She didn’t have to be able to control the dogs, though that would’ve been a bonus, but for her safety and the dogs’ well-being, she needed to be able to interact with them without triggering their aggression. Some things could be learned, but it’d be best to see how she did right off the bat with minimal coaching.
“We’ve got one dog here permanently at this time. Another four or five could be with us a few months at a time, some as long as a year, as we work on their training before they’re placed. I had two breeding dogs here, but it was time for them both to retire so we found them permanent homes with families. We’re not sure if we’re going to continue a breeding program on site. Forte’s always experimenting with the business plan.” He led her out the back of the main house and across the covered walkway that connected to the kennels. “We’ve never had more than a dozen staying with us long term at any given time, but we have the kennel space if we need it.”
“That’s a lot of dogs.” Her voice was quiet, but more reserved than anything else.
Surprisingly, she wasn’t fidgeting or shifting her weight back and forth from one foot to another. None of the anxious or nervous body language that came from someone about to meet big dogs for the first time. Even if a person was looking forward to it, they tended to project their nervous excitement. But Elisa Hall had learned somewhere to stuff all of her nervous tells away and project a non-threatening, almost docile presence instead.
The possible reasons for it made his blood boil. The way she dropped her eyes, jumped when someone caught her by surprise, flinched when someone—mostly him—made sudden moves. It all pointed to a very shitty history, and it made him see red just thinking about the possibilities.
“Ever been around more than one or two dogs at a time?” They didn’t usually have many of their dogs out at the same time without a handler for each dog, but the civilian classes could get unruly. Dogs got loose occasionally. He needed to know if she might panic.
“Yes.” Her answer was soft. There might’ve been a hint of darkness there. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a good memory. “The place wasn’t like this. The people weren’t as nice.”
He tipped his head to one side. “You think we are?”
She nodded. “You are.”
The conviction in her tone caught him by surprise. She wasn’t leaving any room for doubt, not even for herself.
“You seem sure.” He kept his own tone deliberately light. “You could be wrong about us.”
“I could.” She pressed her lips together, watching the dogs. “I have been in the past, but I decided I wouldn’t let that stop me from meeting new people and giving myself the chance to be right again.”
And that was something he needed to store away to consider at another time because anger was definitely not something he wanted to broadcast to the dogs the first time he introduced her to any of them.
He took a deep breath. Time to get a better read on her and see if she could maybe have a place here.
Alex stopped at the first kennel and gestured down the line with one hand. “Why don’t you take a walk down the line and choose one of the dogs to meet? Don’t actually try to touch any of them yet. We’ll do introductions as the next step.”
“Okay. I can do that.” She said it out loud, but he got the impression she was talking to herself.
She walked slowly down the line of kennels, pausing to look at each dog. Every dog had a different personality, and it showed in the way each reacted to her. One or two came right up to the chain link of the kennel trying to get a good look at her or catch a better whiff of her scent. There were a couple of reserved tail wags for her, too. Others stayed lying or sitting where they were, the only sign of their interest in the way their ears came up to listen in her direction.
“These aren’t all the same breed, are they?” she asked as she continued to walk from kennel to kennel, almost at the end.
Good eye.
“Three of these are Belgian Malinois, and the rest are German Shepherd Dogs. Easiest way to tell the difference right now is by coat color.” He paused. “All of our current GSDs are black and tans with black saddles across their backs. The Belgian Malinois are…mostly tan,” he finished lamely.
He needed practice explaining the differences to a non-dog person, obviously.
“The German Shepherds are bigger, too, longer fur.” She made the statement slowly, and he wondered if it was because she wasn’t sure she was right or wasn’t sure how he’d react to her making a statement rather than asking a question.
“German Shepherd Dogs,” he corrected. She hunched her shoulders, and he cursed himself inwardly. It’d come out matter of fact to him, but she was pretty sensitive to correction. “We try to make sure to refer to the dogs by their correct breed name or a standard like ‘GSD.’ It avoids confusion when we’re working with some of our clients.”