Polishing Horse Shoes

Luck comes in all forms. The first bit of luck happened about a month ago when I got back from Alberta. I had brought two client dogs back with me, and put them in their new kennels-nice and cozy. My mouth dropped open the next morning when I found one kennel empty, with the gate still closed. We quickly phoned the neighbors around for people to keep their eyes open for Sue - and six hours later, someone happened to drive by a dog walking in a field, they stopped and called out "Sue" and she bounded into the truck. She was twelve miles away from home and heading due west - back to Alberta. The kennel was rigged up and I don't think even a rat could get out of new kennel that Sue would have. In the mean time, training episodes were being done with both the new dogs, and Dozer, was looking pretty good. He liked the other dogs, came to his name promptly and was settling in quite well. I had had him since the middle of February, and he was getting the routine down quite well. So I thought. It was a monday which I was off from work, and during the day I had Gin and Fly in the house - I put them outside for a minute, and in that instant, some renegade sheep were herded close to the dog kennels. This no doubt caused some excitement, in which Dozer broke the latch of his kennel (of which I thought that morning I should change because it wasn't very good - 20/20 vision sucks). Chris saw the excitement and called Dozer's name, to which he took it quite personal and headed south. In the five minutes it took for Chris to tell me, Dozer had disappeared. I drove around and called his name - in the howling wind. Well, I didn't call the neighbors, because now everyone knows that a stray border collie would probably belong to us. A week had gone by, and my hope of finding him had gone by as well. A call to the owner of Dozer was made, and to make things right, I would find another dog in his place at my cost - and I swore I would never take outside dogs again. I did find a dog, and was about to go get him today. First I had to go to Assiniboia this morning to get my vehicle inspected so that it could wear a nice new Saskatchewan license plate. I had planned to travel another hour east to get the new dog I had sourced out, but work called me in, so after my truck was done I went back to work to spay a cat, and count some sperm - very diverse work I have. I was about to leave work to go get the new hound when somebody walked in, asked if I had lost a dog, noted that he was a little hungry looking, but was really interested in working his cattle - yes Dozer has resurfaced! I then get a call from the fellow who was going to sell me the new dog, and he left a message saying not to waste my time, since he seemed a little immature at this time - the dog that is. I went and got Dozer who was about 20 miles from home . He is now safely in my truck at the moment until I can find a very good collar and very good chain so I can put him in the Alcatraz Kennel. Before I put him in the kennel, I am going to remove my horse shoe and polish it, you never know when I may need it again!