Jen was looking at the pamphlet for the obedience school. The facility was massive, it was only available to wealthy families or dogs with a certain amount of pedigree, Rex had some pedigree but what he was lacking in pedigree they made up for in money.
Jen was astounded by the variety of courses they offered, they had basic courses for dogs to train puppies the basics in obedience, up to tricks, breeding control, and Showmanship.
She looked back at the crate holding the nervous Rex; her excitement was palpable. “Oh Rex, after this month you will be the perfect dog. Soon you will be able to control those urges, and I will be there with you for the entire month!”
Rex stared at Jen un-comprehending; she reached into the cage and he quickly moved towards the comforting hand of his owner.
“Oh Jenny dear, don’t worry so much about Rex, yes he will be trained but his is much shorter then your stay, they recommended only a week of training and then a week off; he is just a puppy after all.” Her mother said casually as she drove them.
“Oh… OK, Well I will see you when I am done with my training, just to show you its not that bad.” A little crestfallen that she would be going through this alone for a bit.
The rest of the trip was pretty quiet as Jen looked over the pamphlet, Rex whimpered, and her mother drove.
Finally Jen saw a familiar looking red brick fence with a massive complex behind it.
“We are here boy, here is the complex. At her excitement he became excited and started to howl.
“Quiet down you two, I am trying to drive.” Her mother said after the outburst.
After being chastised Jen sheepishly quieted down.
Her mother parked and Jen pulled on the door handle… it didn’t open.
“Calm down Jenny, I put the child lock on the door, you need to start acting like you belong in the class, and you don’t see any of the other dogs opening the doors for themselves do you?”
“No… I guess not.” something was starting to feel strange but Jen couldn’t put her finger on why. She waited for her mom to walk around and open the door for her. After which she got out, Absent-mindedly her mother watched her get out, once out she said “stay” and pointed at Jen.
Jen ignored that and started to wander around the immediate area stretching her legs and examining the building.
Her mom pulled the crate with Rex out and a couple attendants walked out to greet them.
There were three of them the guys walked over and collected Rex as the girl walked towards Jen.
“Hello there! I am Ashton, you must be Ms. Smith? I thought there were two dogs being enrolled today. Where would the other cutie be?” Ashton said looking towards Jen.
“Hello Ashton, I think you spoke to my mom, it’s a funny story the other enrollee is actually me. I am going through the course to help Rex so he is not as scared.
“Aww, that’s so sweet…if a bit unconventional. No matter, we will get you checked in and then we will make sure you are the most well behaved pup you can be.” Ashton said.
Jen smiled proudly and said “I look forward to working with you.”
“I am going to go talk to your ow-mom to finalize some paperwork and then we will move to the reception desk where she will proverbially hand over your leash. Now…Stay” she said before walking away.
Why was that so strange to her Jen thought? She had a bad feeling welling up in her stomach but everything seemed so normal. She was just a normal high school girl that took some time off to go through obedience school with her dog. Ashton is just playing her part to give her the full experience.
“Come on Jen; come here girl.” Her mom started cooing as Ashton and herself moved towards the door to the reception hall.
Hesitantly Jen began walking towards them and the door. With each step she got more and more nervous. She kept arguing in her head that there was no reason to be nervous, this was her choice and it was normal.
Jen stepped into the reception hall and saw Rex shaking similar to herself.
She wanted to comfort her dog so she knelt down and began petting him through the cage.
“Oh, don’t worry boy. I am here with you, this will be easy.” Jen said as comforting as she could manage. Truth is she was extremely scared herself… and she didn’t know why; she knew what this place was and there was nothing scary about the center.
“oh Jenny!” her mother called out to her.
Startled Jen jumped hearing her moms call.
She walked over to the reception desk standing next to her mom.
“Good girl Jen. There are a few more loose ends to tie up. But I want to let you know how nice it was for you to join Rex in this school. And who knows you might learn something new while you are here.” She said reassuringly. “Now, while Ashton and myself finish signing you up for classes she has someone she would like you to meet.” She said as she turned to Ashton.
With a smile Ashton looked up from her paperwork at Jen “such an obedient girl, waiting so patently; I would like to introduce you to your trainer for the month Julie!” as if on queue a girl walked up beside Jen she was significantly shorter then Jen at maybe 4’8” with glasses, pure black hair and a very mousy appearance overall.
Without even introducing herself she reaches up and scratches behind Jens ear. “Wow its so nice to meet such a beauty; my name is Julie I will be this beauties trainer for the next month, so this is Jen?” she said looking towards Ashton.
“Yep this is Jen, please treat her no different then any other dog here. She wanted the full experience with Rex but discussing it with her mom, we have decided to start from square one she is apparently pretty rebellious and she hopes to clear that issue up.” Ashton said glancing back to Jens mom.
“Anyways can you take her back and get her a new collar and introductory grooming, just standard for now and we will see if we need to adjust later.”
“Alright, I will be back in a month to pick you up Jen, have fun and learn as much as you can.” Her mom said nonchalantly as she turned back to the desk to sign the last page.
“W-Will do mom, see you later.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she said that to her mom.
As she was saying that she noticed that Julie began slipping something over Jens head.
“Come on girl.” Julie said sweetly as she tugged on a slip on temporary leash that was now around Jens neck.
Hesitantly Jen took a step forward when it hit her. This was extremely weird! she wasn’t a dog, and normal people didn’t sign up for obedience school.
The curse suddenly popped back in her head; she looked over and her mom had just finished signing the last document.
“No, it can’t be real!” Jen began sobbing as she watched her mom walk out of the center without a care in the world