Dusty

by Jane B. Mason

  “Shelby!” Alice shouted her best friend’s name. Shelby tried to duck her head, but it was too late. Alice launched herself through the crowd and practically tackled her in a hug. “I can’t believe I found you! Oh!” Alice leaped back when she felt something wriggling between them. Dusty! “Oops! Sorry! I almost squished your boyfriend,” Alice said loudly.

  Too loudly. Shelby’s jaw dropped open and then clamped tightly shut when she saw Ryan with the rest of their crew right behind Alice. She hoped he hadn’t heard Alice. Ryan had on a cloak, Gryffindor tie, and Harry Potter glasses. He looked extra cute and his smile was extra wide, which wasn’t helping. He stepped around Alice and took off his glasses … as if Shelby wouldn’t recognize him with them on. Shelby stepped back. The tree behind her and the surging crowd kept her from receding. Why was Ryan coming so close? She thought he hated her. Morgan’s butterfly mask might have worked to conceal her identity at a distance, but he was standing right there! She wondered if he was finally going to tell her off for being such a klutz at the movies.

  “Hi,” Ryan said. Shelby was speechless. She wanted him to use his wand to make her disappear!

  Dusty stretched his neck out toward Ryan as Shelby whirled. She stepped around the tree and tried to find a path through the crowd.

  “Shelby, wait.”

  She felt a hand on her arm.

  “I just want to talk to you.” Ryan didn’t sound mad. He sounded like he was asking for a favor.

  Shelby stopped. She pulled off her mask. Slowly she turned around.

  “Are you mad at me or something?” Ryan asked.

  “Me?” Shelby asked. Why would she be mad? “No. I … I thought you were mad.”

  Ryan kicked at a pebble on the ground and stepped aside to let Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man pass by. “Then why didn’t you return any of my messages?” he asked.

  Shelby blinked. She was confused. “What messages?”

  “I texted, I called …” Ryan’s eyes widened almost to the size of his round HP glasses. “You never got my messages?”

  Shelby shook her head no. “Maybe you had the wrong number,” she said softly. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d been miserable for weeks and all for—

  “Shelby, let’s go!” The biggest tabby on the block suddenly grabbed Shelby’s arm and started pulling. “We’re wasting time. Dad’s picking us up at nine thirty, and I only have a quarter of my pillowcase filled. Come on!” Juniper yanked again and bumped into Ryan. She stepped back and scowled. Shelby thought it was lucky she didn’t hiss. “Who are you?” Juniper demanded.

  “Ryan, this is my little sister, Juniper. She’s annoying,” Shelby said through gritted teeth. “And she’s going to have to wait a moment.” She locked eyes with Juniper and stared her down. Juniper pouted but settled.

  “Is that a bat in your jacket?” Ryan asked, ignoring the sister struggle and suddenly noticing Dusty peeking out of Shelby’s coat.

  Dusty sat up and wagged faster.

  “He’s a dog! Duh,” Juniper blurted.

  Shelby shot her another look, and Ryan started in with his explosion of sneezes. “Are you okay?” Shelby asked. Ryan had his face buried in the crook of his elbow.

  “That’s. A. Dog,” he managed to say between sneezes.

  “That’s what I said.” Juniper rolled her eyes. This guy was not too bright.

  “I’m. Allergic. To. Dogs.” Ryan punctuated every word with a sneeze. “Super. Allergic.”

  Shelby backed up. “Oh! I’m sorry.” She felt a moment of relief. The sneezing fit made sense now! Then she felt the despair rush right back in. She lived on a dog-training ranch! Her life revolved around dogs! She would always have something dog on her! “I better get him away from you.”

  “No, wait.” Ryan’s sneezing slowed enough that he could get in a few words before each new nose explosion. “It’s okay,” he said. “Next time. We go to. The movies. I’ll be sure to. Take. Allergy medicine.” He smiled, red-eyed. “He’s cute,” he added, pointing at Dusty and backing away.

  “Yep,” Shelby muttered, watching Ryan go with a dazed smile. “He is the cutest.”

