Our dog, Daisy is alone much of the time and we feel bad about it even though she doesn't play with toys or do much of anything anyway. When we leave, she doesn't eat and barely drinks anything. We discovered also that going on trips is harder with the dog because we don't have anyone to really care for her when we go. We do have local friends who can stop by once or sometimes twice a day to let her out when their work schedules allow and we are very grateful for that, but it isn't really enough. We can pay for a kennel but we would have to plan ahead and have the extra money for it (and of course research it well). My parents have a cat (one of my old cats) that pees on things when it gets territorial so we can't really leave our dog there when gone unless we build a kennel outside for it (but then it will be alone again).
After the death of one of my cats, we decided to make our daughter earn another pet. She was supposed to help me for three months cleaning up the dog poop outside, sweeping up while I cleaned the litter box and feeding the remaining cat and the dog.
One Saturday on a whim, my husband decided we should go to the local animal shelter to look at the dogs. They happened to have one dog only that was good with cats, other dogs and to their knowledge, children. This one dog came in as a stray they had no history on it, and estimated it to be about 7 or 8. The dog was called a Jack Russell mix, although we thought it was a pure bred that was docked. The name of the dog was Elvis. We felt this was kind of meant to be because our remaining cat's name is Elvis! He was great with our family in the meeting room. The next step was to do a meet and greet with Daisy and Elvis. After going home, we watched some Dogs 101 and there was a dog they were talking about named none other than Elvis! We really felt like this might be the dog.
Daisy and Elvis met and it was a great meet and greet. The woman at the shelter told us we could foster Elvis for the weekend if we wanted to we decided we would. A few days later when we went to get him, he actually had adoption papers ready, they didn't know it was just a foster, they even microchipped him! The girls at the front desk said that they heard it was the best meet and greet they'd ever had so far! We were excited to get this dog home and see if he was the right fit for us.
The first night, he pooped on the floor and threw up on our daughter's bed. But we felt that he was just excited and in a new place. We were happy he was sleeping in her bed. We thought he was adorable and just the sweetest thing. Of course, he didn't respond to his given name of Elvis, but that was okay because we were going to rename him anyhow because we have a cat named Elvis. I thought Jack was cute because he was a Jack Russell, and my husband agreed thinking of Jack Sparrow. We started calling him Jack and he immediately responded! We looked up some more information on Jack Russells and we figured he might be a Jack Russell Terrier and Rat Terrier mix, as he looked just like the pictures of the mixed breed.
The first morning, he peed on the floor by the couch, but we just figured there were ways we could fix this problem. The rest of the weekend was great but I noticed he was yelping when barely touched and bunny hopping down the stairs to go to the bathroom. Despite that, we took a vote to keep Jack or not.
My husband voted "no," my daughter voted "yes" so I was the deciding vote. I said "yes," and we planed to keep him. But that night something was tugging at me. I kept thinking about his yelping and his hopping down the stairs. I kept thinking about how our dog was already jealous with the cat getting attention. I text messaged my husband on Monday and told him I had changed my mind. That I would call the shelter and ask if they could look at him before the final decision but that I didn't want vet bills immediately after getting the dog. Jack had won him over, he said it was sad and admitted that Jack had grown on him.
I called the shelter and she said we could keep him until they could get him an appointment. That was short-lived as he got one for Wednesday so we had to take him back Tuesday. My heart broke as my daughter and I came home and my husband had taken him already, to hear her call for Jack and come out of her bedroom with a look on her face of hurt and ask "where's Jack?"
My husband re-told the story of taking Jack back starting with the trash all over the floor and the dog poop on the rug, followed with a long chase after Jack got out of his collar at the shelter before going inside. That was what really sealed it. No matter what the vet found out, my husband was against keeping this dog, our Jack.
Sadly, I talked to the woman at the shelter on Wednesday and nothing was wrong with Elvis (Jack) that they had found (of course they had not done x-rays just looked him over). I said I would talk to my husband and call her Thursday.
Today is Thursday. I talked to my husband and he said his vote was still "no," he had reconsidered but the chase turned him off totally. I called the shelter and said we couldn't take him even though we fell in love with Elvis (Jack). I told her if he didn't get adopted out in a decent amount of time to call us to see if we were interested. But I am sure he will find a good home soon. The shelter changed their policies and they only give to homes that are a fit (unlike how we got Daisy with a lottery on her "release date" because there were so many others interested in her as well).
As I sit home cleaning after taking a sick day because my kiddo has strep and needed to stay home and go to the doctor, I pick up the ball Jack played with (we gave him one of the toys he loved from our home when we gave him back) and I am sad. I miss Jack. My daughter says she "needs" him. It is kind of my fault, if I had not thought the worst about his yelping he never would have gone back and never would have run from my husband and we would have him.
This is a sad day and I miss Elvis Jack.
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