Page 40 of Men or Paws

Houdini wolfed it down, barely bothering to chew.

Rocco blinked. “That’s amazing. And those are healthy?”

I nodded. “One hundred percent organic, no preservatives, no artificial colors, no additives.”

Houdini nuzzled his nose inside my hand, hoping to find more, licking each of my fingers when he knew he was out of luck.

“Look at him,” Rocco said. “He’s like an addict looking for his next fix.”

Seeing that made me happy. I was passionate about my creations and confident my organic dog treats would be the best on the market.

“Can you get more of those for me?” he asked. “I’ll reimburse you, of course.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” I said, preferring not to mention I made them.

The last thing I wanted was for him to think I wanted investors or a loan. The fifteen thousand he was paying me (on top of the money I had already saved up) was more than enough to get things rolling with the company.

“May I?” Rocco gestured to my bag of treats. “I’ll show you a couple of tricks you can do with him and then I’ll get out of your hair.”

I nodded. “Have at it.”

Rocco pulled two treats from the bag, inspecting them. “These are cute.”

“Thank you.”

He arched an eyebrow, probably wondering why I was thanking him for a compliment directed toward a product that wasn’t mine.

Luckily, he didn’t mention it and turned to Houdini. “You are now going to see how he got his name. Well, one of the reasons. He’s a sneaky little devil, so be careful. Houdini, open the door.”

I laughed. “Yeah, right.” Crossing my arms, I waited to see if Houdini would do anything since I was sure Rocco was yanking my chain.

To my complete surprise, Houdini walked over to the door.

He stood on his hind legs, pulled the handle down with his paw, and nudged the door open with his nose.

“Not so fast, my hairy friend,” Rocco said. “Close the door.”

Houdini pushed the door closed with his shoulder and the side of his head, then turned back to Rocco, waiting patiently, his tail wagging.

“Wow,” I said, shaking my head in surprise. “I thought you were kidding.”

“That’s nothing. This dog has a thousand tricks up his hairy little sleeve.” Rocco offered one of the treats in the palm of his hand. “Good boy.”

Houdini wolfed it down, like he did with the first one, then he pushed Rocco’s hand around, looking for more.

“It’s amazing how much he loves these things.” Rocco flipped around toward me. “How is your math?”

That was an odd question. “It’s not my strong suit.”

“Well, don’t you worry, Houdini would be glad to tutor you.” Rocco snapped his fingers to get Houdini’s attention. “Listen closely, my canine math wiz. What’s one plus one?”

Houdini barked twice.

“One plus two?”

Houdini barked three times.

“Two plus two?”