Kief and I went into Kanab for lunch, and when we got back I asked Kief where he wanted to work in the afternoon, and he said Amra's, where we had stopped on the tour the day before. So we signed up to work in Amra's and drove over there. As we walked up, we looked over across the road and we saw one of the caregivers walking what appeared to be a very happy bulldog. We learned that it was Lucas, one of the twenty-two Michael Vick fighting dogs. To see him like that, obviously delighted to be out walking, leaping around and sniffing everything, wagging his little tail and running back to his caregiver for affection, was just amazing. I had never seen one of the Vick dogs in person before, and even though I knew Best Friends had been making excellent progress with them, there's nothing quite like seeing it with your own eyes. Lucas has scars all over his face, a permanent reminder of his past life as a sweet dog turned into a killer for the amusement and bankroll of others.

We were greeted by McKenzie who was outside on a bench. We chatted for a bit about Amra's, and then McKenzie asked what we'd like to do. We said we'd do anything that needed doing, so she suggested taking one of the dogs on a bit of an outing, but not into town or anything like that. She suggested we take them across the highway from Best Friends where there's a road that goes out west, with lots of side roads that are all sand and make for perfect walking trails.

We said that sounded good, so she decided to give us Pandora, a wiggly Staffordshire Terrier who was full of energy but has a severe dislike of other dogs, so she had to be walked by herself. That worked for us, because then one of us could take pictures and carry the backpack with the goodies and water, while the other one walked Pandora. Because Pandora has a tendency to launch herself into the front seat of the car as you're driving, McKenzie gave us a special leash that buckles into the seat belt clip in the back seat to keep her there. We got her loaded into the car and buckled in, and we left. Sure enough, she was constantly trying to jam her way into the front seats, and the leash held her back.

Pandora loved to walk and was a sniffing machine

After about five miles down this road heading west, we saw what looked like a potentially good walking road so we pulled over and got out. We hooked up our fifteen-foot leash to Pandora's collar and we started off down the road, after making the obligatory "don't open that box" jokes. Pandora loved being out and went to sniff at everything. The first couple roads we chose were a bit short and we ended up going to three different roads before we packed up and turned back towards Best Friends, but Pandora definitely got a lot of walking out of her system.

When we got back there was still a good amount of time left so we sat down outside and McKenzie asked if we could take another one out, and we said sure. She chose Batgirl for us. And you're hearing it in your head right now, aren't you? Ba na na na ba na na na na ba na na na ba na na na Bat Girl!

"That's right," McKenzie grinned, "She has her own theme song."

Quick! To the bat trail!

And true to the image that had appeared in my head, she was sleek, sheer black and had tall, pointy ears. Like Pandora, Batgirl was very friendly to us and seemed eager to head out. We loaded her up in the car without the special leash, and we went back to the road across the highway to look for another good side road to walk down. We found another one that looked promising and pulled over. This road turned out to be a good choice as it seemed to go on forever. We were able to give Batgirl a nice long walk out and back, and she loved it as much as Pandora did. All kinds of sniffing and exploring going on. We finally wrapped it up, got back in the car and went back to Amra's.

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“Lucas has scars all over his face, a permanent reminder of his past life as a sweet dog turned into a killer for the amusement and bankroll of others.”