Puppy Training

Puppy Training

“You said it would be a normal day. I planned for a normal day. You didn’t say anything about this.” I glared at Bella the plump Yorkie as she smiled back at me. “No, I said to plan for a normal day, but the plan has changed so gather your students because we are taking a field trip, Charles.” I looked around to see which of my students were there. Rad, the Border Collie from the place beyond the shed. A dog I was not keen on taking back so soon. Then there was Denali a husky puppy who, despite being nearly three times my size, was the biggest baby I had ever met. And finally Ella a bulldog puppy with a skull more layered than an onion.

I turned my eyes back to Bella and said “No. No way, I don’t even know where to begin with how bad of an idea this is. I mean Rad for starters. . .” Bella wasn’t having any of it, not like she ever did. “I’m not asking your opinion, Charles. This is what we’re doing. Like it or not they are coming with us and we are introducing them to it.” Bella snapped back. I rolled my eyes and said “This isn’t going to end well. This, in fact, is going to end very poorly.” Bella began walking away but paused for a moment to look back over her shoulder and say, “Meet me at the shed with your pups.”

I barked for the puppies to gather and they came running like they always did. They slid into line in front of me. Denali and Rad came flying in. Rad practically riding Denali as they spun and rolled into place. Followed closely behind was Ella who, unable to stop on time, slammed into Denali and Rad and then into me. Knocking all of us down. I heard a laugh from the other side of the gate. It was Bella who mockingly said, “I guess you were right Charles that did end poorly!”

I snapped at the puppies telling them to line up properly. They slowly peeled themselves off the ground and lined up nice and neat for me. “What are we doing today?” Ella asked. Denali smiled and said, “A little birdie told me that we get to go to the shed today.” I growled back “Yes we are going to the place beyond the shed today. Bella and I will be showing you the ropes but that is all.” Bella, who was determined to ruin my day chimed in “Are you ready slow pokes?! We’ve got a long day ahead of us and it’s time to go!”

I grunted as I led the puppies to the shed, “It was supposed to be a normal day.”

We made it through the shed and both Bella and I gave each other a curious look. The dark forest is usually dark, but I don’t remember it ever being this dark. I looked at Bella “Well we came so is it time to head back?” She glared at me, “We’re doing it today end of story.”

          I rolled my eyes and muttered “this way folks.” I began leading the group with Bella at the back interrupting ever so often to add vitally important information that in no way could be missed such as “This path has been traveled for over 100 years!” or “Look and see the creatures in the trees!” information so integral to what we were doing that if I dare miss it all of our lives would be in danger.

 We continued to tour the paths the Sanctuary scouting parties walk and the group became quieter, maybe Bella ran out of things to say or, and more likely, they all became bored by the prospect of walking a scouting trail without doing any actual scouting or marking, or chasing, or running, or anything that would make this tortious trip resemble a productive journey.

Eventually, we came to our first official stop. There was nothing special about it other than some pig markings and footprints. I turned to the group to begin to explain what was there and what it meant to find not only Rad missing but Bella as well!

“Where did they go?” I snapped. Denali looked around before cocking his head to the side and answering “I didn’t know they were gone?”  Ella snorted in agreement with Denali “I was too busy looking at the birds, look at how close they are if I could just sneak up on one. . .” I interrupted “You are never catching a bird. Ever. Now when was the last time you saw Bella and Rad” Denali perked up his ears and got a big smile on his face “When we came through the shed!” Ella barked in agreement. I sank, hopeless. This is hopeless I thought to myself.

Then an idea came to me, “Do either of you remember our tracking lessons?” Ella yipped in happiness “Of course! We will track the two of them and discover what happened once and for all!” Denali began barking in excitement. “Yes,” I stammered, “What is the first thing we should do?” Denali put his snout right to the ground before saying “Find a scent or track!” I smiled “yes. Good job Denali. Why don’t we start backtracking?”

To this Ella began walking backward carefully placing each paw so they matched her tracks, Denali seemed confused at first but quickly took to doing the same thing. I gave a deep sigh and began to follow the tracks. “What are you two doing?” I asked, Ella, picked up her head and said “We’re following the tracks! This is how Fonzie taught us to do it.” I slowly nodded my head and carefully considered how I would respond to these two clumsy puppies attempting to literally backtrack their steps to find Rad and Bella, “Why don’t we try my way today and talk to Fonzie about it later, okay?” I was doing my best not to laugh as Denali took a wrong step and dramatically but slowly tipped over. Ella shrugged and followed my lead and Denali picked himself up and did the same.

