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“Yep. Got her from a police contact of mine a few towns over. He and his wife mostly breed dogs for police work and high-risk humanitarian stuff. Lately, they’ve also branched into service dogs for veterans. Anyhow…” He whistled for Rook and Bishop to return to his side. “They don’t sell any of their animals beforethey’ve mastered some pretty strenuous obedience training. Pink’s ready for anything you can throw at her. She’s all yours.”
He moved away with his dogs to one of the piles of rubble. It had been built to simulate a bomb disaster site. Prim watched in fascination as the dogs sniffed their way across the twisted metal and shards of concrete. They stopped and barked excitedly at a man-sized boot sticking up from the pile. Their response was a tribute to how much time Shep had spent drilling seek-and-recover skills into them.
If Prim ever turned up missing, he and his K-9s were exactly who she’d want on her trail. Not that she had any intention of going missing.
Suppressing a shiver at the thought, she bent down in front of Pink again, knowing Shep’s investment in such a highly trained dog must have set him back a pretty penny. It wasn’t like cops were rolling in dough.
“Hello, Pink.” Some girls preferred diamonds, but not Prim. There was no other gift in the world that would’ve made her happier than the beautiful Saint Bernard sitting in front of her. The dog was practically vibrating in anticipation of the first command her new owner would issue.
“Let’s get to work.” Prim gave a sharp whistle to bring the dog to her feet. Leading her to the nearest balance beam, she coaxed the creature up the ramp to perform her debut walk across it. “Good girl,” she crooned when the Saint Bernard reached the other side of the beam.
Pink had demonstrated perfect balance and agility. Not once had she hesitated or stumbled. Like Shep had promised, she was in prime condition for training.
Uncle Caleb leaned further over the railing, adding his clapping to her praise.
“Nice job, darling.” Shep glanced up from where he had Rook and Bishop chasing each other through one of the tunnels. “Justso you know, she’s already familiar with your scent, so you can skip all the holding-your-hand-out stuff.”
“Dare I ask why?” Prim shook her head at him, chuckling.
“You left a sweatshirt in my truck the other day.” He gave her an indulgent look. “A pink one.”
“So that’s where it went! I’ve been looking all over for it.”
“I washed it up for you when they were finished with it,” Uncle Caleb assured. “The boys would’ve shredded it to pieces if we’d left it lying around.”
“Thank you.” She clasped her hands beneath her chin and shook them in gratitude in his direction. “It’s one of my favorite shirts.” She loved wearing it over her black running pants. Even though it was a loose fit, it always made her feel slimmer.
He sent her a mock salute and headed back indoors, leaving the pink leash draped over the railing.
“What next?” she called to Shep. “Want me to grab a bite sleeve?” She angled her head toward the storage shed where he kept most of their training gear.
“Nah. Best to focus on acclimating her to your voice and commands first.”
“Alright then.” She led Pink to the next obstacle. It was a long seesaw painted green on the ends and red in the middle. Eyeing it, she deduced that the area marked in red was where the dog would have to demonstrate her balancing skills while the board shifted positions beneath her.
Her guess was correct. Once again, Pink proved up to the challenge. Her frenzied tail wagging indicated she was enjoying every second of it.
“Good job, Pink!” To Shep, Prim chortled, “I’m pretty sure she thinks we’re playing.”
“Police dogs enjoy working,” he called back. “Like soldiers and law enforcement folks, they live to serve.”
She watched him guide his dogs through the process of inspecting the entire pile of debris for survivors. Each time they uncovered a boot, glove, or shirt, he rewarded them. She felt like she’d already learned so much about search and rescue work from simply watching him and his dogs in action.
She continued to run Pink through various obstacles until Shep completed the full exercise with his dogs.
“Let’s call it a night.” He rejoined her and Pink by one of the A-frame agility ramps. Pink was traversing it for the dozenth time or so. She was seriously having the time of her life.
“I don’t think she’s ever going to get tired of this setup.” Prim spread her hands. “You and your Uncle Caleb did an incredible job of putting all this together.” There were hurdles to jump, including one with a window to soar through instead of over, and weaving flags to traverse. She and Pink hadn’t gotten through even half of the obstacles yet.
“We can resume training tomorrow, if you don’t mind giving up part of your Saturday.” Shep winked at her. “I’ll confess to being a little partial these days to the crack of ten.”
“Not funny.” She rolled her eyes at him. “And I have to work tomorrow. It’s one of our Saturday clinic days.”
“It was a little funny.” He sidled closer to nudge her with his shoulder. “Wanna do some dog training later in the day tomorrow? After your shift?”
“A dog date?” She raised her eyebrows at him. “You’re so romantic.”
“I have my moments.” He smirked at her.
