Page 20 of Kent's Watch
“Possibly, but it would be better if their handler was there. I need to tell you that I didn’t just take Tate up the climbing wall. We did that all of one day. The next two days we went outside to the mountains. We climbed up, then rappelled down. I did it until Tate was comfortable with those duties.” Kent held up his hand. “I’m not saying this is for everyone to do, but this is what I’m training my dog to do.” He looked directly at Rita then. “If, and only if, we get a search and rescue call that requires someone to climb, I’ll be there with Tate. Once he’s mastered the climbing and rappelling, I’m going to teach him about riding in a helicopter.”
Rita snorted a laugh, “You have access to one?”
“Yes.”
CHAPTER 9
Rita lookedat Kent in shock. “Oh.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say after that, and it took her a few minutes to clear her head. She quickly got into the training for that day, and noticed an improvement over several of the handlers. She caught Lisa giving Charlie a treat about every five minutes. Before they broke for the day, Rita took her aside.
“Lisa, I have a few questions for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Why are you giving Charlie treats when there’s no reward involved?”
The other woman shrugged. “I don’t want to come across as a hard-ass, but if Charlie doesn’t pass his final certification, then he won’t become a search and rescue dog.”
“What if I don’t want him to become one? What if I want him for protection?”
“Then that’s a whole different set of training mecca.” Rita scowled at the other woman. “Is that what you want?” Rita watched the uncertainty come across Lisa’s face and subtly waved her father over to them.
“Dad,” Rita said as soon as he approached. “We may have a dilemma here. You have more experience with this. Could you please help?”
“What seems to be the problem?”
“Lisa doesn’t want Charlie to be trained for search and rescue. However,” she said as she looked at her father in confused concern. “She would like to continue training Charlie, but as a protector, not search and rescue.”
“I see.” Marvin nodded and rubbed his chin. Rita knew from his expression that he was thinking it over. When he looked back at them, he sighed and shook his head. “I’m not saying no to your idea, however, Charlie is here to be trained as search and rescue. Because he is property of CSAR, he will have to be trained that way. The only thing we can do is wait to see if he passes his certification when the time comes. If he does, then that’s what he will do, if he doesn’t, then he can be trained for a personal protection dog. But,” Marvin firmed his voice and looked Lisa directly in the eye. “No more feeding him treats when he doesn’t deserve them. Whether he’s search and rescue, or personal protection, you can’t feed him like I’ve witnessed you do all day. One, it’ll make him fat, and he would be worthless after that, not to mention the health problems he could develop. Two, if you continue with the treats the way you are, then he won’t do what he’s supposed to. The treat is a reward. If he doesn’t do what’s being asked of him, why should he get a reward.”
“But I feel sorry for him after what Tim did to him.”
“He was over it ten minutes after it happened,” Rita said. “Charlie,” she confirmed when Lisa looked confused. “Dogs are resilient, and they bounce back. I don’t mean to be harsh here, but if you continue to give him treats like you are, he’s never going to learn.” Rita looked at her father, and a silent agreement passed between them. Rita braced herself, before she continued,“If you continue to disregard my directives on giving Charlie treats, then I’m going to have to take him away from you to have someone else train him.”
“NO!”Lisa yelled and looked around wildly. “I’ll do better, I promise.”
“Please, see that you do.” Rita nodded and watched as Lisa gathered her things to leave. She noticed Kent was gone, and ran after Lisa, but ignored her as she looked around wildly.
“KENT!”she cried out, and sighed in relief when the man turned and looked around. Rita started jogging toward him. She stopped a couple of feet before him. It took her a few seconds to catch her breath. When she did, she looked at him with a grin. “Sorry, I wanted to talk to you before you left.”
“About?” Kent held his breath to see if she would yell at him for sending her the photos of himself, along with the box of batteries. What she did say took him for a loop.
“How old do you think a dog can be in order to learn how to rock climb or rappel?”
“May I ask why you’re asking?”
“I was wondering if I could train Zeke like you’re training Tate.”
“Please, don’t think what I’m about to say is sexist. It isn’t, it’s for safety purposes.”
“I don’t understand.”
“How much do you weigh?” Kent asked bluntly, and saw her expression turn from confusion to anger. He held up his hands, and stressed, “I’m only asking because I’m guessing Zeke is pushing seventy-five to eighty pounds. Willyoube strong enough to carry him, along with all the gear needed? I’m six-four, almost six-five, I’m guessing you’re around five-five, maybe five-six. I don’t want you to get hurt while trying to train Zeke.”
“I never thought of that,” Rita said, deflated now that he pointed it out to her. “Never mind, I thought I could train Zekefor it.” She rubbed her forehead and looked off into the distance where you could see several mountains. “It’s just that sometimes we have lost hikers up in the mountains. It would be great if I could get Zeke trained to rappel and not have to waste precious time going around to get to the person faster.”
Kent made a quick decision. “Why don’t we cross train?”
“How? What would we do?”