We followed our tracks towards the shed and found a side path, a path Bella made sure to make a comment of, something about how these paths crisscross the forest and one must be careful not to get lost when traveling. Two sets of dog tracks split from the group and went down the path. When Ella and Denali saw the tracks they just about bolted down the path. I hissed at them to stop. They tumbled a few feet further before bowling into one another and hurriedly scurried back. “What is it?” Ella asked. I motioned towards the tracks “What do you see?”

Ella went and sniffed the tracks “Bella and Rad went this way? It’s obviously dog tracks and it smells like them.” I nodded, “Good but what else? Does anything else stand out to you?” Denali searched, cocking his head and flopping one ear. “The tracks aren’t even like ours. We were walking side by side, but it looks like Rad was leading Bella somewhere.” I nodded again, “close, but I don’t think Rad knew Bella was there.” Ella then chipped in “Bella was walking off to the side, close to the brush, was she following Rad?” “I think so,” I whispered.

“It’s not safe to go down this path with you two, I think it would be best if I take you back,” I said sternly. “No.” Ella said Denali continued “We both know we slack off and are clumsy and goofy but we are also good at following directions and we need to be trained to do this stuff anyway!” I sat back and considered Denali’s words. Then Ella chimed in “Who better is there to teach us than you. I mean do you really want someone else to teach us how to handle this sort of situation, is there anyone who can do as well as you?” I smiled “you’re right, I guess I could take you two along, but follow my lead and do exactly as I say.” They both nodded

“Before we head out then there are some ground rules. Rule number one: stay 15 feet behind me at all times, unless I specifically say otherwise. Rule number two: If anything happens to me you are to run straight back here and through the shed, you do not stop for anyone or anything until you get to Sanctuary and tell a sentinel what happened. Got it?” Again they both nodded, eyes fixed on me with a stern gaze I had not seen them before. “Alright last rule, if you see anything you tell me and hide. Got it?” a short nod. “Let’s go then,” I said.

I recognized the path immediately it was the one we took to find Rad in the first place. I groaned, this was not a good idea, but Rad didn’t follow the same path. The original path went straight to a dead end along a mountain where we were trapped when we came to rescue her, this time she made a few turns, first right, then left, then right again. Coming to a clearing with a pond. By the side of the pond was Rad, staring at something in the water. Bella was next to her and they appeared to be talking about something but I wasn’t able to make it out.  I looked at the two pups behind me and motioned for them to come forward alongside me.

“What is she doing here?” Ella asked I shook my head “I don’t know. Listen I want you two to walk to the edge of the clearing behind me and stay there until I call you.” They both said okay and did as I told them. I entered the clearing and Bella gave me a stern look. As I approached the two dogs sitting at the edge of the pond I noticed a golden ball. I nearly dropped my jaw in astonishment, “How did you find this?” Bella motioned towards Rad who shrugged her shoulders. “Well, why haven’t you tried to get it, it doesn’t look that deep?” Bella laughed and tossed a nearby twig into the water, the twig was set afire and burned until the ashes fell like snowflakes to the bottom of the crystal clear pond.

I motioned for Ella and Denali to join us and they came running in with as many questions as stars in the night sky. Why did you leave, why did you come here, is that the golden ball? I shushed them, “We all have questions for both of them,” I glared at Bella “but now is not the time or place for them.”

“Well we should get the ball,” Ella said, but Bella shook her head “No, we can’t get through the water” again throwing a twig into the water and watching it burn. Ella took a few steps back and gave a weak bark to the flame. As the last flame on the twig burned we heard something from across the pond. A tree knocked over and a large shadow began to emerge from the forest. Taking the form of a sentinel but standing much taller than any we have seen.

“Get behind me” I barked. Quickly Denali and Ella ran behind me and Bella jumped into position by my side. The shadow began to move closer each step crunching the dead grass underneath its feet. We took a few steps back but Rad didn’t move. She looked at Bella and then me. She mouthed “I’m sorry” and before any of us could respond the shadow’s voice boomed filling the clearing and clearing the forest of any life that was hiding there.

“Thank you for bringing her back to me.”

