Loose the Dogs Read online

  “I’m so excited,” she said earnestly to Darren. She laughed. “Is it weird I’m so excited about getting a dog?”

  Brenda was aware she was still often mistaken for a teenager. She’d managed to lose most of her pregnancy weight, and she was short and small-boned to start with. With her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and an easy smile, she looked like a high school cheerleader. Darren smiled indulgently.

  “You’ve wanted a dog since before we got married. We are finally in a house of our own, where we can have pets. Of course you’re excited.”

  “The kids are going to be so blown away,” she giggled.

  “Cassy won’t know what to do with herself,” he agreed. “She’s wanted a dog ever since she could talk.”

  “We’ll have to get one good with kids; a good family dog.”

  “I’m sure there will be a lot of them at the SPCA. We’ll have our pick.”

  “Do you think it’s right to go to the SPCA?” Brenda asked. “We shouldn’t get a puppy, raise it all the way ourselves?”

  Darren shrugged. “It’s up to you. You said you didn’t want to have babies in diapers and be house training a dog at the same time,” he reminded her.

  Brenda nodded, sighing. “I love puppies… they are so cute. But they are a lot of work. Peeing and teething, eating things and throwing up…”

  “Just like kids,” Darren teased.

  “Yeah, just like kids. I don’t want another kid right now. I want a dog. An adult dog.”

  “There’s your answer, then. Don’t worry about a puppy. It will be better to get a dog we don’t have to worry will be nipping at the kids; something calm and sedate and used to children.”

  The baby started crying in earnest and Brenda sighed. She put the baby seat down and pulled the blankets back.

  “You didn’t sleep for long enough, silly baby. Why are you awake again already?”

  Erin quieted a little but still kept whining. Brenda untucked the blankets and unlocked the buckle to remove the harness. She picked up the baby and jiggled her, kissing her blond curls.

  “See, Erin? It’s okay. What’s wrong, are you wet?” She checked the baby’s diaper and shook her head. “Hungry, then?”

  Darren watched her, waiting for her to finish and re-engage with the conversation. Brenda dug a bottle out of the diaper bag and put the nipple in Erin’s mouth. Erin took it hungrily. Brenda shook her head.

  “You’re not supposed to be hungry again already. I just fed you!”

  “Maybe she had a bubble,” Darren suggested. “She wasn’t really full.”

  “I suppose. Well, I’ll be a few more minutes, and then we can go.”

  “Okay. I’ll put the stuff in the car.”

  He left Brenda with the baby and took the crate and treats out to the car. Brenda watched Erin feed, her eyes soft and loving. She glanced around the room.

  “Pretty soon we’re going to have a dog around here,” she murmured. “Oooh, you’re going to love growing up with a dog. You’re just going to love having a dog. They can be such good friends.”

  She remembered the dogs she had while growing up. Especially Stanwick. He had been her best friend, her constant companion. He put up with anything she did to him and just loved her no matter what. She remembered sitting with him by the fire, taking him for walks, warming her feet underneath him as he slept on the bed. She supposed her memories were idyllic, tinted with rose-colored glasses. But it couldn’t all be fantasy. She wanted her kids to have that experience, or some version of it. There would never be another Stanwick, but there would be something else… a Bowser, or a Rover, or a Spot. Every kid had to have a dog. Everyone should be able to feel that unconditional love.

  Erin made gurgling noises, spitting out the nipple of the bottle. She gave Brenda a huge three-toothed smile, babbling nonsense. Brenda kissed Erin’s round, pink cheek, a serene smile spreading across her own face. Then she bundled the baby back up again, strapped her into the baby seat, and headed out to the car to join Darren to go get the dog.

  Darren came around the car as Brenda got out the baby seat, and took it from her.

  “You’re the one who is going to need your hands free,” he commented. “So you can look around, and fill out the paperwork and all. I’ll just be your slave today.”

