I admit it. I've been a bit protective with my dogs. Homeschooled them. Tried to keep them protected from the riffraff that is out there. You know, pit bulls and errant rottweilers and snooty poodles.

But a few weeks ago that all came to naught. I had to leave  them at a local kennel for one day. And  the results have not been pretty. Let this be a warning to those of you who think local public kennels are safe. Let our tragedy save at least one innocent dogs life. Please.

We dropped them off at 7am on a Saturdy. There were a couple of other blue-heelers, a rottweiler, a mixed breed. I eyed them warily as we put our two dogs in an outdoor kennel. There were 5 large outdoor kennels connected to each other. We put down their dog bed [their blankey], their food and water bowls. I gave them treats and kissed them goodbye and tried not to listen to the anxious voice rising inside. Surely one little day at a public kennel would not be harmful to our dogs psyche's.

Oh how wrong I was!

This is the mixed breed dog in the next kennel.

When I returned to pick them up at 6pm, I turned the corner to find my two innocent dogs smoking cigarettes. Smoking!  

"What the .... ?" I managed to say. Joe, 2, quickly stubbed his out and at least looked a bit shamed. Maile, age 9, kept smoking and gave me a bit of a sneer. I snatched the cigarette out of her paw and stamped it out.

"You two! You're coming home with me! RIGHT NOW." I was shaking with anger. They sullenly followed me to the jeep and we drove home in silence. The next day I found them pitching pennies against the deck wall, there was a skunky smell about them and their eyes were red. They didn't even look up at me, so intent on their gambling, stoned. How could they have gone so wrong so fast? 

The following week was spent finding them sneaking cigarettes, trying to get into the liquor cabinet, not coming when I called them. Defiant and sullen. I finally sat them down and got the whole story out of them.

Apparently when we left them at the kennel the other dogs started teasing them. Told them we were leaving them there to be put up for adoption. My naive dogs started to believe them. When they tried to tell the other dogs we had promised them it was just for one day, the other dogs barked with laughter and said that's what their owners had said too. And look at them! Abandoned. Waiting to be adopted by new families. [I was fuming. The kennel owner should separate the trouble makers from new clients!] 

Finally convinced that we had indeed abandoned them, it didn't take them long to get in with a bad crowd. Maile and Joe were taught all kinds of thing by their street-wise kennel mates. Awestruck and scared, they were easy to influence.

It's been a hard road back. I rehabbed them and keep a close eye on them. Joe, he's doing well, young enough to snap out of it, knows he has his whole life ahead of him. It's Maile I worry about. Older, more scarred by the experience, sometimes I see her looking out the window and I can only wonder at what she's thinking about.

Maile still has her bad days. Joe tries to cheer her up.