Life as a Show Dog

Chapter 14

We suddenly came upon a place in the road that turned in two directions.

"Lets go this way. It feels right." I directed my pack. We turned and continued walking but this time there was no forest to shelter in at dark.

"We'll have to walk till we find some kind of shelter." I informed everyone.

"And how long will that take?" Cocoa moaned.

"I don't know, but just think about getting home to Hannah, lets all keep our spirits up so that this trip doesn't need to be awful." A variety of sounds arose.

"Come on everyone, just think about a nice, warm place. A bed to sleep on, all the food and water you could have, a friend that will stay with you forever. Come on guys, we can do this!" Shaylee howled the words of encouragement. I blinked thank you to her and she nodded.

"We all have done that already, we ran out of it." Brutis grunted.

"Well find some more, I haven't complained once this entire trip, but all you boys just moan and groan and complain."

"I'm a girl!" Cloe barked in a very angry tone.

"I haven't complained the whole time either!" Sam declared. Laughter lifted up from all the dogs but Cloe. 

"What? Have I?"

"Yep, and a lot." Scout laughed.

"Oh, I was to bust complaining to notice." More laughter followed that.

"Thats my boy." Shaylee barked proudly.

The three pups started playing around to entertain everyone and lift the mood as we continued on walking.

"Whats wrong?" I asked Cloe. "Aren't you glad to see Hannah again?"

"Ya, but nobody pays attention to me anymore, only Shaylee will even talk to me!"

"I'm sorry, Cloe, I didn't notice."

"Well sorry doesn't fix anything, it's just a useless word that we say when something happens. I want your and everyone else to prove you know I exist."

"You want to go hunting with me and Scout tonight?"

"Sure, whatever, I've only been hunting a few times before you know. Everyone treats me like a puppy in its months still. I'm over a year old! A year and two months to be exact!"

"I'm so-"

"No, don't say sorry, I understand, I'm still a puppy and that means I'm useless."

"Your not useless, Cloe!"

"Your just saying that!"

"Cloe!" I howled as she ran of to the back of the group to hang out with Shep.

"Give her time." Shaylee blinked as she trotted up to me.

"What can I do?!." I growled, "I don't know much about taking care of pups, or a girl!"

"I didn't know anything about taking care of pups when I was about to have mine. I knew nothing, I was really worried and thought they would all die because I had never been a mother before. But the moment I saw then my instincts kicked in and I knew what to do."

"How does that help me?"

"Follow your instincts, Jake, like how you knew which way we should go on this road. They wan't fail you. Cloe is just at a stage in life probably, she doesn't think she's worth anything and that nobody loves here. I remember going through that stage as a puppy, my mom helped my through  it. It's actually a good stage."

"Why is it good?"

"Because, when she learns that she's wrong, well, she will learn that she can be wrong at things. She will learn that she has much use in life and that nobody hates her. My mom taught me that, she said never to forget those words."

"Wow, thank you, Shaylee, your a big help."

"Any time, Jake." She turned around and walked back to her sons. I continued leading the pack along the side of the road and it soon got dark. I was to bust thinking about what Shaylee told me to notice though.

"Jake, there's some trees over there." Scout pointed his muzzle to the right, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Could we stop and rest there? There's some puddles it looks like too, but no prey."

"Sure." I turned to the right and lead the dogs to the trees. Many of then immediately stopped to lap up the puddles. Cloe walking up to me, dragging her feat, and gave me a hard stare. 

"Scout, hunting with me and Cloe?" I quickly called over.

"Sure." He simple barked.

We left the trees and padded across the nearby field. We only caught two rabbits and four mice, but at least it was something.

"You did a great job hunting." I complemented Cloe.

"Whatever." She growled.

"I want to talk to you." I ran in front of her to stop her from walking away.

"Fine." She growled rudely. We walked over to a quiet area where I talked to her about what Shaylee said. She soon quick looking angry and started looking interested. We chatted for awhile and I got caught up on what was going on in my not so little sister's mind. After our chat we trotted over to the prey pile and ate with the rest of the pack. I finally felt like Cloe's brother again! Now my sister and I understood each other well again! When Cloe laid down to sleep I trotted over to Shaylee to tell her the good news. We chatted for a moment till I started yawning. Soon the whole pack was asleep and I felt at peace. The night felt short though, sunrise came too fast for me and we had t continue our journey today. We trudged along the hard road, occasionally moving to the side to avoid cars. 

"I hope we reach the town today." I mumbled to myself.

"Me too." Scout mumbled next to me. I jumped and Scout started laughing.

"You always seem to be right there when I talk to myself." I barked.

"Yep." Scout laughed. We started chatting and I told him all about my talk with Cloe and Shaylee. When I finished Scout told me about the adventure he had with his pups.

"We apparently climbed up a hill and found a hedgehog with only two legs and no head dancing on a rainbow." Scout laughed.

"Shep started dancing with the hedgehog and Sam killed them, Sawyer ate them both. I was a Great Pyrenees and I ate Sawyer, Sam killed me and ate me though before anything else could happen."

"Lots of eating involved."

"Yep."

"Your pups are something."

"Yep, they are just like me, well when I was little."

We stopped to drink from a small lake running next to the road then continued on, no sign of the town yet though. 

"In a car I think it only took a few hours to one day." I questioned.

"It took one day from the nearest town, which is the one you come from, I was caught there too. I heard that 15 minutes in a car is 3 hours in human walking time. So it makes sense why this trip is taking so long."

"Ya."

We walked on, the trip was getting colder every few days and prey was getting even lower. Dead leaves flew into our fur and Shaylee's puppies complained even more. I wondered how long really was left. Did we go the wrong way?