Rusty

by Ellen Miles

  She stopped in front of Lizzie. “He looks beautiful,” she said. Rusty’s silky red coat was gleaming from the brushing Lizzie had given him. “We have a family coming to look at him tomorrow, and I’m sure they’ll be impressed.”

  “Really?” Lizzie asked. “A family wants to adopt Rusty?” She felt her stomach drop. She wasn’t sure she was quite ready to give him up. No matter how many dogs her family fostered, Lizzie could never get used to that part of it.

  “Well, they want to adopt a dog,” said Ms. Dobbins. “They’ll look at all the dogs we have here. But right now, I’d say Rusty is pretty irresistible. And he could be perfect for a family with a bunch of kids. He’d get all the playtime and attention he needs.”

  Lizzie nodded and bit her lip. “Great,” she said. “I hope they like him.” But inside, she was thinking, Too soon! Too soon!

  All during lunch, Lizzie had a knot in her stomach. Was somebody really going to adopt Rusty so quickly?

  “That would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?” asked Nicole. “I mean, isn’t that kind of the point here? To find great homes for these animals?”

  Lizzie shrugged. “Yeah,” she said. “It is. Of course it is. I know that. But I just wanted a little more time with Rusty. He’s so much fun! All he wants to do is play.” She bit into one of the chocolate-chip cookies Linda had brought for a special treat. It was sweet and gooey and delicious, but she hardly tasted it. Suddenly, she just wanted the camp day to be over so she could take Rusty home and watch him zoom around the yard with Buddy again. What mischief would Rusty get into tonight? You just couldn’t predict with a puppy like that.

  “Cheer up, Lizzie,” said Ms. Dobbins as she walked by. “I think you’re really going to like today’s special guest.”

  Lizzie nodded glumly. “Who’s coming?” she asked, just to be polite.

  “It’s a surprise. You’ll see. We’ll be heading out to meet her in the dog yard in a few minutes, as soon as lunch is done and we’re all cleaned up.”

  Lizzie perked up a little. At least if they were going out to the dog yard, she’d be passing by Rusty’s kennel. She could say hi and give him a pat, and — “Can Rusty come out with us?” she asked. “Please, please, please? I’ll keep a really close eye on him and he won’t be any trouble.”

  Ms. Dobbins was shaking her head. “I don’t think that would work out too well. You’ll see why when you meet our guest.”

  Lizzie couldn’t guess what that might mean. “If I’m all done with my lunch, can I go say hi to Rusty until we go out to the dog yard?”

  Ms. Dobbins smiled at her. “You’ve really fallen for that guy, haven’t you?” she asked. “I can see why. He’s a special dude.” She gave Lizzie a pat on the shoulder. “Go ahead. And give him a kiss for me.”

  Lizzie ran for the kennels. “Hey, boy,” she said as she let herself into Rusty’s kennel. “I missed you!” She ruffled his ears, and Rusty kissed her face.

  She sat on the bench inside his kennel and picked up a chew toy he’d left beneath it. “Wanna play?” she asked, dangling it in front of his nose.

  Rusty pawed at the toy, giving a happy little yip.

  Of course I want to play. I always want to play!

  Too soon, Ms. Dobbins came through the kennels, leading all the campers to the dog yard. “Time to go, Lizzie,” she said. “I promise it will be worth it.”

  When they got to the yard, Lizzie saw a sleek black-and-white border collie sitting calmly next to a woman dressed in a cowgirl costume. “Wow,” said Lizzie.

  “Yeah, her outfit is amazing,” said Nicole. The woman wore a red-and-white silk blouse and skirt, both decorated with red fringe. She also had on a red cowboy hat and the fanciest pair of sparkly red cowboy boots Lizzie had ever seen.

  “I’m not talking about her outfit,” said Lizzie, even though she liked it a lot. “I’m talking about the dog. Did you ever see a border collie sit so quietly? They’re usually zooming around like crazy. They have even more energy than Rusty!” Lizzie could tell right away that this woman must be really good at training dogs.

  “Hi, everyone,” said the woman, waving to the campers as they found places to sit around the edges of the dog yard.

