Page 39 of Men or Paws

Rocco nodded his appreciation. “Funny guy.” He turned his attention to Houdini relaxing on the couch. “Looks like someone is making himself comfortable.”

I smiled. “Yeah.” I walked over and petted Houdini on the head. “He’s a sweet boy.”

“And spoiled,” Rocco said.

I turned back around. “Someone has to do the spoiling, so you obviously don’t have a problem with it.” I pointed to the stuffed toy in Rocco’s hand. “And the squirrel? Is it yours or Houdini’s?”

Rocco squeezed the squirrel to make it squeak, which prompted Houdini to raise his head, on full alert. “This is Houdini’s favorite toy. It doesn’t smell the greatest, no matter how many times Gwen washes it, but he can’t live without it.” He tossed the squirrel on the couch, landing inches from Houdini’s mouth.

The dog licked the squirrel a few times, then plopped his chin down on top of it like he was protecting it.

Rocco handed me the pet store bag he was carrying. “Houdini’s leash and poop bags are in there. I also brought some treats. You can use them when you want to distract him or get him to do a trick. I’ve been training him whenever I can.”

I nodded, peeking inside the bag, skeptical of the quality of the treats. “Has he had these before?” I preferred organic, like the treats I would be selling soon.

“No. I’m still trying to find one that’s healthy and tasty, which isn’t easy. He’s getting up there in age and I’m really paying attention to what he eats, since I don’t know anything about his past eating habits. Hopefully, these are the good ones. By the way, he knows all the basic commands if you want to give him one.”

I nodded and pulled a treat from the bag. “Houdini, come.”

Houdini jumped off the couch and sat directly in front of my feet.

I laughed. “My next command was going to be sit, but I guess we can just skip that one.” I held out my hand. “Shake.”

Houdini dropped his paw into my palm, and I shook it a few times.

“Good boy.” I held out the treat, and he gently took it from me.

A few seconds later, Houdini spit it out, the treat landing on top of my foot. The dog walked over toward the door and sprawled himself out across the rug, looking frustrated.

“Another one bites the dust,” Rocco said. “Crap.”

“Literally,” I said, inspecting the ingredients on the bag of treats. “These things have a whole bunch of other things I can’t even pronounce. None of it is healthy for dogs.”

“Marcello was the one who got them and the clerk told him they were very popular.”

“It may be true, but sometimes things are popular because of the price, not the quality.”

Rocco ran a hand through his hair. “Yup—I get that.” He pointed to the bag of treats. “I guess we can trash those then. Back to square one.”

I was just about to suggest that he take the treats back to the store to get his money back since he wasn’t satisfied with the quality (something I would have no problem doing). Luckily I stopped myself after thinking how silly it might be to tell a multi-gazillionaire to go get his five bucks back.

“Hang on,” I said, tossing his treats in the trash under the sink, then snagging the Ziploc bag of my homemade dog treats from the kitchen counter.

I custom-designed the cookie stencils for my treats to be shaped like little bones, but one end was the head of a smiling dog. They always made me smile.

I had just made a fresh batch of treats yesterday and brought them all with me. If Houdini didn’t like them, I had no business starting my own company to sell them.

Rocco arched an eyebrow. “You brought your own dog treats?”

I smiled. “You’re not the only one who likes to spoil dogs.” I pulled out one and then set the bag on the counter. “Houdini—come.”

He walked toward me, sitting directly in front of my feet again.

“Down,” I said.

Houdini dropped to the floor, his eyes still on the treat.

“Good boy.” I smiled and handed him the treat.