How Green Becomes Wood

"That sounds like a great plan," Cooger replied and led them to the puppy area. They didn't let most people in with the dogs, so they wouldn't be stressed out, but there was a viewing window where a mother dog was laying down as a whole litter of puppies, who were all near being old enough to adopt out but not quite there, were scampering around, "I guess they have a huge wait list because everyone wants these dogs. The adults they keep just kind of get to wander."
 
"Aw, so cute! Almost as cute as kittens!" Alec cooed, practically plastered against the viewing window.

Xander nodded as he studied the dogs. "They look healthy and not obviously poorly bred or anything. Don't know much about dogs, though. If I got one, I'd want to give it a job."

"Like what?" Alec asked, watching a strikingly colored puppy playing.

"No idea. Probably not going to get a dog, anyway, so I don't have to think about it."
 
"Where you live right now, kid, I think the most employed dog you can get is an emotional support dog," Cooger said, watching the puppies play, "Out in the suburbs you don't have much of a need for a working dog."
 
"You've also got agility courses," Xander pointed out. "Or rescue, like search and rescue. Maybe a therapy dog for visiting hospitals and stuff. Or guarding. Guarding is a job to a dog."
 
"Agility isn't a working dog," Cooger argued, "That's just a fancy dog who can jump real good. You'd have to talk to your folks about a guard dog, but when I don't think Daizi is too comfortable with 'em. She gets nervous around any dog who is taught to be aggressive."
 
"Agility is a heck of a lot of work, and the dog views it as a job," Xander argued back, "and guard dogs are not taught to be aggressive. That's a bad wrap they've gotten that's not fair to them. There's a difference between teaching a dog to guard and protect its people and people buying an aggressive dog and encouraging it to be bitey. Guard dogs get almost as much training as a service dog."
 
"That's a conversation for your parents at least while you're still there, all I know is conversations they had when they were discussing how to train Enkidu," Cooger said casually, not all that bothered since it wasn't his life. "Anyway, these are golden retrievers, and I always like my pets just getting to be pets."
 
"I'm not looking for a guard dog, and I like the idea of pets being pets until it's a working dog that'll go crazy without something to do or somethingto take the edge off. That's just cruel. Like when people get a collie dog without taking their energy level into account and stick them in an apartment while they are out at work," Xander pointed out.

"I bet these pretty dogs think their job is to supervise this place," Alec remarked.
 
"Well yeah, that's why you shouldn't adopt those breeds unless you have a purpose for them, but I guess I think it's better to have a task you need a dog for rather than getting a dog and trying to find a task you can have 'em do." Cooger replied, wondering how his friends handled these boys all the time, "These are golden retrievers, so I bet they think their job is to meet all the people and be pet."
 
"Okay, now that makes sense," Xander agreed. He looked at the dog. "Oh, they are totally supervisors, and getting pet is part of the job. The getting paid part."

Alec laughed. "Totally!"
 
"What are those?" Alec asked, reluctantly pulling away as some children came up, trying to see the puppies.

Xander shook his head and started walking away with Alec. "Sounds like either a shoe or beer commercial."
 
"Y'all haven't seen Air Bud? Man, those are some great movies," Cooger said, walking on with them, "They're these movies about this dog who gets to play sports. The first one, the best one, is about basketball, 'cause there ain't no rule saying a dog can't play basketball."
 
"And they made multiple of these?" Xander asked, nonplussed. "Why?"

"I'm guessing he does awesome and helps the team win the day?" Alec asked cheerfully, looking for the shop. "Very feel-good!"
 
"I don't even remember if they won the first one. I know at some point the dog had puppies and the puppies had superpowers but I had long aged out of them by then. I was in my early 20s by then. The first one came out when I was seven, they're great when you're seven." Cooger said as he walked into the main shop area, "I really just watched the Basketball one and the Football one. I don't know if I saw the third more than once but I was probably about 10 when it came out so the whole dog playing sports schtick was wearing off."
 
"That sounds adorable!" Alec chirped.

"That sounds deplorable," Xander drawled.

Alec would have said more, but then he saw all the sparkle and cool decor, and all other thought got crowded out of his head. He scurried inside and started doing his best attempt to see literally everything. Xander went for the hanging ornaments to look through those.
 
"I don't know if they hold up," Cooger shrugged, walking after them, looking around the place with his hand in his pocket, "Are y'all gonna take a picture with Santa this year? You gotta tell him what you want for Christmas. You're running out of time."
 
Xander snickered. "Nah, I'm good. I don't need anything for Christmas. I got a whole bedroom! I got to move without leaving behind something really important to me. I think that's enough." He carefully picked out a candle ornament and looked it over. This looked nice, and it kind of made him think of the stories of candles in the window on a dark night. That was nice. He held onto it and continued to look.

Alec didn't answer because he hadn't heard, lost in a forest of garlands. He had three thrown about his neck already and was looking at a fourth, a red and white one striped like a candy cane. He knew he could get them all, but it was hilarious fun to do this!
 
"I'm glad you think so, 'cause I worked hard getting that room built," Cooger told Xander before walking over to Alec, lightly picking up one of the garlands draped over him, "You know, I can't quite recall, but I think you did this last year too."
 
"Oh, I did," Alec said happily and added the red and white one to his stack so he could pick up a dark, vibrant red one. "It's enormously satisfying. I'm trying to find a good color that will go with the tree as well as both wooden and non-wooden ornaments, but there are so many! It's so beautiful!"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top