  Ms. Dobbins went to hug her. “This is Laureen,” she said. “She’s here to demonstrate a very special sport that she does with her dog, Astro.”

  Lizzie saw one of Astro’s ears twitch when he heard his name, but other than that, he didn’t move a muscle.

  “Has anyone heard of freestyle?” Laureen asked.

  Lizzie frowned. That sounded familiar, but she couldn’t remember exactly what it was.

  “Some people call it dancing with dogs,” Laureen said.

  “Oh!” said Lizzie. Now she remembered hearing about it. Maybe Aunt Amanda had mentioned it. “Cool.”

  Laureen smiled. “Astro and I have been training together for about five years now. We’ve competed all over the country, and we even went to an international competition in Sweden last year. We work really hard, but we also have a whole lot of fun. I think you’ll be able to tell how much Astro loves to dance.” She nodded to Ms. Dobbins. “I guess we’re ready to start,” she said.

  Ms. Dobbins turned the music on. It was a song that Lizzie recognized, a hokey cowboy tune her dad liked to sing. Laureen stood up straight. She moved one of her hands the tiniest bit, and Astro stood up on his hind legs and began to spin around.

  The campers gasped.

  “Whoa!” said Lizzie.

  Next Laureen gave another tiny signal, and Astro ran toward her. Laureen began to walk slowly, taking long steps, while Astro looped beneath her legs and around her body, doing figure eights around her while she moved. She stopped, held up a hand, and sent him away from her — walking backward!

  Lizzie shook her head in awe. She had never, ever seen a dog do the things Astro was doing. And Laureen didn’t even have to say a word to him. It really was like they were dancing together. They got closer and moved apart. Laureen spun while Astro ran in circles around her, like a moon orbiting a planet. No matter what else he was doing, Astro stared up at Laureen’s face with full concentration, watching her closely.

  Lizzie nodded to herself. This was what Aunt Amanda meant by “attention.” Astro was paying attention with every bit of himself. It was like nothing in the world existed except for Laureen. A hot-air balloon could have landed in the dog yard and he probably wouldn’t even have noticed.

  “Wow,” Lizzie breathed again as the song came to an end. Laureen knelt down and held her arms in a big circle, and Astro leapt through them, then turned and leapt through again. Then Laureen stood up, and she and her dog each took a bow. As the campers applauded, Laureen held out her arms. Astro jumped into them, and she hugged him close.

  “That was amazing, wasn’t it?” asked Nicole.

  Lizzie just nodded. She couldn’t even speak. All she could think about was how much she wanted to learn to do freestyle — with Rusty.

  “Back up, back up!” Lizzie held up her hand, palm forward, in Rusty’s face.

  He wagged his feathery tail, gave his whole body a good shake, and offered Lizzie his paw.

  Did you want to shake hands? I’m confused, but I’ll do whatever you want.

  Lizzie rolled her eyes. “No, not ‘shake,’ ” she said. “ ‘Back up’ means go backward.” How did Laureen do it? Lizzie had taught a lot of dogs how to do a lot of things, but she couldn’t figure out how to get Rusty to understand what she wanted him to do.

  As soon as she’d gotten home from camp, Lizzie had headed out to the backyard with Charles and the dogs. Buddy wanted to be part of the lesson, too. He offered his paw, rolled over, and sat up pretty, showing off all the tricks he knew — but he didn’t seem to know how to go backward, either.

  “Maybe if I show them,” Charles said. “Pretend I’m a dog, and give me the command.” He held up his hands like paws, waiting for Lizzie’s order.

  Lizzie laughed. “That’s not going to work,�
�� she said. “But why not? Let’s try anyway.” She snapped her fingers to get both puppies’ attention. “Ready?” she asked Charles. She held up her hand in front of Charles. “Back up!”

  Charles began to walk backward, still holding up his hands like paws. The dogs watched him with interest, tails wagging.

  “Be careful!” said Lizzie. “You’re just about to — ”

  Charles tripped over a flowerpot and fell. Both dogs rushed over to lick his face. He threw his arms over his head, giggling. “Cut it out, you guys,” he said as the puppies nosed at him. He struggled to his feet, pushing them away. “Do you think they got it?” he asked.