  Pedro approached the canine pavilion, whistling happily. Though he’d missed having Dusty snuggling against him while he slept the night before, he couldn’t have been happier about the pup’s first assessment. And he also couldn’t deny liking the sense of satisfaction he got knowing that his (and Shelby’s) hunch about the tiny pup had so far been correct. Dusty was destined for great things, and Pedro felt certain today was the day that Roxanne would officially agree to begin the Chihuahua’s training.

  When he pulled open the door to the pavilion, his whistling stopped and his lips parted into a broad smile. Sitting on the counter was a large bowl of candy left by the Sterling kids—mostly Juniper, because her sweet tooth was almost as big as his and she always got the biggest trick-or-treat haul. It was well known that Pedro liked anything sweet, so they always forked over their “unwanted” candies. Usually he looked forward to the post-Halloween candy bowl for weeks, but he’d been so distracted by Dusty this year he’d actually forgotten. It was a welcome surprise. His pace quickening, he stepped up to the counter and pawed through the fun-sized treats to select a few that would go well with his second cup of coffee.

  He was unwrapping a Mounds when Georgia arrived with Roxanne on her heels. “Oh good, you’re already here,” Georgia said. It wasn’t even seven o’clock—they were all up early. “I wanted to talk to you both about Dusty.”

  Pedro stopped chewing for a second, wondering what this meant. He hoped it wasn’t a curveball.

  “I couldn’t sleep last night because I was thinking about that little pup and how comforting he has been to Shelby,” Georgia began, pushing her dark curls over her shoulders. “I absolutely agree that he is special, and that he should be trained. I just wonder if he’s meant to be a comfort or service animal instead of a SAR dog … if he might be more successful on a service path. Dusty is exceptionally good at comforting humans. Every single one of us has fallen for him.” She paused for a breath, but Pedro knew she wasn’t finished. Knowing Georgia, she was probably just getting started.

  “He’s the perfect size to ride in a wheelchair, and he’s already traveled on an airplane. He’s attentive to humans and could probably be trained as a hearing dog or to help a person with limited mobility, or someone dealing with anxiety or PTSD …” She trailed off, as if she had run out of words. Pedro noticed that sometime during Georgia’s speech Roxanne had started to nod in agreement, and he sighed internally. Until that moment he’d thought Dusty had convinced Roxanne of his SAR potential, but apparently the little dude had more work to do.

  “I hear you,” Pedro said, thinking his words through. “We all agree Dusty is special, and I can see how you’d think his size and his personality would lend themselves to therapy or service work. But there’s no denying his resilience, determination, and drive, and many of the dogs who have come to us have been trained for service work but end up failing because they have too strong a prey drive or too much energy, or both. We all saw Dusty with that stuffed bear yesterday …”

  Roxanne’s foot was tapping soundlessly on the polished concrete floor. Though she had her doubts, everything Pedro was saying was true. And she could tell that she wasn’t going to be able to change his mind about Dusty no matter what she said.

  “He did extremely well on the initial evaluations,” Pedro added. “I think he has earned himself the right to try a few tracking exercises.”

  Roxanne’s foot stilled and her gaze traveled back to Georgia’s face. The more they discussed this, the more it became clear that the only way to know for sure was to keep working with Dusty and see what came of it. “You have some terrific points, Georgia,” she said. “But since we don’t train service dogs, I think we owe it to the pup to see if he has the skill set for the kind of training we do do, and that’s SAR work.”

  Georgia’s eyes moment
arily flashed disappointment but quickly cleared. She was a realist, and she’d only been making a suggestion. “All right, then, let’s see how he does with training and tracking.” She smiled. “Thanks to both of you for hearing me out.”

  “Of course,” Pedro replied honestly. One of the things he loved about Sterling ranch was the mutual respect among the people who ran it. Nobody had to be in charge for the sake of power—it was all about the dogs and their potential to help save lives. Everybody understood that nothing was more important than that.

  Later that morning, Roxanne took Dusty out to the training grounds for round two. Shelby and Pedro had both wanted to come along, but Roxanne had given them a firm no. They needed Dusty to be as distraction free as possible for this assessment. So Pedro went to a meeting at the local fire department to discuss the possible creation of SAR canine/handler teams, while Shelby followed her siblings out the door to the school bus stop. Shelby was a little disappointed but felt better than she had in a long while. She had been up texting with Ryan for almost an hour before her mom took her phone away. They weren’t officially boyfriend and girlfriend, but they were definitely a thing.

