Cojack has dutifully surrendered his testicles to the State of Georgia.

Yes, it's true: when a dog is adopted from a shelter in Georgia, the adopter must sign a form acknowledging that Georgia law requires that the dog be spayed or neutered within 60 days. Cojack gave up his this morning, on his 15th day as an adoptee, over at Integrity Animal Hospital on Highway 17 in Kingsland. I picked him up about an hour ago. After wolfing down a treat of about 4 slices of thick bologna (he's been NPO since 2100 HRS last night) he is taking a nap right beside my wheelchair as I'm typing this. The surgery and checkup both went well but there was a near disaster when I picked him up. My housekeeper, Sarah, arrived this morning at her usual 0830 HRS. We left immediately as his appointment was at 0900. Well, knowing that I would be by myself when I went to get him this afternoon, we swung by Walmart on the way home. Given the way I have to get in and out of my van, it would be damned cumbersome and even possibly dangerous for the dog for me to try to put him on the leash and either get him up into my lap or on the ramp itself. The obvious solution - or so I thought - was to get a kennel before this afternoon. We found one in the pet department at Walmart. It looked the right size and said it was for medium sized dogs up to 30 lbs. I learned this afternoon that Cojack weighs 20.5 lbs. The thing cost $37 and change, which I figured was about half what one would cost at the high-mark up pet store. The thing was heavy gauge, rigid plastic. It had a clam shell design with a top and a bottom half. When disassembled, one fit inside the other for easy storage. When we got it home, Sarah assembled it. It had about a dozen of those snap latches like you find on heavy plastic tool boxes now. Well, when I got there, they brought the dog out to the waiting room on his leash. Then, one of the veterinary assistants put Cojack into the carrier. So far, so good. She bent down, picked it up by the handle, and lifted it up waist high. Almost immediately, all of the latches on one side opened, dumping Cojack on the concrete floor with a sickening thud. Fortunately, he just took it in stride. My first thought was that maybe it had not been snapped together quite right. Two of the techs meticulously snapped it back together and put a not too willing Cojack back into it. This time, the lady put her hand under the bottom part while holding the handle on top. We went that way out to my van. Once she had put the carrier into the back of my van, I asked her to please try picking it up a couple of inches just by the handle. Sure enough, the damned latches flew open again. In the end, we reassembled it one more time, after putting the leash on Cojack inside of the kennel. When I got home, I slid the kennel onto my lap, then, with one hand under it, lowered it to the driveway. I then got him out and walked him in on his leash. You can damned well bet that tomorrow, I'm going back to the store for a refund and a promise from the manager that he will e-mail headquarters and tell them to pull those damned death traps. I'll be sending them a follow-up letter myself. You would think that Walmart buyers at Bentonville would actually check these things out.