Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“You look a lot like your father. And I’ve heard you’re a lot like him in training. I hope so because you’re going to need it with this one. Come on.” He spun around and walked off.
“Nice to meet you, too,” she muttered.
The kennels were loud as the dogs were barking but she didn’t mind. He led her down the line to the last one and turned to the door, gesturing inside. “Here he is.”
She turned toward the chain link gate and stared at the dog lying there. No doubt it was a male, his head distinctly masculine with its broadness. He was alert but she could see his apathy to his surroundings. There was no spark in his dark brown eyes and those triangular ears barely twitched. Her heart went out to him in seconds.
“May I?”
“Sure thing. Hugo, come.”
The dog responded but there again was that lack of energy. He moved to the gate and stood there, eyes on Mitch.
She unhooked the leash on her side and opened the door. Finally, those eyes flicked to her, ever so briefly, then away.
“Hi, Hugo,” she whispered. “Come on, boy, you and me are going to take a walk.” She snapped the leash on his collar and stepped back.
He followed obediently. She looked him over as they walked, Mitch had been correct, he was losing muscle.
“I bet you’re spectacular when you’re in prime condition. I mean, you’re nice now, but when we get that shine back into your coat and more muscle on you.” She walked and kept up a continuous stream of chatter.
When she made it back to Mitch, she met his gaze and nodded. “Thank you for this.”
“I hate to say it, but some military instructors can be a bit heavy handed with their training and he doesn’t need that. He needs a leader but one he can respect.”
“We’ll be fine.” She lowered her eyes to the dog sitting beside her. As they stood there, he lay down. She didn’t say anything since she’d not given him any commands. “Let me go load him up and we’ll get the rest of the paperwork finished.”
Within an hour she and Hugo were on the road. He lay in the crate she’d put in her van, unimpressed with anything around him. She stopped once on the trip back to let him out. As she did when traveling with her shepherds, she parked away from everyone else. Opening the side door of the van, she reached for the leash.
“Let’s go, Hugo. Time to stretch our legs.” He looked at her when she unhooked the latch. She reached in and snapped the leash on, then let him jump down and out.
Once she arrived home, she set him up in the kennel before going to the end of the run entering. He was in the run the Great Dane had been in, so most of the snow was gone. She watched him step out and look around as she shut the door behind her, latching it.
“Okay, boy. You and me need to do some bonding.”
He ignored her and she let him. She didn’t demand he pay attention to her, just moved around in the run so he got used to her. Learned her smell and her sound when she walked, he would keep it in his mind. After twenty minutes, she left him alone, went back inside the kennel and fixed him some food.
Back in her home, she fed her dogs and herself, then called Mitch to let him know everything was fine and Hugo was settling in.
She checked on him once more before going to bed. They would start their work tomorrow. She was up before the sun, and had her dogs out running when the sun crested the horizon. In the kennel room, she whistled as she approached his run.
“Morning, Hugo.”
He looked at her and stood. “Nope, not coming out this way. I’m just moving through, about to go clean your run. I’ll get you some food after we do some exercising. Let’s go outside.” She pointed to the door of his run leading to the morning air. “Go on.”
He ambled through and she shut the panel to keep him out. Swiftly cleaning the inside of the run, she got it all set for when he could come back in. Then she went to the back and let herself in.
He stood near the end where she entered, watching her dogs out there running and playing. She ignored him and picked up the run. Once it was clean, she headed to the opening again and exited. Then she whistled. “Hugo, come.”
He trotted toward her, and she waved him by to the exercise area. She patted him on the head and said, “Go play.” She left him in there while she fixed his food. Occasionally, she looked out there and shook her head to see him just lying there.