  With Forrest and Morgan also at school, and a new dog thrown in the mix, Roxanne was short on training help. She reached out to Eloise first. Eloise had worked on the ranch as a training assistant, especially a victim, on several occasions, and had recently applied for the job of assistant trainer.

  For canine help, Roxanne chose Radar, a large black Lab who was mid-stream in his training and, for the most part, easy to work with. Radar’s only issue was his occasional insecurity. As was the case with many strays, Roxanne didn’t know what exactly had happened to Radar before he came to the ranch, but he took several weeks to gain trust and was still a sensitive guy. He needed regular reassurance and plenty of love when he wasn’t working. This morning, though, he seemed confident and eager to work.

  Out on the training grounds, Eloise left a scent pad—a particular spot laden with her smell—for both Radar and Dusty. Once she was hiding, she radioed Roxanne, who emerged from the pavilion with the dogs. Radar and Dusty made a comical pair. Radar’s gait was lumbering and intentional, while Dusty’s legs moved so fast the four blurred into one! Dusty was so much smaller than the Lab that two of him stacked on top of each other wouldn’t have reached the underside of Radar’s belly. Radar wore his red SAR vest, while Dusty wore his mostly white birthday suit. It turned out that Forrest had been right … they didn’t make SAR vests small enough for the Chihuahua, though Morgan and Shelby were working on a solution to that.

  Roxanne brought Dusty over to the shade structure and secured him to the base of the bench. Dogs who had been working with her for a few weeks could be told to sit and stay, but she didn’t expect that from Dusty, and she didn’t want to set him up to fail. He would be challenged enough this morning already. “Good boy,” she told him. “Stay.” Dusty wagged at her as she departed for the middle of the training area with Radar, but his haunches didn’t leave the ground.

  At the scent pad, Roxanne gave the Lab some positive cues and waited for him to focus on her. Radar set his nose to the ground and inhaled for a good minute, fully waking up his scenting skills and taking in Eloise’s smell. When he looked up again, Roxanne gave the command.

  “Find!”

  Radar didn’t need any reminders. His usual lumbering pace shifted into one of purpose, and he traced Eloise’s steps, following the trail of skin cells—imperceptible to humans but stronger than stinky cheese to dogs—that she had shed along her path. Within five minutes Radar had found her and was barking the alert. While Dusty wagged and wagged and pulled slightly on his leash, Radar kept barking until Roxanne found him and his “victim.” Then he got his reward—a game of tug-of-war with a piece of thick rope knotted on both ends.

  While Roxanne led Radar to the shade shelter to swap out dogs, Eloise found a new place to hide near the rubble pile. Roxanne waited patiently until she felt confident that she was well situated, then introduced Dusty to the scent pad. Dusty, for his part, didn’t seem the slightest bit interested. He didn’t even put his nose to the ground.

  “It’s a clue, buddy,” Roxanne said. “It’s right here. Take a sniff.” Dusty looked up at her, his ears pricked high. He didn’t seem to be catching on.

  “Dusty, here. Smell here.”

  “Yip!” Dusty replied, but did not lower his nose.

  “You’re killing me, dude,” Roxanne murmured, surprised by her feelings of disappointment. Dusty becoming a SAR dog still seemed impossible to her, but she found herself wanting him to prove her wrong, to show her he had the goods. Roxanne loved an underdog. Literally.

  “Yip!” Dusty barked again. He was now sitting right on top of the scent pad and looking up at her very intently. “Yip, yip!” Roxanne could sense his eagerness to get to it, so she didn’t hesitate any longer.

  “Dusty, find!” she said.

  Dusty was off like a miniature cannon. Instead of tracking the trail left on the ground, though, he kept his nose in the air, sniffing. He honed in on Eloise’s scent quickly and moved fast. Roxanne had to speed walk to keep up! She knew that Eloise hadn’t hidden in the pile—that would have been too dangerous, even for a dog with alleged agility.

