interesting that day.  I wish I had taught him.

Henry-cat was my fault.  In the four years I'd had him, he had been a content and lazy soul, but he had been hiding in the cabinets ever since we moved, and I couldn't stand to have him shut himself away like he was miserable.  We had been in the new house a month when I started taking him out for fresh air, first carrying him, then letting him walk beside me.  He never strayed more than a foot from me until that morning.  Something caught his eye and off he darted into the weeds.  Though he was wearing a collar and tags, no one ever called, and no one ever responded to my efforts to locate him. I inspected countless orange tabbies at shelters, but none of them were my Henry.  I searched for two months before I found him.

I will not make the same mistakes with Lola.