  “And a very handsome one you are,” Brenda teased good-naturedly, happy to have him take the weight of the baby carrier. Darren was not naturally drawn to help her out with the childcare or the housework. And despite his rugged look, he disliked working outside, preferring instead to let Brenda or hired students take care of the yard, while he cocooned with his computers and his music. He gave Brenda a half-smile, softening his often-tense expression. They went into the animal shelter, and after explaining to the receptionist they wanted to look around at the dogs before deciding what it was they wanted, they were shown which rooms the adoptable dogs were in and left temporarily to their own devices.

  Brenda was in heaven roaming between the narrow aisles of cages, looking at all the beautiful dogs waiting for new homes. She wanted to take them all. It was so sad they had to be locked up there, waiting. And some of them… some of them would end up being destroyed. Darren, trailing along behind her, rolled his eyes when she would look back at him, cooing at this dog or that.

  “It would be a lot easier to do this if it wasn’t for the smell and the noise,” he complained.

  “Sorry,” Brenda apologized. “Do you want to sit in the car while I do this? I guess I should have known it would bother you.”

  He shook his head, determined just to plow through. Brenda looked at him, frowning. Noise and obnoxious smells were not Darren’s forte. He was the dad who would throw up over a dirty diaper. And the baby crying in the night or the other kids whining and getting rambunctious… it drove him up the wall. Brenda never quite understood how such normal, everyday life could bother him so much, but she accepted the fact that, like fingernails on a blackboard, some things were just more bothersome for some people.

  “I’m going to be a while, Darren,” she warned. “This isn’t going to be quick.”

  He looked around. “We’ve been to almost all the rooms,” he pointed out. “Then you can pick one out.”

  Brenda shook her head. “This is just the initial tour, to narrow it down. I’m going to have to watch the ones I like for a while, find out their histories, and hold them or play with them or walk them for a while, so I can see what they are like. You can’t just pick one because it’s cute.”

  “Oh… I thought that’s what you were doing,” he said, frowning.

  “I like the cute ones,” Brenda admitted. “That is part of it. But not the whole thing. You wouldn’t buy a car without driving it, would you? No matter how sexy it looked.”

  “No way,” he agreed immediately. “That would be stupid.” He thought about it. “So you have to kick some tires. Take them out for a test drive.”

  Brenda nodded, smiling. “Yeah, you got it. But I’m not going to kick them.”

  “No, of course not.” He didn’t crack a smile at her joke. “So how long are you going to be. Should I take Erin home and come back later?”

  “No, no. I won’t be that long. And I might want to see how the one I pick interacts with you and Erin before I make a final decision. But it will be a while. You might want to go for a walk, or sit in the car. Go for gas or a car wash if you don’t want to just sit.”

  Darren nodded. “Okay. I can do that,” he agreed.

  He retreated with the baby carrier, working their route in reverse, past the noisy, stinking dogs, eventually making it back to the reception desk.

  “She’s going to be a while,” he explained.

  The receptionist nodded. “Of course. These things take time.”

  Brenda continued to look at the dogs, wandering back and forth, reading the descriptive tags on their doors. She paid close attention to which ones were barking or wild and which ones were quieter and more sedate. S
he didn’t want a dog that was going to bark all night and upset Darren. Or wake the kids. It would have to be a quiet, well-behaved dog. She gradually narrowed her short list down. One of the shelter workers approached her.

  “Well, how’s it going?” he asked.

  “Good. I’ve got it down to three or four,” Brenda gestured at one of the dogs she had passed a couple of times.

  “Excellent. Why don’t you come with me and we’ll sit down and discuss your needs? Then we can talk about the specific dogs you’ve been looking at. How does that sound?

  Brenda nodded. “Sure.”

  He led her back to a desk, crowded with papers and files. “Please, have a seat,” he gestured. “I’m Bill.”

  “Brenda.”

  Brenda sat down while he dug out a form and started with the routine questions and whether she’d had a dog before. Brenda smiled, sitting back and telling him all about Stanwick. What a beautiful, loving dog he had been. Every child’s dream best friend.

  “And you’re married now, with a baby,” the man said, having noted Darren’s and Erin’s presence earlier.

