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“Bonnie, come here!”

Bonnie bolted upright at the excitement in her owner’s voice, her feet scratching across the wooden floor and her legs flailing due to the lack of grip. She came to a sliding halt, connecting with her owner’s legs roughly, but sitting down immediately after, like nothing happened.

Brian looked at her thoughtfully, studying the brown and white Border collie with a fake scowl. Her blue eyes were watching him intently, ready for his next command and she was obviously unable to keep her tail still, sweeping it over the floor in anticipation. “We’re gonna need carpet floors if we want to stop these collisions from happening,” he muttered, retrieving the leash from behind his back, giving Bonnie clear sight on it. She barked once, her energetic excitement too much to keep quiet.

Bonnie kept her eyes on him, carefully searching for a sign that he would finally give in and put the leash on her so that they could finally go already. She had soon learnt that the man found it particularly funny to make her wait for things, only giving in when she was obeying him perfectly. She didn’t mind; she’d been trained well and knew he would relent eventually. She jumped when he finally clicked the leash onto her collar. She had to force herself to keep sitting down, waiting for his usual command.

“Alright Bonnie,” he said, “Work.”

And then Bonnie had a job.

They walked out of the door together, walking, not sprinting. She’d learned at the training center she grew up in that humans were superior to dogs, and that they walked considerably slower than dogs. Nevertheless, they should be the first to leave the house; they should be the ones to walk in the front, not the dog. Bonnie didn’t mind in the least; she thrived at following his orders and doing her job right. His approval and happiness were what she lived for. When they reached the end of the driveway, she felt him hesitate and looked up. Normally, they’d go left into the big backyard, they’d run along the pond together and then he would pull out a ball from the pocket in his jacket and she would be off work for a glorious morning of catching ball with her owner.

But this time, Brian stood still for a remarkably long time. Bonnie sat down patiently, studying his body for any sign of trembling or fading consciousness altogether. But she didn’t smell the usual scents he gave off right before he would fall and shake. Nevertheless, she expected him to fall down and already readied herself to bark and get help if the thing happened. That was her job, and she was good at her job.

Instead, Brian slowly turned towards her, looked at her for a minute, then made his way across the street, and Bonnie hurried to follow him. She looked back at the backyard for a second, wondering why they didn’t just go in there, but was thrilled with the prospection of an entirely new adventure. She’d been living with Brian and his mate for quite some time, but had never been outside the gates and the thought of the world of new scents beyond her borders was making her limbs electric with excitement and giddiness. It was incredibly hard to ignore the urge to run in front of him and explore the area, but she knew that that would be really rude.

The neighborhood was quiet this early, but Bonnie could clearly smell other dogs and it made her even more excited. She didn’t usually see a lot of other dogs, other than Tyke of course. Tyke was mean though, and very bad behaved. She often found herself looking down on him, both literally and as a matter of speaking. He had no manners whatsoever and did not seem to get the concept of respecting the humans at all possible times. He just ran around the house and did whatever he pleased.

The uncivilized shrimp.

She suddenly felt a shiver run along her spine, and looked up at Brian, who had tensed considerably. She felt the fear that he always carried with him and which she usually tried to ignore, intensify as they watched the large man appear at the end of the street. He was far away, but was steadily walking towards them and Bonnie felt Brian shake next to her, his breathing speeding up as he grabbed the leash a little tighter. Bonnie let out a low, warning growl as the man approached. She didn’t know what made this man seem so threatening to Brian, but she knew more than enough to be on guard if he made Brian this scared. The man looked at her with a confused expression as he passed them, shrugging at her behavior. Brian let out an audible sigh and his grip on the leash loosened as his breathing returned to normal, watching the man walk away from them. Bonnie relaxed as well, but when she looked up at her owner, she was taken aback by the darkness in his eyes. She felt an unfamiliar fear rattle her bones and whimpered quietly.

“It’s okay, Bonnie,” Brian whispered shakily and the darkness was instantly gone from his eyes. Bonnie barked once to let him know that she was alright. It was silly to be afraid of her own human, of course and she demonstratively put her head up and adjusted her stance, showing Brian that she was ready for their next adventure.

Instead, Brian tugged on her leash and turned around, slowly walking back to the house. Bonnie followed him without question, suspecting they would go into the backyard instead after all. Humans were complicated like that, much more so than dogs, and it would be foolish of her to try and determine why her human did what he did. She felt the grass under her feet as they entered the gates once more. Brian bent down and undid her leash when they got to the pond in the middle of the backyard. “Off work,” he whispered and she jumped, panting as she waited for him to retrieve the ball from his pocket. After a few minutes of just walking, the waiting got too much and she tried to let him know that he was forgetting the ball by touching the pocket of his jacket with her nose.

He smiled down at her and she couldn’t deny the strange sadness she saw in his expression. “Not today, Bon,” he said softly.

She tilted her head; then hurried to follow him as he kept walking. When they reached the bench near the fountain, he sat down with a sigh and Bonnie tried to touch his pocket again. “I don’t want to play ball, Bonnie,” Brian told her, a little bit of agitation in his voice.

