MAYHEM AT THE POUND (or Mad Dogs & Meredith)

Daughter Meredith recently agreed to head up a group of volunteers for a day of caring at her school (Benedictine College, Atchison Kansas). Their destination was the humane society. Meredith dutifully called ahead to arrange the visit and to be sure they would have something to do. The lady said they could paint and that supplies would be ready for them. Of course when the eager beavers arrived all psyched up to help, no one present was aware they were coming and naturally there was no paint to be had.

The guy in the wife beater shirt wearing a confederate flag necklace (in Kansas!) said they could help him clean kennels. Displaying incredibly decisive leadership skills (which she surely acquired from her mother) Meredith quickly sized up the situation and, having noticed that there was a single hose running at a trickle and 12 volunteers, determined that their collective skills might better be employed elsewhere . . . walking dogs, perhaps? Why yes, great idea. The Kansas confederate dude obtained a bunch of leashes, the cheapo rope ones you get free at the vet or groomer.

According to Meredith, chaos ensued with the introduction of exuberant volunteers wielding leashes to a room full of caged dogs. Everyone grabbed a leash and ran to a cage to get a dog. It wasn't until 12 cages had been opened that it became apparent that no one had considered that most cages had 2 dogs, but each volunteer had one leash and only 2 hands. Meredith said the collective dumbfounded expressions were as funny as the various struggles being played out simultaneously at each cage. The howling, barking, yelling and escaping panic left Meredith incapacitated by laughter.

Eventually, however, the escapees were corralled and a number of dogs leashed so the walking could commence. In no time the group sorted out which dogs couldn't walk near others and it looked like the adventure might be a successful one. Then, someone noticed one girl was sprawled out flat, face down on the ground while her dog struggled at the leash. No one saw it happen, she probably slipped on the gravel and fell. Her face was scraped up and bleeding and she was . . . goofy--like someone with a head injury tends to be goofy. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that most of the helpers didn't know each other. Meredith wasn't exactly sure of the fallen girl's name and merely suspected that her goofiness was injury-related and not her usual mentation. The bleeding was certainly genuine.

Meredith said at this point she felt good about her decision to tell the girl on crutches that she could not walk a dog because that girl was then available to drive the fallen dog-walker to the hospital. So, the crippled girl was introduced to the bloody girl and they took off for the hospital. The picture of the crippled girl shepherding the traumatized and brain damaged aside, everything worked out just fine and reportedly a good time was had by all, especially since the fallen dog walker had a concussion and couldn't remember what happened to her anyway. About 6 of the group thought they would like to continue this service on a regular basis--ya gotta admire youth.