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 Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:15 pm
Griffin sat slumped in a chair in the front room of the Westwood home with her arms crossed and making a deep frown. She'd only been at camp for two weeks but her parents had hired a dog walker. A dog walker!? How could they? Duke was her little-baby-puppy! She was deeply enamored with her greyhound and really did treat him as a baby. She shared snacks with him and let him sleep on her bed, which he monopolized the space of, and didn't even get mad at him if he chewed on something off-limits! Plus she only had the one dog so she couldn't be a crazy dog lady, right? She doubted crazy ladies even came in a dog variety.
Ok, sure, she was overreacting to the news of her parents outsourcing Duke's exercise. Her parents were busy people with her dad at work and her mom now teaching summer school. She sighed and put her hand absentmindedly on the dog's head. Her parents had assured her that the young man they had hired was nice and responsible, never let Duke off the leash, and took him on good, long walks.
Yeah, well Griffin would make sure of that. She looked at her watch and then at Duke. "I think he'll be here soon. You'd better not like him more than you like me, you understand?" As though he did, Duke looked away with a snort. "Good boy." She looked out the window and waited for the dog walker to ring the bell.
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Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 3:24 am
Sedna walked, a light film of sweat coating his body and forehead from the hot summer day. He had taken this job for the last week and a half, accustomed to waking up at an early hour to execute suck tasks. One could call Sedna a fan of dogs .. or really, a fan of everything. If he disliked something, he didn't seem to show it. His motto was thta a job was a job and if he didn't have the skills to carry it out, he'd get them. Fortunately, dog-walking consisted of few skills but largely important ones. Rule one, respect. Rule two, respect, treats and punishment in moderation. Rule three? Good attitude, like always.
The doorbell rang, a whistle sounded visibly on his lips. The usual pattern was to be let in, grab the leash by the door, walk and return to feed the dog. Perhaps, playing in the park was part of the routine but Sedna tried not to spend too much time, lest the animal thought of him as someone permanent to his lifestyle.
Sedna's motto was also no permanence.
"Duke, you there?" Sedna called out, accustomed to the puppy's barks and yips of excitement .. There were sounds in the house. Was somebody else home?
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Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:57 am
Griffin watched Duke stand and walk to the door, tail wagging the whole time. Throwing a glance out the window, she didn't see anyone. Silly dog. Then the bell rang. He yipped excitedly and went between the door and his owner, as though he wanted to share with Griffin the joys of his walks. She would have preferred him to be more apathetic about the whole thing. Well, at least he liked the guy, so that had to mean that the dog walker was nice. To Duke, at least, and that's all that mattered.
She opened the door while keeping a hand on Duke's collar. Usually he'd try to run out but it seemed he only wanted to greet his friend. Finally meeting him face-to-face, Griffin realized that when her parents called him a "young man" they meant he was her age, give or take a year. She also noticed that he was very cute. Woah, Griffin, keep it together. She suppressed any blush that may have tried to rise to her cheeks and she extended her hand for shaking. "Hi, I'm Griffin. Duke's owner. I just thought I'd like to meet you and see how you two get along, since you'll probably be walking him a lot when I go back to school in the fall."
Duke let his tongue hang out in what looked like a smile. It seemed he was thinking 'New friend and Best friend, a perfect day!' Griffin glanced back at her dog and gave him a pat and a smile.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 1:54 am
Sedna was surprised to see a female in the doorway. While that moment of surprise showed initially on his expression, the visible widening of his eyes and slight sound of surprise, his hand reached outwards to shake hands with Griffin, whom he now knew, Duke's true love.
"Yo! So you're Duke's best friend! The little guy's always been telling me all about you. We finally get to meet! You've raised a cutie here." Sedna knelt down to pet the pup eagerly and perhaps a little roughly but that was what bros did. Duke and Sedna were bros. Male to male bonding. Never quite the same as male to female bonding though.
"So you're coming with us on our walk today, Ms. Griffin? It'll be a pleasure having you-- He's missed you a lot. It seems that I've only been a poor replacement for you. But we've gotten to be good buds, right, Duke?" Sedna's hand met Duke's tongue, shielding his face. Bros did not kiss each other-- That was the lesson Duke had failed to learn this past week.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:38 pm
She may have missed the equal exchange of surprise when seeing each other, but Griffin's smile showed just how proud she was of her dog. The way to getting on her good side was by complimenting Duke, for sure. She was almost beaming at her little pride and joy. She said, "I'm so glad you two get along! My parents said you were good, I just didn't know how good."
Duke's habit of licking people in the face upon reunions (be it after five minutes or five days) was actually guiltily encouraged by Griffin. Who didn't want puppy kisses? Girls. That's who. And at least he was proper about what his tongue crossed paths with before it met a person's face. He sat at their feet and whined anxiously, pawing at the air as though he was demanding he be leashed so he could promptly try to struggle to get away after catching sight of a squirrel.
Griffin was almost taken aback at the title put before her name and she laughed. "Oh, you don't have to call me Miss. Your name is Sedna, right?" Amidst her attempt at pleasantries Duke's paw finally made contact with his owner's knee and she knelt down to clip on his leash. It was also more convenient to be eye level with Sedna instead of towering above him.
It seemed that now with two faces next to him that Duke didn't know what direction to look or which face to lick so he rubbernecked trying to get to the both of them. She laughed at the dog's antics and said, "I can see that. I'm really happy you two have become friends." She handed the leash to Sedna and stood. "Shall we get going, then?"
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