Today I was supposed to go to Springfield and Gloria asked me to pick up
gama grass seed from this ranch along the way. The ranch had lots of nice
dogs running around, and cats also. I commented on one of the dogs which was
a female Dalmation, very pretty and sweet.

The ranch hand said she is four years old and spayed and I can take her if I
want to. Well, I did want to, because I have been wanting a small dog and
this one was not bothering the cats, she was being real nice to the cats and
the man said she will not hurt a cat.

I asked why are you giving away such a nice dog, and he said she is a cattle
chaser. The ranch owner already tried to shoot her two weeks ago and the
bullet went right through her leg and out the other side. And he showed me
another dog, a blue heeler type, about the same size but with more fur, who
had been shot in the back of his neck but the bullet had only grazed him,
and he had a big wound back there. He said this dog will also be shot by the
ranch owner soon.

I asked why don't you take them to the shelter and he said he can't get off
work when it is open and it is too far, and even though it breaks his heart
he can't do anything about it.

I was appalled and offered to take them to the shelter but with all that
grass seed there was not much room in the car, and he said when he took them
to the vet once they had both peed all over his truck so they need to be in
kennels, which would not have fit into the car.

So I decided to put off the trip to Springfield until tomorrow after
unloading the seed, and go back with two kennel cabs and take these dogs to
the shelter.

They are both really nice dogs, they should have a chance to be adopted.
Actually I would love to keep the female but if she chases cattle she will
also chase horses, and the ranch hand says she would never stay at my house
if there are other dogs around to run with, and Gloria has four dogs, so I
know this one would not stick around my house.

So I promised to return tomorrow morning with two kennel cabs and take the
dogs to the shelter in Springfield, and turned around and drove back toward
home. I had to pass through Ava again and decided to stop at a garage where
I had bought tires the previous year because the front end of the car was
still shimmying after rebalancing the front tires and I thought they should
be checked.

And lo and behold they discovered the right front wheel bearing is shot and
the wheel is about to come off. If I had gone on to Springfield I would most
likely have been in a wreck, maybe a bad one, because it was a front wheel
and I would have been going 70 MPH on a highway that has lots of curves and
hills.

So those little dogs might have saved my life by being so sweet and pitiful
that I wanted to try to save theirs.