  As Roxanne followed Dusty to the rubble pile, she realized her mistake. Eloise had been instructed to hide on the far side of the pile, and Dusty was headed straight for it. The fearless pup was taking the most direct route … over and through it!

  “Dusty!” she called. He looked so tiny as he started to scale the scrap heap. He stopped and turned to her, balancing on a piece of pipe. Roxanne hesitated. This was crazy! But she remembered what the others had said about his agility, and Dusty himself had chosen his route. Letting him take it would give her a chance to see for herself. She took a deep breath, deciding to trust the little dog’s instincts. “Find!” she called.

  Dusty scrambled up and over the pile without toppling any of the balanced debris. His tiny size really was a remarkable asset! He located the rottweiler lady on the far side and started to bark like he’d heard the bigger dog do. No training required!

  “Yip! Yip, yip, yip, yip!”

  Roxanne made her way to the pair as quickly as she could. She checked her stopwatch for the dog’s time, and her own when she arrived. Dusty had found Eloise in an incredible nine minutes, and it had taken her another six to get to him because she had to take the long way around! She gave him a liver treat and pulled Bear out of her bag.

  “Yip!” Dusty let out a final bark and spun in circles. He loved Bear. He loved working and finding people. He loved treats!

  “He’s pretty incredible,” Eloise commented with a smile as she pulled bits of debris from her light-brown hair.

  Roxanne stared down at the remarkable runt in happy shock. He might have other limitations, but there was no denying that this could easily be the best first “find” she’d ever seen.

  Pedro sat in his office in the handlers’ lodge tapping his fingers on his desk. He’d been working on a new PowerPoint presentation for several hours and was feeling a little twitchy—class prep wasn’t a particular strength even though it was an important part of his job. And while his command of English was strong—he was fluent—every once in a while he came across something that he could only explain accurately in Spanish. He rubbed his temples, then sat back and focused his eyes on the photos of SAR handler-and-dog teams who had trained on the ranch … a welcome relief. His eyes strayed to the clock on the wall. It was 4:34 p.m., almost quitting time. He needed to wrap things up! If only he weren’t so distracted about how his favorite Chihuahua was faring with Roxanne. He gave himself a little pep talk and was returning his attention back to his presentation when three of the Sterling kids burst into his office still wearing their backpacks.

  “He’s a scenter!” Shelby shouted gleefully.

  “An air scenter,” Morgan corrected. “All SAR dogs are scenters, Shelby.” Shelby was so e
xcited for Dusty and in such a great mood that she didn’t even respond to being corrected by her little sister. Who cared? In addition to Dusty passing his assessment with flying colors (they had raced straight to Roxanne for the report), she’d sat by Ryan in history and lunch today, and he didn’t sneeze once!

  Pedro sat back in his chair and absorbed their excitement … another welcome relief from his PowerPoint. Their jubilation filled the room and mixed with his own. He couldn’t help it; he was proud of his former roommate. By the time Roxanne appeared in the doorframe with Dusty on a lead, the small office was positively buzzing.

  Pedro raised his chin slightly at Roxanne, smiling broadly. “Tell me everything,” he said.

  Roxanne smiled back, sheepishly. “You were right, and I should have listened,” she replied with a tiny bow.

  Pedro threw his head back in laughter. “I didn’t mean for you to say I was right,” he told her, his dark eyes sparkling. “I just want to hear what happened today!”

  Roxanne shook her head, bemused. “Oh, that!” She reached into the bowl of candy on Pedro’s desk and chose a strawberry Laffy Taffy. Unwrapping it and popping it into her mouth, she let the anticipation build while she chewed and swallowed.

  “Yip!” Dusty let out a bark, as if to say, “Tell them already!”

  “I have to admit I was skeptical when we started, and even more skeptical when he completely ignored the scent pad. He didn’t lower his nose to it for a single second!”

  “Because he didn’t need to!” Shelby interrupted.

  The corner of Roxanne’s lips curved upward. “Apparently not. The moment I gave the command, he ran straight for the rubble pile. I’d told Eloise to hide behind the pile, not even considering that he would choose to go over it. But that’s exactly what he did, and found Eloise immediately.”