Bonnie, not able to understand his words, went on to lick his jacket. She could smell the ball in there very well and didn’t know why Brian didn’t just throw it, so that she could catch it. “Damnit Bonnie, get away from me.”

Bonnie dropped down instantly at the tone in his voice. Was she working again? She didn’t hear the command, but she knew she wasn’t supposed to play ball when she was working, so maybe that was what Brian meant. She lay down next to him, watching him closely as he stared at the ducks that were splashing about in the pond.

They stayed like that for two hours, Brian obviously lost in his thoughts as the dog kept her gaze firmly fixated on him. She’d seen him this immobile before, but it never failed to make her uncomfortable. Finally, Brian stood up, “Come on Bonnie,” he said, his voice soft and friendly now, “Let’s get back inside. I think it’s gonna rain soon.”

Bonnie stayed closely to his side as they walked back towards the house, she didn’t even pay attention to the fallen leaves crunching beneath her and Brian’s feet; a noise which she usually couldn’t stand. Brian opened the door for her and she went inside, the scents of coffee and bread filling her nose and mind. She saw Brian’s mate, Leighanne standing in the kitchen. The woman smiled when Bonnie trudged in, but pointed towards the door nevertheless. “Out of the kitchen, Bonnie,” she said calmly, yet sternly and Bonnie obeyed, sitting down on the floor just outside the borders of the kitchen. Her ears perked up when Brian finally entered and she watched him push his lips onto those of Leighanne’s. Bonnie figured that the ritual must be some sort of greeting, because the two mates did it rather often, like two dogs sniffing each other’s rears, she thought. Humans had strange customs and Bonnie had quickly gotten used to the curious ways in which they communicated with each other, although she still didn’t understand half of it.

“You were gone a long time,” the woman said, turning back to the counter and continuing to smear the butter over the sandwiches.

“We sat by the pond,” Brian replied, taking one of the sandwiches off the counter without Leighanne’s consent, which Bonnie found strange.

“I thought you were going to the dog park today?” Leighanne asked nonchalantly, not looking at Brian as she put a rather large slice of cheese on her bread, which made Bonnie’s mouth water.

Brian took a step backwards and Bonnie felt the uneasiness in him immediately, so much so that she tore her gaze off the sandwiches and focused on him instead. “We, uh... we got to the end of the street,” Brian said hesitatingly.

“Good,” his mate said with a smile, “I’m proud of you.”

Brian seemed surprised, “Really?”

“Yep,” she answered, turning to face Bonnie this time. “She off duty?”

Brian looked at her as well and Bonnie wagged her tail, watching him nod his head. “Yeah.”

Bonnie’s dearest expectations were fulfilled as Leighanne grabbed a hold of one of the remaining sandwiches and cut it in half before dropping one of the pieces on the ground in front of Bonnie. Bonnie jumped up, her tail wagging in the air as she ate the delicious treat in one bite. She had to eat quickly, because she could already smell Tyke approaching, who surely wouldn’t have hesitated to challenge her for food. But sure enough, Leighanne dropped the other half of the sandwich in front of the Chihuahua when he came barging into the kitchen, which Bonnie deemed rather unfair, since he hadn’t done any work to deserve such a divine treat.

The spoiled shrimp.

With a sense of satisfaction, Bonnie watched Leighanne point to the door though, “Out of the kitchen, Tyke,” she commanded and the older dog tilted his head, but obeyed eventually. Bonnie made sure to give him a superior look, hoping beyond hope that the small dog would finally know its place and wouldn’t continue to pretend like he owned the place. It must be hard for him, Bonnie thought, to finally have to listen to his owners now that they had gotten an obedient dog for once and knew how to handle dogs better because of it. Because of Bonnie, Tyke now too had to behave and couldn’t do everything he pleased anymore.

The rest of the day was much like other days. Bonnie was off work for most of the time, which was normal when they were all inside the house and together. She lay in front of the couch, chewing on a rubber toy that squeaked once in a while if she bit it just right. Brian lay behind her on the couch, watching television.

“Bonnie, come here!” Bonnie looked up at the sound of Leighanne’s voice; then looked at Brian, who nodded at her. She sprung upright and scrambled across the floor before colliding against Leighanne’s legs.

“Oh!” Leighanne said, placing a hand on Bonnie’s head.

“She does that all the time,” Brian remarked from the couch, “I think we need carpet.”

Bonnie looked up at Leighanne expectantly. Usually when the woman called her over, she had a treat or a new toy for her and Bonnie had trouble hiding her excitement. Instead, Leighanne grabbed her collar and put on her leash and Bonnie promptly sat down, watching her curiously. She was Brian’s dog, and had never been out for a walk with his mate before. “You gonna help me put the trash bags outside, Bonnie?” She heard the question in Leighanne’s voice and wagged her tail, the delicious smells of the black bags behind Leighanne drifting through the hallway. The sky was already darkening outside. They walked silently along the driveway towards the gate before Leighanne put down the bags with a sigh. Then she knelt down in front of Bonnie and took the dog’s furry face in her hands.

“Thank you, Bonnie,” she whispered and Bonnie sensed a whole variation of emotions flowing through the woman that she couldn’t identify, “I know he wouldn’t have gotten to the end of the street without you. You make it a little easier. Thank you for looking out for him.”