“The other dogs. I guess they need socializing and such too?”
“Yeah, they do.” She opened the break-room door, and they walked through to the back, where they could get through to the kennels.
“Pick people who are calm. The calmest ones. Have them go on walks with the dogs. Double secured, though, just in case they freak out.”
“Collars and harnesses, right,” Suze said, and Leaf could tell she immediately started a mental list of equipment, people, and safe places for the walks.
“Not long at first, but if they have time, twice a day. Routes that you can make longer gradually. Just going around the building will be enough at first. If you have people with serious time, have them sit inside the kennels with the dogs. Read a book or play a game on their phones, with sound on low. No headphones, though.”
“What are you going to do with these guys?” she asked as they got to the end of the hall with the “newbie kennels” and stepped into a room with only four kennels inside.
Two of them were occupied by the bait dogs. He could barely tell there were dogs in them at all.
“First, I’m going to find some treats from your fridge there in the corner, and then I’m going to sit with one, then the other. See how they are with me. After that, get Grace in. I’m thinking leaving her in the kennel across from them for a few hours at least.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll leave you to it. Call me if you need me. I’ll flip the sign on my way out?” she asked, referring to the Do Not Enter sign on the quiet room’s door.
“Yeah, thanks.” Leaf went to the fridge for the good treats—meat and cheese, things that smelled good for the dogs and were more special than average dog treats.
Once he was alone with the dogs, he opened the first kennel and sat on the floor, back against the wall with his legs crossed at the ankle. “Right then, buddy. Let’s see your file, eh?” He took the clipboard he’d snatched from outside the door and looked at it, keeping the bowl of treats by his thigh for the time being.
The dog was a male, approximately three years old, if that. The vet had made his estimation based on how the dog looked, given that it had been too scared to be handled much. They would have to put him under when they neutered him, so it would be easiest to just check him through then.
All his wounds looked healed, and nothing seemed recent, for whatever reason. He was scared to death of other dogs, and if one came too close, he’d cower and growl, making him potentially dangerous.
Sighing, Leaf put the clipboard away and peered into the pile of rags in the corner. He could see it moving just enough to tell the dog was breathing in his safe little cave.
He took a piece of burger meat and rolled it into a ball, then tossed it by the dog. Nothing. He hadn’t thought the dog would be into that, anyway.
“Well, shit. I guess I’ll have to be a little bit mean to be kind. Sorry about this, buddy,” he murmured as he moved into a kneeling position and reached out to grab the edge of the blanket. He carefully pulled it away from around the dog, giving him time to retreat to the corner, and finally bundled up the blanket and moved it to the front of the kennel.
“Now, let’s try this again, shall we?” He took another piece of meat and tossed it by the dog. There was an untouched bowl of food by the door where they put the bowls for efficiency’s sake. “You’re too scared to eat here, aren’t you? Well, you’re much too thin, buddy. You need to eat something. Here, how about some cheese?” He tossed a cheese cube toward the animal, almost hitting the cowering form in the head. The dog jerked a little, but tried to appear as small as possible anyway.
Leaf decided to stay for a while longer and cataloged the injuries he could see. With the amount of scarring on the dog’s head and neck, it was obvious he’d been a bait dog. There were scars on his back too, but not as many. The ears had been cropped—and not very well, it seemed. One was bigger than the other, and it made Leaf’s jaw clench.
He tamped down the anger, knowing the dog would sense it. “You’re such a good boy, aren’t you? Such a brave little boy. You just need to figure out this new place and open up a bit.” Leaf got to his feet and moved the food bowl closer to the dog, then dropped a few pieces of meat on top of the regular food.
“You can have this back,” he murmured and carefully tossed the blanket back into the corner. Then he took the treats and clipboard and left the kennel.
The other dog was a female, and she was barely out of puppyhood. She was scared of other dogs too, but not quite as fearful of humans. She refused to leave the quiet room when they tried to walk her, because there were always other dogs outside the door in the newbie runs.
Leaf repeated what he’d done with the boy, and smiled when the girl tried to sneak closer to his treat bowl when he turned to look the other way. She froze as soon as he looked at her, but after feeding her a few pieces of cheese and meat, she wagged her tail at him a little.
“You’ll be fine, sweetheart. Just need to get Grace here and play with her a bit so you see humans and dogs can have fun together and that she’s not dangerous either.”
He brought Grace in and tossed a stuffed toy for her in the middle of the quiet room for a while. He paid no attention to the other dogs, and once Grace lost interest in the toy, Leaf put her in one of the free kennels, then went out and brought his other dogs. Husky got to fly solo, and Missy went in with Grace.
“I’ll come get you guys later. Be good,” he told them and left them there.
In his experience, exposure worked best for most scared dogs. They just had to have time to do that. He hoped his dogs would help enough for the shelter staff to be able to continue when they left for home.
Objectively Leaf knew his methods were different from some other trainers and behaviorists’ ways of doing the same job. He wasn’t sure there was a right or wrong way—apart from trying to physically force the animals to do something or hurt them on purpose—and as long as there were results and lives saved, he was happy with it and so were his clients.
LEAF WANTEDto check out the new momma dog and the puppies, so he went out and across the yard to the building with the words “Puppy Castle” on a plaque above the door. He shook his head, grinning at the name, and opened the door, just to bump into someone.
“Sorry!” he exclaimed, then looked at who exactly he’d walked into.
“Well, hello there, Leaf,” Julien, the vet working for the shelter, purred.
