In the Dog House

Brielle stood nervously by her car, ready to climb inside if the strange dog uttered so much as a growl. Where did the dog come from? Dad had been talking about getting a dog but he didn’t mention it this morning. She was honestly excited over the idea. Her friend, Jill, had a small toy poodle that Brielle loved. But this dog wasn’t a cute poodle. She didn’t know what it was. It had markings like a Doberman, but didn’t Dobermans have perky ears?

“Dad!” she yelled again. She didn’t know what else to do. The dog didn’t look menacing but it was huge and she wasn’t the best at reading animal body language.

The front door shot open and her dad rushed out. His eyes were wide with worry.

“Brielle, what’s wrong?” he quickly asked, then paused. “Kade? How did you get out?”

Kade? Brielle watched her father go to the dog and grab it by the collar. Slowly, the tension eased from her body. So Dad did get a dog after all?

“It’s okay, sweetie. He won’t hurt you,” Dad assured her.

“You got the dog?” she asked, sounding a little nervous despite herself. It wasn’t easy to calm down after that scare.

“Yeah, your mom’s not too happy about it…” Dad frowned.

Brielle wasn’t surprised to hear that. Out of the three of them, Mom liked the idea the least.

“I thought you were getting a Doberman?”

“Oh, yeah, this is a Doberman. He just doesn’t have his ears and tail cropped. Why don’t you come over and say hi? He’s such a good dog, Brielle. You’re gonna love him.”

Brielle hesitated a second then closed the gap between them. Kade wagged his curly black tail and she realized he didn’t look so mean and scary like she originally thought. He was actually cute. She liked his floppy ears. They made him look like a friendly hound dog.

“His name is Kade?” she asked.

“Yeah. He already had the name when I bought him, but I think it suits him, don’t you?”

Brielle studied the dog for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, I think it does.”

Feeling more confident, she smiled at the dog and reached her hand out to pet him. His fur was different from the poodle. It was short and sleek, so black that it shined in the sunlight. Her hand smoothly glided over his head, scratching him behind the ears, and he seemed to like it. He was panting happily with an adorable doggy smile on his face.

“You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” she said, giving him a few more scratches.

“I’ll have to show you all the things he can do,” Dad said. “And maybe you can help me talk Mom into letting him stay inside.”

“Mom won’t let him stay inside?” Brielle frowned.

“She said he’ll stink up the house.”

Mom had always been a neat freak. It made sense she didn’t want the dog dirtying up the house. But looking at him, he didn’t look dirty. And how hard would it be to keep him clean?

“I’ll talk to her. Maybe if we agree to keep him off the furniture, she’ll change her mind,” she said.

“There’s an idea.” Dad smiled. “Plus, she’s gonna have a hard time fighting the dynamic duo.”

Brielle scoffed. They hadn’t been the dynamic duo in a long time. When she was little, they used to play superheroes. She was Wonder Woman and he was Captain America. It didn’t matter that they came from two different comic universes. It was just a fun game she liked to play with her daddy. A game she had grown out of many years ago.

“Dad…”

“I know, I know. You’re too old for that. You can’t blame me for trying, though. I miss my little girl.”

“I’ll always be your little girl,” she said, leaning over to plant a kiss on her father’s cheek. “Just not as little as I used to be.”

She knew it had been hard on him, watching her grow up and start college. But even though they weren’t as close as they used to be, she didn’t think there would ever come a time when she didn’t need him. She felt lucky to have such a loving and caring father. They would always remain close, no matter how old she was.

“I’m gonna put him in the backyard and then we can talk to your mom,” he said.

With a final pat, Brielle bid the dog goodbye. As she entered the house, she was instantly hit with the savory aroma of dinner. Mom always knew how to make good meals. It was a trait that she had passed to Brielle. Though Brielle was nowhere near her level yet.

“Brielle?” Mom called to her from the kitchen.

Brielle sauntered her way through their small house and found her mother at the stove, stirring a pot.

“Hey.” She greeted Mom with a smile.

“Are you okay? What were you screaming about?”

“I wasn’t screaming,” Brielle said. “Dad’s new dog was out. He surprised me.”

“Oh,” said Mom, and there was a hint of distaste rolling off her tongue. “Can you believe he brought that dog home?”

“I like the dog. He’s sweet.”

“He’s not sweet. He’s dirty and smelly, and I don’t want him in our house.”

Brielle frowned. She took a seat in one of the stools at the counter. She turned her head and flipped her long, blonde hair over to one shoulder before speaking. “I don’t think you’re being fair.”

“Me not being fair? Your father brought that dog home without even talking to me about it first!”

