High in Trial - By Donna Ball Page 0,36
I admit shouldn’t be used in crowded rooms or after midnight in public places, is enough to bring Cisco to a screeching halt and cause any other dog to snap to attention. In fact, Flame did whip her head around to look at me, her ears going down guiltily. Cisco fixed his gaze on the wood line and barked.
I gave the leash a quick sharp tug, just to get his attention, and finally he looked at me. “Cisco, heel!”
He looked at the trees and back at me with an expression that suggested he thought he might have misunderstood. Flame whined. I said firmly, “Wrong.” And tugged the leash again. Reluctantly, Cisco came to heel.
“Maybe if you’d mentioned the bacon,” Miles murmured.
“I’ll meet you at the car,” I told him.
He went right and I went left, and as we crossed the parking lot toward the office, it took all my focus to keep the dogs’ attention on me rather than the steady stream of canines headed out for their morning walk. As we came under the portico, I heard someone call hello, and I turned to see Aggie and Ginny with Gunny coming toward us. I waited for them.
Gunny was a gorgeous, high-stepping golden retriever who looked happy to greet the world this morning, and Cisco was equally as happy to greet him. This was where all of our Canine Good Citizen training came in handy, and we had plenty, since Cisco had failed the CGC test twice. Flame was no problem, tucking herself into a shy sit and half hiding behind my legs, but Cisco could barely contain himself, licking his lips and pounding his tail on the concrete, until Ginny and Gunny reached us and I gave him a quiet “say hello” command.
“He has such good manners!” exclaimed Ginny, and I managed not to roll my eyes as I watched the two dogs sniff and circle each other.
Aggie was only a few steps behind. “Who is that you have there?”
“It’s Flame,” I told her. “We found her running loose this morning. Have either of you seen Marcie? She must be going crazy with worry.”
Ginny shook her head and spoke softly to Flame as she reached to pet her. “Poor thing. She’s a mess.”
Aggie pursed her lips. “I know it’s not nice to say, but don’t you think it’s a little strange, almost tit for tat, that after Neil’s dog got loose yesterday it should be Flame who’s running around loose this morning?”
Of course I did, but it wasn’t nice to say. I said, “You don’t happen to know what room she’s in, do you?”
Aggie shook her head, and Ginny straightened up from petting Flame. “I wonder if that was Bryte we heard barking this morning. If she went out looking for Flame, she could have left Bryte in the room alone.”
“It sounded like it was on the other side of the building, though,” Aggie said. “I didn’t hear it when we came out just now.”
I said, “I’m just going to run in and ask the front desk to ring her room. Do you mind holding Flame for me?” I passed the leash to Aggie, and Gunny lost interest in Cisco and began sniffing Flame. Flame, who’d had a hard morning, lifted a corner of her lip in warning. Aggie took a step backward, nudging Flame out of range, and Ginny did the same with Gunny. I love being around professional dog people. “I’ll just be a minute,” I said. “Cisco, with me.”
Cisco got his share of oohs and ahhs from the few non-dog people who were in the lobby and indulgent smiles from the other competitors who were walking through with their cups of coffee on the way to the trial site. He was awfully cute, I had to admit, now that he was out of the path of distraction and had nothing to think about but walking in perfect heel position with his head held high, his coat shimmering, and a winning grin on his face. Somebody said, “He looks just like that dog in the television commercial!” and I wanted to reply, “Which one?” Because as the whole of Madison Avenue knows, if you want to sell anything from a car to underwear, all you have to do is get a good shot of a golden retriever in the ad.
The only person who didn’t look happy to see us was the desk clerk, and I remembered too late that the hotel had a policy about dogs in