Rikki to the rescue
No matter how deep the loss, grief eases in its own time. We recently lost our terrier Paris, a couple months shy of turning 16. Rikki is helping us cope.
Not everyone who suffers the death of a pet is ready to immediately find a replacement. Friends have let years go by without adding a new four-legger to their lives, or decide they just can’t do it again. It’s just too hard. But others spring into action.
We knew Paris wouldn’t live forever—she was born with a heart murmur that took the life of her sister Dublin in August 2022—but it would have been unseemly to start searching for her replacement before she, as the euphemism goes, crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
She deserved more respect than that. And somehow, we’d convinced ourselves that she would at least make it through her birthday in May. We’d already asked Paris to put up with Savannah, a young, bouncy, active Chihuahua mix who arrived a year ago, about five months after the unexpected earth-rocking death of our charming, stubborn therapy dog Audi.
Savannah, possibly the happiest dog ever, was a tonic for all of us, including Paris, who patiently allowed herself to be bowled over and drawn into mock battles several times daily. While Paris had seemed to enjoy her few months as our only dog, she brightened considerably after Savannah’s arrival.
So the search for a new dog that could withstand Savannah’s vigor commenced the morning after Paris died. It was quite an adventure.
We knew we wanted a shelter dog. What we didn’t know is how complicated that can be. The best place in central Arkansas to start is with city/county shelters such as Little Rock Animal Village, North Little Rock Animal Shelter, Humane Society of Pulaski County, and Humane Society of Searcy. They have websites that display photos of many of their animals available for adoption.
Not all rescue groups do so. And if you are searching for a small dog, you have to put extra effort into discovering where they might be. Smaller dogs are a lot more adoptable—and therefore scarcer—than larger ones. While we found 10-pound Savannah at Little Rock Animal Village, it was just through plain dumb luck. Friends of ours who’d adopted smaller dogs had told us we should be prepared to go out of state, to Texas or Louisiana, to find one.
Same with organizations such as CARE for Animals, Out of the Woods, Last Chance Arkansas, Paws in Prison, and many others. Our search roamed as far as Jonesboro, whose Angie Heringer sent us dozens of photos of likely suspects. We reached out to rescuers all over the state. They were unfailingly helpful and compassionate.
But it’s important to remember that these groups are mostly or completely staffed with volunteers. Sending an email asking for them to call or email you if there is a dog or cat of a specific breed/age/weight/ sex available is unlikely to get an instant response.These amazing people are too busy rescuing critters off busy streets, getting them to veterinarians if needed, feeding them, walking them, keeping their pens clean, and trying to recruit donations to keep running.
They are sometimes forced to guess at a dog’s age. They don’t have details on its background, or if the animal likes children or other pets. They rescue animals; they don’t breed them.
Even groups that ask you to submit an online application might not respond to you. We had a member of one organization, which had a handsome youngster that looked like he would suit our needs, call to ask for our veterinarian’s contact info. We got excited, expecting to hear from them regarding the dog in a day or two.
It’s been two weeks. Still nothing. The dog’s photo remains on the organization’s website.
Others called, and we didn’t get back to them. Email can go into spam files, and if like us, you are in the habit of not answering phone numbers you don’t recognize … well, now we know that you should suspend that habit in the midst of a dog search.
So I tracked down a volunteer that I could build a relationship with. That resulted in a quickly arranged visit with an adult male Chihuahua at a nearby shelter. The coordinator, skilled at introducing dogs in a little room with the scents of many other dogs and cats all around, invited us to bring Savannah to meet the older dog.
Savannah did not appeal to the shelter dog. Although the coordinator explained that dogs can learn to get along once they are out of the shelter confines, we didn’t want to take a chance that they wouldn’t. And we were concerned that he might be too small, able to slip between the slats on our porch. He was sweet, but not perfect for us. So we continued the search.
There were many other ups and downs over the next few days—finding a prospect, communicating with whoever we could to find out more, then realizing it wasn’t going to work.
Finally, 14 days after Paris’ death, we found a new photo on a website—a small Chihuahua mix with a beautiful face, who bore a reassuring resemblance to Savannah. We established contact with a volunteer there, who turned out to be a miracle worker. An afternoon visit made it clear that, although the little dog was stressed and confused (“she doesn’t like it here,” a caretaker said, “and I don’t blame her; she wants a home”), she was the right choice.
She needed to be spayed, checked for heartworm, microchipped, and otherwise vetted before we could bring her home the next day.
Homecoming was subdued, as she was snoozy and wobbly from the anesthetic needed for her surgery. She ate a little supper (it helped that we picked up a Fresh Market roast chicken before fetching her), then endured a noisy night of thunder, wind and storms with tornado sirens blasting all around.
The next day, as the anesthetics wore off, we started to discover her real self: house-trained, leash-trained, able to figure out a dog door after a couple of hours, good at climbing and descending stairs, affectionate, snuggly, and amenable to becoming Savannah’s best friend.
All is not perfect; we took her to the St. Patrick’s Day parade in North Little Rock on March 16, and all the noise and hubbub frightened her. We tried brushing her teeth, which caused distress.
There will be other crossed signals. Still, her high spirits are taking over, and she’s fitting in better every day. The journey to find Rikki (whose spirit mimics that of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the fearless little mongoose in Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”), like many adventures, was bumpier than expected. And it continues, worth every step along the way.