free hit counters
Chapter 36
"It could have been worse," Mike commented in the cab of Mark's truck on Saturday, as they rode towards town.
"Yeah," Mark agreed. "I think Jackie was expecting it, anyway. But, I'm glad we caught them all nice and mellow in the hot tub. How much did that thing set you back, anyway?"
"Couple of grand," Mike said. "But, we wrote it right into the mortgage. It was worth it, though. Once Kirsten realized we could have it, she didn't have second thoughts about moving out from town. I can see I'm going to have to finish that off into a separate room for
winter, though, and that's going to cost."
"Shouldn't be that much," Mark said. "There's nothing that you couldn't do."
"I can drive a nail straight, if I'm lucky," Mike protested. "Building a wall and finishing the room are a little beyond me, especially with the ventilation I'm going to have to have."
"Nothing to it," Mark said. "We can do it on a couple of rainy Saturdays, when it's too wet to work the dogs. If I'm going to get one of those, I'm going to have a bigger job. I haven't got a floor that will take that kind of weight, except in the shop, so I'm going to have
to build an addition."
"I'll help where I can," Mike offered. "I may not be a lot of help, but I can hold stuff while you nail it.
"Just takes practice," Mark said. "I mean, when Jackie and I started rebuilding the place, I knew which end of the nail went into the wood, but not a lot more."
Mark drove past the turnoff into downtown Spearfish Lake, and went another couple of miles further south, before he made a turn off onto a road that went into the woods. A couple of hundred yards up the road, he turned into the parking lot of the Spearfish County
Humane Society.
"Hope they have something here that we want," Mike said.
"Yeah, so do I," Mark agreed. He looked at Cumulus who had his tail well between his legs.
"He knows what this place is," Mike said.
"No, we're not leaving you here," Mark comforted the dog. "We're just going to see if we can find you a couple of playmates."
One of the things that Horton had told them about that made sense was that the dogs had to be able to get along. While there would be a certain amount of dominance testing, the initial reaction of one dog to another could go a long way toward deciding on a dog, and
Mark had figured that Cumulus would have to be the one to make the decision.
As it turned out, the Humane Society had two dogs that were possible candidates for a dog team, but looking them over, Mark and Mike rejected one right away. He was a dalmatian mix, about the right size, but had a thin coat, floppy ears without much hair on the
inside, and small paws. "I just don't think he's going to make a good winter dog,"
Mark said.
"He's not a real young dog, either," Mike agreed. "Doesn't seem very energetic."
The other dog had to be largely German Shepherd, and the physical characteristics looked good, but he snapped at Mark. "Hey, stupid," Mark said to the dog. "I'm not looking for a mean dog. If you want to get out of here, you'll have to adjust your attitude."
"If he's going to be like that, he's not going to work for Tiffany," Mike agreed, "But he might make a team dog."
They took the German Shepherd out to the truck, where an immediate snarling match ensued; clearly, Cumulus wasn't too crazy about the dog, either. "Didn't surprise me," Mark said as he led the dog back inside.
"Stop by next weekend," the pound manager suggested. "Puppies, sometimes we can move, but we usually don't hold onto older dogs too long before we put them down. We should have some others here by next week."
"God, that just tears me up," Mike said. "I mean, I guess my head realizes that it's got to be done, but my heart knows I couldn't do it."
"Yeah," Mark agreed. "I know what you mean. It's like that dog we had out here. We were probably his last chance, but if he's too damn dumb to realize that, then we can't use him."
Cumulus was very relieved to hear the truck start; he pressed up against Mark, and tried to lick his face. Mark took a minute to comfort the dog before they got on their way. They were well up the highway before Mark spoke again. "That's something we're going to
have to learn to deal with," he said. "We're going to get dogs that just aren't going to work out. We're either going to have to take them back there, or we're going to be buying a hell of a lot of dog food to feed useless mouths."
"I know it," Mike said. "We can comfort ourselves with the thought that we're giving them a chance, and maybe we can rescue a few, but it's even hard to say no to a dog like that dalmatian."
"Yeah, but he probably wouldn't have worked out."
"We're going to have to be a little careful," Mike said. "We're going to have to come up with a dog that's good with a family, one that's going to be Tiffany's dog. Even if that dog's a loser, I'm going to have to keep it."
Mark nodded. "That's something I hadn't thought about," he said. "Maybe we'd better keep the dogs up at my place, for now, except maybe one for Tiffany. If we decide to build up two teams, then maybe having to do a little culling won't bother her as much."
"We probably ought to do it that way," Mike agreed. "That might make it easier. Maybe I ought to just get Tiffany a puppy, and if it grows up to be a team dog, well, good. If not, then Tiffany's got a dog, and if she's focused on that, then maybe she wouldn't be quite as
focused on the rest of the team."
"Say you got a puppy now," Mark said, thinking aloud. "By winter, it'd be big enough to work out with the rest of the dogs, even if it wouldn't be full grown."
"Yeah, I suppose," Mike agreed sadly, his mind still back at the dog pound. "God, I hate to see those dogs put down. Maybe I'm too soft hearted for this."
"We can't save them all," Mark said. "It'd be nice, but we can't."