It was no surprise that Mom was being difficult about this. While Dad was a pushover, Mom had always been the complete opposite. She liked to have everything her way. And if she didn’t have it her way, she had no problem letting you know how unhappy she was about it. When Brielle was younger, it was always Mom punishing her when she got in trouble. That was probably why she had always been a daddy’s girl.

“But he did mention it. He said he was thinking about getting a dog…”

“Yes. Thinking. We never fully decided,” said Mom in a stern, unwavering tone.

Brielle let out a sigh as Dad reappeared and joined them in the kitchen. Over dinner, they put up a united front and tried to convince Mom to let the dog stay inside, but Mom stood her ground. Brielle managed to negotiate a sort of truce. Mom agreed to let the dog inside for a few hours when someone was home to watch him but otherwise, he was to stay outside. Mom got what she wanted. Just like she always did.

While Dad left to buy a dog house, Brielle went to her room and changed into some comfortable clothes. After putting her hair in a messy bun, she glanced out her bedroom window. She could see Kade. He was sitting in the yard, watching the house. Almost longingly, as if he was pouting because he couldn’t come inside.

She watched him for a couple of minutes, and it was a little strange how he was just sitting there. He wasn’t wandering around the yard. He wasn’t digging or looking for something to play with. A squirrel ran by and he didn’t even flinch. It was kind of eerie, the longer she watched him. Maybe it had something to do with him being a guard dog? During dinner, Dad filled her in on all the things Kade could do. It was surprising. She didn’t know a lot about dogs and would have never imagined one could be that smart.

She left the window and plopped down on her full-size bed. With her phone in her hands, she brought up her texts and the newest message caused her to scowl.

It was from Damien. When was he going to get it through his thick head that they were over?

She broke up with Damien nearly a month ago, but he wouldn’t let it go. He was convinced he could get her back. At first, he had tried winning her over with flowers and chocolate. When that didn’t work, he started catching her whenever she’d come out of class. After she firmly told him to leave her alone, he got more insistent. Just yesterday, he had grabbed her by the arm and yanked her, in an attempt to get her to listen to him.

She jerked away from him and told him if he touched her again, she’d call the cops. She thought that would be the end of it, but she had thought wrong.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to grab you like that. I just can’t control myself around you. You mean so much to me. I don’t want to lose you.

“You’ve already lost me. Dick,” she grumbled, dropping her phone onto her mattress with a heavy sigh.

Sitting up on the bed, she reached for the remote on her nightstand and turned on the TV. On the flatscreen was a very old movie. It was about someone using dogs to rob a bank. Doberman pinschers, to be exact. She looked from the TV screen, towards her window. Was he still sitting out there? Alone and lonely?

Climbing from her bed, she stepped over to the window, and sure enough, he was there. Pondering, she looked at her bedroom door. It shouldn’t be that hard to sneak him inside… She just needed to lock her door first. With the door securely locked to make sure Mom didn’t pop in unannounced, she pushed open the window. She felt like a teen again when she used to sneak out to hang with her boyfriend.

“Kade. Kade, come. Come here,” she called the dog, speaking in a hushed tone and gesturing with her hands. Despite her not being his master, he didn’t hesitate to rush over to the window. Could he make that jump? Her house was only one story but there was a pretty big gap from the ground to her window.

“Come on. Jump,” she said. She patted the windowsill and took a step back. In one swift motion, the dog leapt and used his paws to climb through the window. She thought he might struggle, yet his graceful actions made it look easy.

“Wow…” she said in awe. “You really are something, aren’t you?”

She reached to pet him, but to her surprise, he was suddenly jumping up. His large paws landed on her shoulders and the next thing she knew, he was licking her right on the face!

“Ugh! Ew, don’t do that!” she said, pushing him off. She used the back of her hand to wipe off her face. She wanted to be mad at him but looking down into those big, brown eyes, all she could feel was amused.

She shook her head and walked over to her bed. “You can lay on my bed, but only if you stay at the foot.”

Somehow, he seemed to understand. He hopped up onto her bed and made himself comfortable. His large black body took up almost the entire foot of her bed. There wasn’t going to be much room for her feet.

On the bed, she ended up tucking her feet under his back. With the remote in her hand, she started surfing channels. She settled on a reality TV show and, contradicting what she said, she clicked her tongue and gestured for Kade to move up beside her. He nestled in against her hip.

With a smile, she absentmindedly scratched his head. His shoulders rose and fell with a content doggie sigh. She had only just met this dog and already she could feel herself growing attached. She was really happy Dad decided to bring him home.