Before the fence was erected the dogs would take themselves on walks or I should say hunting trips. They would be gone for hours and come back covered in blood. I shuddered to think what they had killed and eaten, Bambi always popped into my mind and I pushed that thought aside.
One evening they had taken off for a "hunt" and Mickey returned alone. Usually Shadow would not be far behind him but this time he did not come. I was certain something had happened to him. Maybe a rancher had shot him as my cousin predicted often happens to dogs in the country. As night came on I was really becoming concerned. I thought I could hear him howling in the distance so I determined his collar had caught up on a barbed wire fence as he passed under it. I drove into the night with the windows down on my car calling as I went. I was pretty sure he was alive and that was him howling into the dark night, "Mom, I'm hear, help me." I drove onto a neighbor's property and asked permission to walk around in the valley below his house. He agreed but I thought I should go home and fetch a flash light so as to avoid rattlesnakes. I also called another neighbor who was very knowledgeable about these things and animals. She was the only person I knew out here who would not be afraid to traipse around in the dark rattlesnake infested night! She agreed to help as I knew she would.
We walked into the dark braving cactus and mesquite, telling the snakes to keep away. She went one direction and I went the other. We could hear the dog howling once in a while and we knew there was a fence line at the bottom. Surely if she started at one end and I at the other the dog would be somewhere in between. The owner of the property drove his truck down and shined his lights on the scene. I learned a strange thing about dogs when they are in trouble or trapped. They will howl until they hear their owner's voice and then they get quiet. That did not help us. We had to be quiet because every time we called out "Shadow", he would stop howling. I had Mickey on the leash and he was trying to lead me to Shadow but I was certain he was going in the wrong direction. At last I gave up and followed him and he led us directly to the poor trapped little fellow. I imagine Mickey was thinking, "This is my chance to get rid of this trouble maker,,,,I could take them the wrong way", if dogs think, I'm not sure about that one. Mickey had a good heart after all. Oh my gosh, Shadow had a wire "trap" around his neck.... like a noose. Land owners put them on the bottom strand of fencing where animals dig out holes to climb under. These nooses are for trapping predators that might feast on the rancher's herd. They are called snares. Every time Shadow moved, the noose would tighten. The neighbor with the truck went back to his house to get a wire cutter and Shadow was freed. Why had I left my crystal swimming pool in the city where I was sometimes floating around on a balmy night such as this?
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