  “Yes. I have two other children as well; I didn’t bring them along. They’re at their grandma’s. Cassy’s two, and Bubba’s four.”

  “Fun ages. We’ll have to be really careful about the dog we introduce into the family. Kids can be unpredictable and we want a dog who can manage the situation.”

  “Right,” Brenda agreed.

  He ran through the costs to adopt and how much they would need to maintain a dog over the years. Since they didn’t have any other pets, he gave her a list of vets in her area. Finally, he folded his hands on the desk and looked Brenda in the eye. He was an older man, a bit overweight, with a receding hairline and a fan of wrinkles around his twinkling blue eyes.

  “Well. Shall we go find your dog?”

  Brenda nodded eagerly, jumping to her feet. She laughed at herself. “I’m so excited about getting a dog. I feel like a kid getting up on Christmas morning.”

  He chuckled good-naturedly.

  Brenda led Bill to the first dog she was interested in. It was a little Yorkshire terrier. He looked up at her, head cocked to the side, waiting for her to pick him out and take him home. Bill poked his fingers through the bars to give the little fellow a scratch behind the ears.

  “How are you doing, boy? Hey? How are you?” He looked at Brenda. “Not a breed I’d recommend for children,” he cautioned. “They are small, fragile, and tend to get nippy around kids. They’re really not family dogs.”

  Brenda nodded. “Okay. Well, I don’t want one that could bite the kids. So…”

  She led him to the next one. A bigger dog, lean and dark brown, who looked up at them hopefully, eyes rolling back a little, showing the whites.

  “Ah, now he’s a nice choice,” Bill approved. “We figure he’s mostly Labrador retriever. Maybe some other breeds in the mix, but we think that’s the main one. Retrievers tend to be good family dogs.”

  “I like his look,” Brenda said. “Could I handle him?”

  “Sure,” Bill agreed. He unlatched the cage door and let Brenda enter.

  Brenda held out her hand to the dog by way of introduction. He backed away from her, lowering himself closer to the ground.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” Brenda soothed. “I’m not going to hurt you. How are you, buddy? How’s my pretty dog?”

  She approached again, and the dog rolled over on his side, raising his paws for her to scratch her belly, which Brenda promptly did.

  “You’re just a suck, aren’t you?” she wheedled. “You’re just a little wuss, looking for attention, aren’t you? What a nice dog.”

  He whined a little, wriggling beneath her comforting touch. Brenda scratched his belly for a few minutes, then put her hand toward his head again. The dog put his head down and allowed her to scratch his ears and stroke his head.

  “I think this is the one,” she told Bill. “He’s so gentle. He’ll be a great dog for the kids. So friendly.”

  Bill nodded. “Okay. Why don’t you take him out for a walk, introduce him to your husband, make sure they’ll get along all right?”

  Brenda nodded, smiling. She pushed a stray strand of hair back over her ear. She stood up, and the dog jumped back to his feet, yelping a bit.

  “Oh, did I scare you? Silly boy!” Brenda scratched his head.

  Bill pulled a collar and leash off of a nail on the wall and clicked his tongue at the dog.

  “Come here, boy. Walkies.”

  The dog obediently went to him and was leashed. Bill handed the leash to Brenda.

  “There you go. See how you get along.”

  “Heel,” Brenda ordered. The dog shied away. “Come,” she said in a lower voice, giving the leash a little tug. The dog followed, and once she got going, heeled nicely. She led him out of the building to get a little fresh air and see how they got along outside. She had taken him up and down the road a couple of times when Darren pulled up in a freshly-washed car.

  “Did you choose one?” he asked when he got out of the car.

  “Test drive,” Brenda explained.

  He nodded.

  “Come on over, and we’ll introduce you.”

  Darren approached slowly. He was anxious; not a dog person.

  “It’s okay, just relax,” Brenda encouraged. “Don’t act afraid. You want to act confident and relaxed, so he knows you’re in charge. You’re one of the top dogs in the pack. It’s okay; I’ve got him on a short leash. He can’t hurt you.”

  Darren came up closer and held out his hand. The dog sniffed at the proffered hand and rubbed against it, acting friendly.

