A Dog Story……..

I often write about Missouri, my long adopted state that has so much to offer. It is at the heart of America, where east meets west and north meets south. For folks like me, having spent years on a family farm in South Carolina and again helping Sharon on her family’s farm in central Missouri, it is nearly the perfect location. We enjoy a solid reputation for livestock production and automobile production, two industries that are far apart. We also enjoy a reputation as a state that’s harbors an inordinate number of puppy mills, where the life of a dog means no more than a check for a few dollars, with the pup’s health and welfare secondary to profit. Today, I write about a dog that has a short recorded history, but deserves so much more. A warning is in order….the dog dies.

We don’t, at this point, know the history about the pup in the picture accompanying this article. The Sarcoxie police say she was dumped from a white pickup truck in a convenience store parking lot. She knew the folks that left her bewildered and scared, chasing after them until they drove out of sight. We know, from the photograph, that she had a few years on her, evidenced by the greying muzzle. She was described as a sweet girl by the responding officers. She was alert, staring into the distance, waiting for her family to return. She found her way onto the Interstate, somehow sensing this road was the answer to her abandonment, a way home to the folks who unceremoniously dumped her. Instead, it led to her death.

The responding officers found her badly injured, having been hit by one of the thousands of vehicles that travel on the highway. Sure, she was just another dog on a road, a combination that more often than not leads to death for the pup. The officers made sure she was humanely put down, ending her physical and mental anguish. If you would, consider this piece her eulogy, the least I can do for her. I have never understood folks who dump dogs. My career has seen me removing the collars from many dogs killed on a highway in an effort to locate the owners and let them know where their pet can be found. I have retrieved badly hurt dogs from roadside and taken them to a local vet where care could be provided and in many cases a humane death was their only relief. I will also tell you that I have grown soft in matters involving the critters we are charged with protecting. I walk out of movies where the dog dies. Something about an old trooper with tears streaming down his face just doesn’t add up.

I’ll end with this. This dog shows signs of human interaction and nurturing. She was, after all, trying to locate the treacherous asshats that dumped her. You see, my softer nature does not extend to humans who have no decency. In fact, I damn their callousness and have no regard for them whatsoever.They can quit wondering if someone adopted their pup, she is dead as a result of their inability to fulfill an obligation they made to her at some point in time. The old girl’s suffering is over and she is at the rainbow bridge, waiting to return a loyalty that doesn’t exist. Thank you to the Sarcoxie Police Department for providing her with some dignity in death. She deserved that. The police have indicated they will charge the folks who dumped this pup, so please feel free to share this post. At the bridge, the pup would still lick the hand that dumped her….it is up to us to slap that hand.

SR