My Own Medicine ¦ TomTord

Chapter Twenty: Should've Bet On It

Only after a few months did Tord realise that Pepper was not going to be the big and scary guard dog he was expecting her to be. At about 4 months, she was still little but strangely one of her ears started standing up. Just like a German Shepherd. But her coat did not look like one. Rather, it was like a mix between a black and white Springer Spaniel and a Yorkshire Terrier. Still, Tord fed her a healthy diet like she was going to grow up to be a tank.

Pepper had a white snout peppered with black freckles and a solid black mask around her eyes. Her body had a roan pattern with a black saddle on her back and a white and soft belly. Her tail curled upwards slightly and had a white tip. Pepper's fur seemed to be medium length, maybe a bit shaggy around the base of her ears.

Then, at 6 months old, her ears seemed to stand up on their own. Tord was almost confident she was a Spaniel mix until then. He speculated and hoped she might be mixed with a German Shepherd or Malinois because of her ears. But her height and overall physique didn't match that. According to Tom's research, she'd be about medium size and would have a loud bark.

Tom was the one stressing out and taking the puppy to the vet every few months. He was the anxious parent. Meanwhile, Tord focused on feeding and training. No puppy will not know how to sit and heel on his watch. And in that category, Pepper was doing good! She was a smart little puppy and picked up on new tricks pretty quickly. She was a high-energy and needy dog. Needy in the sense that she would not let anyone sleep if she hadn't had her daily walk where she could sniff everything and bark at stray cats. And as Tord's leg was getting better, he was happy to get some fresh air with his dog.

On this specific day, Pepper was being loaded up into Tord's car. She had a special spot in the back of the car. Actually, the whole back of Tord's vintage shit box now had a seat covering for dogs.

"Come on Pepper, up!"

The puppy tilted her head as she recognised the command. She wiggled her tail before making a leap and landing on the soft fabric of the seat cover with a yip.

"Good girl," He smiled before closing the door. "Watch your tail!"

Visiting his parents was always a bit stressful for Tord. He kind of rarely talked to them after his injury. They didn't even know Tord had a dog. Or he was kind of together with Tom. Of course, they had their suspicions, but still. He had called the night before just to let them know he'd be coming over. But he didn't mention anything about the puppy or how he was doing health-wise.

Nonetheless, he got into the driver's seat, released the handbrake, went into first gear, and started driving.

Pepper became very excited when entering unfamiliar roads. The puppy started howling and whimpering and barking at the window. Paul and Patryck lived in an old suburban neighbourhood. Their neighbours were mostly old grandma's and grandpa's. It was a bit away from the main city so Tired had to drive through a nice deal of farmlands to get to his parents' house. Seeing the sheep and chief caused Pepper to lash out even more, which annoyed Tord.

"Sh! Pepper!" tired Tord scolded her. But she continued with her howling all the way into old people suburbia.

Tord stopped in the driveway, opened his back seat door and blocked it with his body so the dog wouldn't get any ideas of escaping. He put a harness on her and leashed her. He wouldn't be sure how she'd handle his parents and new people in general.

"Okay. Good girl... You can hop out of the car now..."

Pepper went sniffing and took a wee on the perfectly green grass. You could tell barely anyone owned dogs by how perfect their yard was. No splotchy yellow grass anywhere.

Then, Tord tugged on her leash and walked to the front door. He knocked before opening it. He stepped into the carpeted for it the living room and took off his shoes. Also wiping little Pepper's paws before letting her come inside.