Rad began to shake and quiver as the shadow approached her, putting its hand in the water and coming up with the ball which it tossed towards us. “Take the ball as a token of my appreciation.” The shadow continued. I looked up defiantly at it. “Never.” Kicking the ball back into the water. Bella chimed in “She is one of us, and she will return to us.” Rad looked at us, her eyes glassed over only shaking and quivering as if something had control of her, and for a moment she shook it and almost yelped for help, but she was unable to before her glassy stare came back and her head turned towards the shadow. I looked at Bella who whispered, “Grab her and go.” Bella lunged out and began singing the song of the stars. Rad broke out of whatever trance she was in and fled to us. I turned to Denali and Ella and shouted for them to run, back to the shed. “Keep Rad in the middle, nothing can get to her!” I yelled.

We started to run, leaving the clearing behind us but the sounds of the battle continued. As we turned onto the scouting trail we saw 4 cats cross in front of us. I shuttered and told everyone to stop.

“Denali do you remember the way back?” He nodded. “Good”, I continued, “I want you to take Rad and Ella back to Sanctuary and find a Sentinel and tell them Bella needs help. Can you do that? Then, Ella, I need you to take Rad to Coco and tell Coco Rad needs to see Codie immediately. Can you both do this?” Ella and Denali nodded. Clearly scared. “It’s going to be ok. I’m going to make sure nothing stops you from getting to the shed okay?” I assured them. Rad was still shaking and could barely walk at this point. “We are going to go a little bit slower to make sure we don’t fall into any traps or anything ok?” Everyone nodded and we started walking, carefully and slowly down the side of the road. We didn’t get more than twenty feet before I heard a familiar hiss from behind us.

“Where do you think you are going?” a slender black cat was standing alongside 3 others. “I thought you missed us” I scoffed. “Give us the dog and be on your way mutt.” The black cat hissed. I shrugged, looking at Rad and whispering “Can you run?” Rad nodded, weakly. I looked at Ella and Denali and nodded to them. I stepped forward, flicked my tail and barked “No thanks.” The pups took off like jackrabbits running from a farmer.

The cats arched their backs and lunged trying to get past me so they can get to the group. I quickly began to jump and howl at them, trying to stop them for as long as I could. One cat would jump and I would jump right at them knocking my body into their and sending them into the woods. Eventually, they began to coordinate their jumps and swipes so one would jump toward me head on then the other two from the sides. I jumped back allowing them to collide into each other knocking them down but not out. The black cat would charge me then, at the last possible moment, try to jump over me, or to the side. I would mirror his movements, never letting him get past me.

Soon I heard a thundering from the direction of the shed. The reinforcements had arrived! Hojan whose orange fur was exceptionally bright in the dark forest was leading the way. By his side was Strider, her black coat nearly blended into the surrounding woods. The two collies spotted me and the cats and quickly took off towards us. Behind them Ace, the largest black and white pit anyone has ever seen, Bailey, a massive German Shepard, and Daisy a large black lab came charging in as well. They were singing the battle song of the wolves and startled the cats who fled into the forest. Strider, who was the closest to me, asked: “Are you hurt?” I shook my head no, Strider continued “Good, where’s Bella, and what is happening?” I told them to follow me and I would explain on the way.

By the time we made it back to the pond the sounds of battle were long gone. Bella laid in a blackened field, breathing, but hurt. The shadow was gone and a silence eerie even to the place beyond the shed had settled in over the clearing. Bailey and I went to Bella as Ace, Hojan, Daisy, and Strider scoured the clearing looking for any signs of the shadow or whatever it may have left behind. Bailey began to examine Bella, “No serious exterior wounds, maybe some bruising but I think she will be okay.” I asked, “What happened to her then, it’s not like her to just lay down and take a nap?” Bailey lifted a paw to reveal a dark mark on Bella’s stomach “That.” Bailey looked at me, “It has returned then.” I shrank down. The others returned with nothing to report, but when they saw the mark on Bella they too gathered around. Together we sang the song of the moon and made our way back to the place beyond the shed.

As we crossed the threshold Codie greeted us and accompanied Bailey, who was carrying Bella. Codie told me to go talk to the remaining council members. I stepped into the holding area where the council met and Opal, a small Dalmatian, greeted me with one question “Is it true? Is it back?” I looked at her and said, “Yes, the Dark Sentinel has returned.”

                              The End