Ollie Joins a Guild

Yesterday's hound handling class had not gone particularly well for Ollie and Landfall. Having gotten off to a promising start, they had then crashed and burned halfway through when Landfall rather took on a mind of her own, planted her butt into the ground, and stared off into something terribly fascinating in the distance. It had taken the entire rest of the class to convince the hound to budge, much to Ollie's embarrassment.

 

At least the trainer had been nice about it. 

 

It could have been a bruising experience for Ollie's ego, if he had had one. Instead, he had happily decided to chalk it up to the fact that it was early days, and look for a solution moving forward.

 

Today, he had decided to bring the hound with him as he strolled through town, hoping that spending some quality time together would help him better understand her particular quirks. Landfall seemed to quite enjoy the exercise, paying him and all the passing people little mind as they wandered through the street toward the center of town. By now, Ollie felt he had done a thorough exploration of the harbor and was keen to see what else lay in store in his new home. As they neared the city center, a cluster of booths caught his eye, arranged in a semi-circle along a drive peppered with impressive looking buildings.

 

"How about that, Landfall?" he said, motioning to the booths. The hound ignored him, peering intently at something in the opposite direction. "I agree, seems like a great plan."

 

Ollie moved toward the booths, pausing to watch as a woman lead a happy-looking dog through a tunnel. "Hello!" he said with a bright grin as the woman brought her dog to walk and came to greet him. "Your dog looks like it's having a great time. What are you doing here?"

 

The lady matched his smile with her own friendly one. "She certainly is," she agreed, giving the hound a pat. "We're training! This is the trainer's guild - we do our best to help our hounds be the best that they can be, by working with them and teaching them new skills."

 

If it was possible for Ollie's face to light up more, it did. "Training!" he echoed, sounding absolutely thrilled. This, certainly, was the answer he had been seeking. "That sounds like a fantastic option. My hound and I don't always see eye to eye at the moment, and it just so happens I was trying to figure out how to rectify that problem."

 

The cheerful lady bobbed her head animatedly, peering down at Landfall, who was still doing her level best to ignore all of them. "Yes, some training would definitely go a long way. As you work with her, you'll build a bond, and she'll be happy to cooperate and do as you ask."

 

It all sounded fantastic to Ollie. He reached out and gave Landfall a quick pat, then looked over at the obstacle course set up in front of them. "Would you be willing to show me how to do something like the tunnel?" he asked. "I'd love to give it a try."