  Lizzie shook her head. “Honestly? No. But I’ll try again. Here, Rusty!” She patted her thigh, and the red pup came running. At least he knew his name and usually came when he was called. That was something.

  She watched Rusty’s beautiful coat ripple in the sunshine as he ran, and she thought about how great he would look dancing with her, in front of a huge audience. Lizzie could just picture Rusty twirling and leaping the way Astro did. Maybe he was a little big for the leaping-into-her-arms finale, but he could do everything else. What song would she choose for them to dance to? Lizzie hummed a favorite tune.

  “Okay, Rusty,” she said when he was standing in front of her. “Let’s try again.” She held up a hand. “Back up.” This time, she took a step forward, toward him. Rusty looked up at her and took a step back. “Good! Good boy!” said Lizzie. “That’s it!”

  Rusty wagged his tail so hard that his whole body wagged, then he jumped up on Lizzie, planting his paws on her chest.

  Yay! I made you happy. That’s all I really want to do.

  “Uh-uh, Rusty. Off! No jumping.” Lizzie couldn’t help laughing as she stepped away. Maybe one step backward was as much as she was going to get in one training session. She couldn’t imagine how long it must have taken Laureen to teach Astro all the moves he did so perfectly.

  After dinner that night, Lizzie asked her mom to help her look for freestyle videos online. Ms. Dobbins had told her that there were lots. They went up to Mom’s office and started to do some research on her computer.

  “Look! It’s Laureen,” said Lizzie, pointing to one of the thumbnail pictures. “Play that one.”

  They both leaned forward to watch as Laureen and Astro entered a large open ring in a big arena full of people. The announcer gave their names, and Laureen and Astro took a bow, then stood apart, perfectly still, until the music began.

  Astro looked the same as he had that day at camp, but this time Laureen was dressed in a ’50s-style outfit like the ones in the movie Grease. She wore a pink sweater, black-and-white saddle shoes, and a big flared skirt with a quilted pink poodle on it. Her hair was in a high ponytail. When the music started, she spun around and the skirt flew out in a wide circle. Astro was spinning, too.

  The routine was amazing. They did some of the same moves they had done at Caring Paws, but Lizzie’s jaw dropped when she saw some of the other things Astro could do, like walk backward on his hind legs and walk sideways.

  “How can a dog even do that?” Mom gasped. “Dogs don’t normally walk sideways. That is totally amazing.”

  “I bet Rusty could do it,” said Lizzie, “if I just had enough time to train him.” She snuck a look at her mom.

  “Lizzie,” Mom said. “Do I really have to remind you how fostering works?” She shook her head. “Our first priority has to be finding Rusty a good home, right?”

  Lizzie’s shoulders drooped. “Right,” she said. She remembered about the family who was coming the next day to meet Rusty. Then she looked back at the computer screen. “But can we watch just a few more videos?” She pointed to one. “Laureen even has some training tips on this one. Maybe Rusty and I will have time to learn to do at least a few things together.”

  Lizzie set her alarm clock to wake her up extra early the next morning. When it went off, she groaned and rolled over. But Rusty jumped up and shook himself off, then licked her face as he stood over her on the bed.

  Come on! We’ve got so much to do. Let’s not waste any time.

  “Okay, okay,” said Lizzie. She lay there for a second, going over in her mind the things she’d learned from Laureen’s training video the night before. It wasn’t hard to teach a dog to back up, but it could take some time. You had to take it in small steps and keep the dog excited about what he was learning. There were lots of ways to do it — Lizzie had checked some other videos besides Laureen’s — but she liked Laureen’s technique best.

  She pulled on her camp T-shirt and a pair of jeans, then headed downstairs with Rusty at her heels. She grabbed a stick of string cheese out of the fridge — Laureen had mentioned that extra-good treats were helpful — and they headed out into the backyard.

  After she’d let him run for a while and do his business, Lizzie called Rusty over to stand in front of her. “Good boy,” she said when she had his attention. Then she held a piece of the string cheese in her open palm and gently moved her palm under his chin. He took a step back so that he could take the cheese from her hand. “Good boy!” Lizzie said. It worked exactly as it had in Laureen’s video. The dog had to back up to get the treat, and that way he could begin to learn what she wanted him to do.

