Chapter 13
The following Tuesday evening, Alice pulled up into the crunchy gravel car park outside the green-painted Dogs Trust buildings. She was running late because it was only as she was about to leave the house that she’d realised she should wear something other than the dog-walking clothes she’d lived in for the past month.
‘Come on then,’ she said, unclipping Bear so he could jump from the car, the hurt paw a distant memory in his chunky little head. She gathered in her arms all the things she’d been asked to bring – treats, a blanket favoured by the dog, a toy, and some food stuffed in one of the rubbery butt-plug-looking chew toys.
She took a breath, her eyes automatically doing a dynamic risk assessment of the grounds. Bear pulled at his harness, desperate to get inside, like he knew this was All About Him. ‘Stop pulling,’ she hissed. ‘You’re going to embarrass me before we’ve even started.’
He ignored her of course and got as far as the door in record speed, and pushed his nose against the glass, tail wagging.
‘Well, hello,’ said a woman in a purple Dogs Trust T-shirt who opened the door, addressing Bear. ‘You’re a big boy, you must be Bear.’
He, of course, jumped up on his hind legs and embraced the woman, showing Alice up further.
‘Oh thank you so much,’ the woman said. ‘I can see we have a very friendly one on our hands.’
Alice nodded. ‘So we need help with the jumping up and the pulling, please. He just wants to meet and be best friends with everyone.’The opposite of me.
‘No problem, he’ll be a very polite young man by the end of these five weeks. Come in, come in. I’m Geraldine.’
Alice and Bear were led to a chair with a bowl of water next to it, set up at the end of the room. Alongside their section were four identical set-ups, each separated by a low, Dogs Trust divider.
Geraldine explained to Alice that there was plenty of time, and three other dogs and their humans would be coming along today, and each family was to take a seat in their own space and put the dog’s blanket down beside them, and try and get their pups to settle.
‘Lie down,’ Alice asked of Bear, who ignored her and tried to walk around his section on as wide a berth as his lead and harness would allow him. ‘Bear, come here, lie down.’
He stopped and looked at her.What’s in it for me?
Alice glanced at Geraldine, who was facing the other way, heading back towards the main entrance, so she pulled a treat from her pocket – one of the bacon flavour ones she knew Bear really liked – and bribed him back over to her.
He skipped back over and snaffled it from her hands, even making a move to lie down, until his head whipped around to the door.
‘INCOMING!’ someone bellowed, chuckling, and in raced an eager dog with dark fur, long white legs and big pointy ears on an extendable lead, followed by a large, jolly man. Both looked as if they could have shared a can of Red Bull on their way over here, with the dog bouncing straight over her barrier and tangling herself around a bemused Bear, and her owner pink and smiling and jogging after her.
‘Evening,’ he said. ‘This is Pearl! She never runs out of energy, but I tell you, she’s improved my fitness levels no end. I have to run to keep up with her, but I have been known to pick her up and carry her on her walks sometimes when I don’t have it in me – don’t tell my wife.’ He winked. ‘I’m Barry, by the way.’
‘Hello,’ Alice answered, freeing Bear who was happily bopping Pearl on the back with his paw while she kept wriggling her bum at him like a woman who knew what she wanted. ‘I’m Alice; this is Bear.’
‘He’s a big boy. That’s a proper dog. Pam, look at this proper dog,’ he called to a woman – his wife, Alice presumed – who was struggling through the door with Pearl’s full bed and a huge bag of toys and treats, as though she was moving her into the Dogs Trust centre for the next five weeks.
‘Ooh, look at him!’ Pam said. ‘Pearl, he’d make a lovely boyfriend for you, very manly.’
‘What type o’ dog is he?’ asked Barry. ‘A St Bernard?’
‘A Bernese Mountain Dog.’
‘A Burmese Mountain Dog, eh? Where’s he from, then, Burma? Must be hot for his kind over there.’
‘Actually from Bern, in Switzerland. Bernese,’ said Alice. She then felt rude for correcting him, so asked, ‘How about Pearl, what type of doggie is she?’
‘Switzerland!’ piped up Pam. ‘Lovely, we went there for our honeymoon. Lots of mountains, there.’
‘Beautiful place. Pearl’s a bit of Collie, bit of Pointer, lot of pain in the backside,’ said Barry affectionately.
The thing Alice was learning about dog owners was that their worlds often revolved around their beloved hounds. Not necessarily all the time, but when they met other dog owners their pooches were a constant source of conversation, knowledge-swapping and anecdotes. Nobody asked personal questions. Nobody was talking about the state of the world. Nobody discussed trauma and inner demons. It was all about the dogs, and Alice liked it.
As the room filled with more puppies and people, and the dogs went berserk trying to be best friends with everyone in the room, Alice settled into her corner and relished the anonymity.
Geraldine in her purple T-shirt positioned herself at the front of the room and talked them all through the format of the next five weeks. Pearl, in the section next to hers, was paying no attention to Geraldine and staring at Barry pleadingly, piercing woofs escaping as she tried to make him throw an imaginary tennis ball. Bear sat beside Alice, craning his neck to watch her.