  “He’s nice,” Darren said, sounding a little surprised.

  “Yeah, he is.” Brenda was using her baby voice. “Isn’t he a nice boy?”

  The dog wagged his tail, looking at the two of them. Darren scratched the dog’s ears, relaxing.

  “Should I get Erin?” he asked.

  Brenda nodded. “Yes. We’ll make sure he’s going to be okay around kids,” she agreed.

  Darren retrieved the baby seat from the car and looked at Brenda. “What should I do?” he asked.

  “Just put the carrier down on the sidewalk.”

  Darren did so. Brenda let the dog get a little bit closer, still keeping the leash short. The dog sniffed curiously at the car seat, looking interested, ears pointing forward. Brenda pulled the blankets back from Erin’s face. The dog got closer, poking his nose into the car carrier, sniffing vigorously. Erin started waving her fists and babbling. Brenda watched the dog for any sign of aggression. The dog looked back up at Brenda questioningly. Brenda laughed.

  “It’s a baby, silly,” she explained.

  Darren looked at her with a frown.

  “I was talking to the dog,” Brenda said.

  “I know.”

  “You think it’s weird because he can’t understand me?”

  He considered. “I think it’s weird he doesn’t know what a baby is.”

  “Oh.” Brenda was taken aback. “Yeah, I guess he just wasn’t in a house with a baby before.”

  “Do you think that’s okay?”

  “As long as everything else seems okay. We’ll ask Bill to double check his history, just to make sure we don’t have anything to worry about.”

  “Okay,” he agreed. After watching the dog investigate the baby for a few more moments, he picked up the baby seat. “Just to be safe,” he said.

  Brenda laughed at his nervousness. “You’re going to have to act a lot more confident around the dog or he won’t listen to anything you say. Come on, let’s go back in.”

  “Are you ready?” Darren stalled. “Because I don’t want to go back in there if it’s going to be a lot longer.”

  “Yes, I just have to ask Bill a few more questions, and fill out the forms. Then we’ll be out of here.”

  Darren nodded. “Fine. Sounds good.”

  They went back into the building, and after a few minu
tes managed to track down Bill, touring another visitor around. He smiled at Brenda and nodded his acknowledgment then spoke to the couple he was showing around.

  “Why don’t you look around a bit? I just have a bit of paperwork to do, and then I’ll catch up with you.”

  They murmured consent, and Bill broke away from them to deal with Brenda and Darren.

  “And you must be Darren,” he greeted, holding out his hand.

  “Yes. And you must be Bill,” Darren returned, reaching out to shake after a few awkward moments. He shook briskly and let go.

  “Introductions done. So, how was he for you?” Bill asked Brenda.

  “Good. I think he’s going to make a great addition to the family.”

  “Excellent. Let’s just finish up the paperwork and you can take him home.”

  “Can you tell me his background?” Brenda asked as they sat down at Bill’s chaotic desk again.

  “Oh, sure. Let me just pull up his file.”

  Bill tapped a few entries into his computer and looked at the screen.

  “He was an out-of-state transfer. Probably an SPCA with an overcrowding problem. They try to send them out rather than putting them down. He was previously with an older couple. Retired.”

  “And why did they give him up?”

  “They died. There was no one else to take him.”

  “Oh, how sad.” Brenda rubbed the dog’s ears and kissed him on the top of the head. “Poor little guy. I’ll bet you were so sad.”

  Bill nodded.

  “So, no experience with kids?” Brenda asked tentatively.

  “Well, not in a home with kids. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t deal with them. There were probably grandkids, neighborhood kids, that kind of thing. No notes there are any problems with socialization or anything that needed to be addressed in his training or placement. And retrievers are usually good family dogs. Good with kids.”

  Brenda nodded slowly. “Okay.”

  “You do have a thirty-day return period,” Bill pointed out. “If you get him home and find out he is acting aggressively to your son, you just bring him right back here. We don’t want to push him on you if he’s not a good fit. We’ll find you another dog if he isn’t the right one.”