Frog whimpered, then barked. That was enough to make him think Frog wanted to look, too.
He circled back and stopped in front of the man's house. Thario got out, and Frog followed. There wasn't another car in the driveway.
The windows were closed, but he could see in because the blinds were up. Thario rang the bell and then knocked.
He heard nothing, so he glanced in. It didn't seem like anyone was inside. Thario was about to turn and leave, but Frog moved to the fence and sat, looking at him like he wanted him to come over. That was when he heard a dog whimpering, but it wasn't Frog.
“What did you find, Frog?” Thario asked as he approached. Frog stood and backed up, giving Thario room to open the gate.
He unlatched the gate and pulled it open a few inches, seeing a small German Shepherd dog.
“Sit,” Thario commanded. Frog obeyed, but the puppy blinked at him before slowly lowering his rump to the ground.
The dog looked a little malnourished and very dirty, like he wasn’t allowed inside. The dog also seemed to have some patchy fur. This wasn’t the type of dog he was looking for.
Frog had been well taken care of when he got him. The dog had picked up on cues and taken care of tasks without too much prompting.
This dog was a mess. The last thing he wanted was a puppy who would bring chaos to his life.
“Is there only one of you?” Thario asked as he glanced around.
After a moment, he pushed the gate open more and blocked the dog from running out. Frog followed him in and stared at the dog, but didn't growl. The scruffy little dog reacted to Frog, wagging her tail and dropping low like she was submitting to Frog.
Thario would be lying if he said seeing Frog and this dog together didn’t affect him. Frog sniffed the dog twice and then moved to another area of the yard.
After a second, Frog barked and then sat like he'd found something. A sliver of dread slid down his spine.
“What’s up?” Thario asked as he stepped a little closer.
At first, he couldn't make out what he was seeing, then disgust ran through him, and he stopped cold.
He whistled then yelled, “Frog, get over here.”
Frog didn’t hesitate and ran over, which made the little girl dog run over and wag her tail furiously. The dog was enthusiastic and seemed to like Frog a lot.
Thario didn't know what was wrong with the guy who lived here, but there was no way he would leave this puppy here. Itlooked like two dogs had been chained up on short chains and didn't make it. No way would he leave this puppy to the same fate. It pissed Thario off so much, and he wished he had found this situation a few weeks earlier.
Hell, if the guy wasn’t in the hospital, he would find him and beat the shit out of him. Treating animals like crap was the worst. There were a lot of things he could let slide, but animal abuse wasn’t one of them.
“Well, pup, you’re coming with us. Not sure what your name will be, but you’re now Frog’s new sister.”
The dog seemed happy to have attention paid to her. Thario bent and picked the puppy up, carrying her out to the van.
“Okay, Frog, you need to teach this pup how to behave, and I’m going to need some help.”
He hated having to ask for help, but there was no way he could get everything he needed and take care of this puppy. He dialed Griz, glad his buddy answered on the first ring.
“Hey, Thario, what’s up?”
“So I need some help.”
“Where are you?”
"I'm headed to the place I'm staying. It's a long story, but I have a new dog. She's young, so puppy, and I need a crate for her."
“Oh, hey, we have a crate. Let me bring that, and I’ll bring some other dog stuff we have.” Someone spoke to Griz, and it sounded like he pulled the phone away from his head before he started speaking again. “Calla is coming with me.”
A tingle spread through him. “Good. That’s good.”
