daughter named her, and she wasn’t quite clear on the differences between cats and dogs when we brought Keekee home.”
“Keekee as in kitty?”
“Yep. She now knows better, but she’ll call the cat our puppy just to screw with me and my wife. Lindy is now a teenager, and she’s determined to drive us mad.”
Huh. Garret was a lot older than he looked. “Obviously, I need to take lessons on how to judge someone’s age by their appearance, as I never would have imagined you are old enough to have a teenaged daughter.”
“Good genes. My wife enjoys my youthful appearance. I also enjoy telling our friends how I got caught by a cougar.”
I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh. “It sounds like you have a lovely wife. I’d love to meet the puppy, but I was figuring I’d adopt from a shelter.”
“I’ll let my sister know. She volunteers at the local shelters, and if she can find a good animal, she’d be happy to help you out. What are you looking for in a dog?”
“He or she must love other dogs, as I have planned dates with a friend’s dog. I’d also like to bring my dog to the office. I’ll need to be trained on how to be a good dog owner, though. My friend’s dog is named Annabel Lee, and she’s big, white, and fluffy, so I want my dog to be able to get along well with her.”
“I’m absolutely positive she could help you out with that. I’ll talk to her, and if she has a suitable puppy to keep you company tomorrow, I’ll bring it in.”
Good paycheck, easy access to dogs, and a flexible boss made my new job ideal, but I couldn’t help but wonder what ugliness the beautiful veneer hid. I’d learned that lesson well enough from Amy.
Beautiful things often hid thorns, and only a fool would fully trust in picture-perfect opportunities. It hadn’t stopped me from being a fool and taking the dive into my new work, but only time would tell the truth. To hide my worries, I grinned. “That sounds great.”
“The rest of the office is going to love you tomorrow, because knowing my sister? She’ll send the entire pack in with me, hoping to find good homes for everybody. As far as breeders go, she’s a weird one.”
“She is? How so?”
“She doesn’t care who buys her dogs as long as they’re going to good homes. If you don’t plan to show them, she’ll take care of having them fixed, and if you do plan to show them, she’ll help coach you on how to do it. The shows only allow intact dogs. She keeps the best of the dogs to continue her bloodlines, but she tries to get dogs in from Korea to partner with hers to keep the bloodlines as true and healthy as possible. Since there aren’t as many Jindos in America as there are golden retrievers or other popular breeds, it can be hard. Only mainland dogs can be exported out of Korea. They’re pretty territorial, but my sister works hard to train them to be territorial under direction. It can make owning one a challenge, but they’re a fun breed. My sister is one of the few registered breeders in the United States, and she only has them because her husband is Korean, and he imported his dog when he moved here. It’s really interesting trying to prevent inbreeding with their dogs because there are so few of them in the United States. Unless showing, all of her males are fixed except one, and the males are sent to live with a reputable breeder to prevent accidental breeding. Usually, they’re fixed.”
I recognized an enthusiast when I saw one, and I found it fascinating my boss had a passion for his sister’s work. “That’s amazing.”
“I think so, too. I thought it was really weird she wanted to breed dogs, but once I met her dogs, I couldn’t help but fall in love with them. I’ll probably take one of her males after Keekee passes and show him in case another breeder with a different bloodline shows up in the United States and wants to cross lines with my sister’s. Intact males are a handful to handle, but it’s worth it to preserve the breed here. They aren’t shown at the most prestigious shows, but that’s how these things go. These dogs aren’t good around cats or kittens, though. They have a reputation with small animals.”
I grimaced. “They