Page 5 of Kent's Watch
“Thanks.” Kent grinned as he went where he was told. As soon as he walked in the back, he smiled at the noise the pups were making.
“Scott?” Kent asked a man coming out of a cage. “I’m Kent Palmer, the first one.”
“Good. This is how we like to do it. We let you in the cage with them and you can do whatever you want to pick out the one for you. You have fifteen minutes.” He opened the door and Kent went inside. Instead of standing and looking down at the pups climbing his legs, he sat down and let them come to him. He was soon joined by three other people and continued to sit there. All the pups had been climbing all over him, but left him for the others that had arrived.
Kent looked over to the side and saw a pup sitting in the corner observing everything around him. He lay down about four feet from him and propped his head on his hand. “Don’t you look crisp?” he asked the dog. The one he was interacting with was a blue brindle, he wasn’t quite sure of the breed, but he would ask after he picked him. “Looks like you baked a little too long in the oven.” The entire time he talked to the dog, there was steady eye contact between them. Kent held out his hand, and said, “You look like a burnt Tater Tot.” As soon as he said the last two words, the dog stood and quickly approached him. When he sniffed Kent’s finger, he licked the back of his hand and never flinched when Kent petted him.
“Tator Tot, that’s your name, but how about for work, I call you Tate?” Kent watched the dog and decided to try his theory. “Tate,” he said firmly, then pointed to the floor. “Sit.” The dog’s ass hit the ground. “Good boy,” he said, and happened to havesome treats on him that Scott had given him. After giving him the treat, Kent stood and patted his thigh. “Tate, come.” He had to bend way down to give the dog a treat, but he quickly followed.
“Scott,” Kent called out, and was quickly joined by the other man.
“I want this one.”
“Blue?”
“Yes, but I’ve decided to rename him.”
“Okay, tell Rita what his new name is. I don’t want to discourage you or anyone else in picking out a dog, but Blue is the runt of his litter. It might take him a few minutes to catch on.”
“He’ll be fine,” Kent said with confidence and looked down at the dog. “Won’t you?” The dog’s entire body wiggled when he wagged his tail. Kent looked at Scott. “Do I take him out on a leash or carry him?”
“Whatever you want to do. The leashes are there if you want one. You will need one for training though.”
“Okay.” Kent walked over to the wall with the leashes and picked out a camo one. He brought it down and had Tator sniff it. “Is this one okay?” He grinned when the dog again wagged his entire body. He quickly snapped it on the collar and when he led him out of the cage, he had to pull back to stop him. “Tate, slow,” Kent said firmly, and saw what he would describe as a shocked look come over the dog’s face. Every time they started forward, Kent stopped him with a firm reprimand. He didn’t jerk the leash, but he wouldn’t move until the pup stopped. By the time they made it back to the front room, the second group of people had gone through.
Out in the main room, Rita looked up and watched as Kent worked with the dog he had picked. It surprised her that he had picked Blue. What surprised her even more was how Kenthandled Blue on the leash. By the time they went back to where he had stood before being called to the back, Blue wasn’t fighting the leash as much as he had in the past.
Rita picked up a clipboard and headed toward him. As soon as she reached him, she looked at Kent, and asked, “Permission to pet your dog?”
“Granted,” Kent said as he nodded. He watched as Rita went down to her haunches and reached her hand out to Bluey. As the pup licked her hand, she looked up at Kent with a grin. “I have to say, this little guy is my favorite of these new batches.”
“Scott told me he was a runt?”
“Yes, but he’s come a long way. We almost lost him a couple of times in his first weeks.” Rita stood when Kent offered her a hand up. “I noticed you’ve already started training him on the leash. Very impressive.”
“Thank you. Do I tell you now that I’ve changed his name?”
“Oh?” Rita looked at him in shock.
“What did you call him?”
“Bluey, because he’s a blue brindle. Most people would call him a gray brindle, but technically it’s blue.”
“Ah, to me, he looks like he was in the oven too long and got overly baked. I’m changing his name to Tator Tot, but when we’re training, it will be Tate.” He looked at the dog. “Watch.” With a small treat in his hand, Kent looked down at the dog, firmed his voice, and said, “Tate, sit.” As soon as his little ass hit the floor, he was rewarded with a treat. “Good boy.” Then gave a head rub.
“Wow, very impressive. Have you trained dogs before?”
“Not directly, but I’ve worked with them and their human partners before.”
“Good to know. Stop by and see Julie after class and she’ll give you Bluey’s papers. Excuse me, Tate’s papers.”
By the time everyone had picked out a dog, the others associated with CSAR had arrived, and it was time to take the dogs out for a bathroom break. Once they came back in, Rita was again at the front of the room.
“Okay, now that you have your dogs, I want to say that Kent, Ned, and Vanessa, your dog’s breed is a bull mastiff. Some of their characteristics they have are an independent mind, they are not push-overs, they can be willful and dominant. They want to be the boss. To be a successful handler and owner of them, you have to show them consistency in what you say, and you have to have a firm hand with them. I’ve seen Kent correct Bluey, excuse me, Tate, when he rushed on his leash. Kent would you like to show everyone what I mean?”
Kent nodded. He saw everyone looking at him, then with a treat in his hand, he said firmly, “Tate, come.” He started walking toward the front of the room. When Tate realized they were moving, he ran forward to the extent of his leash, trying to pull Kent along behind him. Instead of Kent jogging after him, he held the leash firmly and when Tate got to the end of it, Kent wouldn’t give him any slack until he stopped pulling against it. In the background, he heard Rita explain what he was doing to the rest of the class. The next hour they spent on how to train their dogs not to pull on the leash.
At one point in the training, Kent had a thought and jerked his head toward Rita, and didn’t know whether it surprised him or not to see her looking at him already. “Question.”