  She worked with Rusty for a few more minutes. Aunt Amanda always said that short training sessions were best, and that you should end on a good note. When Rusty took three steps back, Lizzie praised him and gave him another big piece of cheese. Then she got down on her knees and petted him until his wagging tail was a blur.

  In the video, Laureen had shown how eventually Astro would back up as far as she wanted him to, with nothing but a tiny hand signal as a command. Lizzie still thought it was pretty amazing, but now she knew that almost any dog could learn how to do it. And a smart dog like Rusty would learn it very quickly; she was sure of that.

  When she and Rusty arrived at Caring Paws that morning, Lizzie was bursting to tell Ms. Dobbins what Rusty had learned to do.

  “That’s wonderful,” said Ms. Dobbins as she walked Lizzie and Rusty back to his kennel. “I can’t wait to see you two demonstrate. But right now I have something else I want to talk to you about.”

  “Okay,” said Lizzie, curious.

  “This morning, the other campers will be sewing dog beds and spending some time reading stories to our new kittens — but I’m wondering if you’d like to do something different,” Ms. Dobbins began. “You’ve been so helpful with Rusty that I thought you’ve earned the privilege of sitting in with me as I meet with the family I told you about, then introduce them to Rusty.”

  “Wow,” said Lizzie. “I’d love to do that.”

  “There’s only one thing,” said Ms. Dobbins. “You’ll just be there as an observer, so you can see how I handle these interviews. We’ll see how everyone gets along, and then we’ll all make the decision together — but I want you to keep your thoughts to yourself during the meeting.”

  Lizzie nodded. “I will,” she said, crossing her heart. “I promise.”

  * * *

  The family arrived a few minutes later, and Ms. Dobbins brought them to her office for a quick interview before they met the adoptable dogs. Lizzie liked the Garcias right away. The dad was funny and kind, and the mom was sweet. The kids — three boys ages five to nine — were bursting with energy and noise, even though they were on their best behavior. The whole family seemed to be really excited about getting a dog. “We’ve had dogs before,” the mom explained. “In fact, we just lost our old golden retriever a few months ago. We’ve all been so sad about Rosie, but now we’ve decided we’re ready for another pet.”

  Ms. Dobbins looked over their application and asked them a lot of questions, like whether they had a fenced yard (they did) and whether they were ready to take care of a dog’s grooming and medical needs (they were, even when she pointed out that a dog with a long coat like Rusty’s would require lots of grooming). “Well, then,” she said when she
had gone through all four pages of their application with them, “are you ready to meet some dogs?”

  The boys jumped up and ran for the door. Lizzie smiled at the parents. “I can tell they love dogs,” she said. That didn’t count as sharing her thoughts, did it? She shot a quick look at Ms. Dobbins, who was also smiling.

  The boys would have raced into the kennels, but their parents grabbed their hands and slowed them down. “Let’s be very gentle and quiet with the dogs, all right?” the mom reminded them. “We don’t want to scare them.”

  Lizzie helped take Rusty out of his kennel and into the yard, where there was more space for everyone to meet. “Wow,” said the dad as he watched Rusty run. “He’s quite an athlete, isn’t he?”

  “He definitely will need a lot of exercise,” Ms. Dobbins agreed. “If you’re looking for a couch potato, a dog like Rusty is not for you.”

  “We’re both runners,” said the mom. “And I love to run with a buddy.”

  Ms. Dobbins and Lizzie shared a look and a nod. Even though Lizzie couldn’t stand the thought of giving him up so soon, she couldn’t help admitting that the family seemed just right for Rusty. With three boys to give him attention, he would never be bored, and their energy level matched his perfectly.

  Lizzie decided to show them how smart Rusty was. “Come, Rusty,” she said, digging into her pocket for more string cheese. He heard the wrapper crinkle and galloped over, ears flapping.

  I like that stuff! I’ll do whatever you want as long as you keep it coming.

  “Good boy,” said Lizzie, praising him for coming when he was called. She gave him a hunk of cheese as he stood in front of her. Then she put another hunk in her palm and gently moved her hand under his chin. “Back up,” she said. Rusty backed up — three whole steps!