Partners

Partners

I greet the morning with a long stretch and a big yawn. I pad over to the side of the bed where my partner is softly snoring. Just knowing everything is in order gives me satisfaction, and my inner smile is accompanied by a slight swoosh of my tail, which I can’t help. Quietly, I let myself out into the yard through the little door in the kitchen, just barely squeezing my big frame through. I do a quick recon of the yard, assessing any scents of possible intruders. Satisfied there had been no infractions on our property overnight, I went about my business. When finished, I grabbed the newspaper from the sidewalk and squeezed back through that tight little door. I trotted back to the bedroom where my partner, Davis, is just stirring. I drop the paper on the floor beside his bed and arch my neck up to offer him an encouraging push with my nose. He mumbles and sits up in bed.

In the kitchen, we have our breakfast. Davis likes bacon and eggs. I do too, but I get a bowl of kibble for my breakfast. I finish first and go lay down on the rug in the living room, where I can watch for any tidbit that happens to fall on the floor, but still be a “good boy” for not begging actively. Davis eyes me while he eats, and he stands up, walks over to my bowl, and drops a good-sized piece of bacon in it. I ready myself to get up quickly but wait for my command.

“Good boy, Rex,” David says, and then “Come.” I waste no time obeying that command. “Eat it and let’s go. We have a long day ahead.”

We arrive at the compound and I wait in my kennel while Davis does whatever it is he does before we start our work day. Then he arrives and I am ecstatic to see him. Seems like he is gone so long when I have to stay here. But soon we are in our car and headed out to the streets where we work.

The day is hot and Davis leaves me in the car with the air while he goes and talks to people. I hate being left in the car. What if something happens to my partner while I am stuck in the car? How would I ever be able to help him? Partners should stay together. That is ingrained in my makeup, and it goes back to my ancestors. It really makes me nervous when he leaves me places where I can sense danger. And right now, my partner has left me in the car to go stand on a street corner and talk to someone. I start to pant. I’m not hot being in the cool patrol car, but I feel nervous, and I pant when I am nervous. The man that my partner is talking to keeps looking across the street, not at me, but somewhere else. I can tell by the way Davis is looking at him he might be what he calls a ‘Perp.’ If he is then I need to be there with Davis in case the perp tries to run. No perp has ever outrun me, except the time a young male smelling of fear and something else, I think it was called cocaine, was able to beat me to a door. He slammed it on my nose, just as I reached it, but that didn’t stop me from finding a window around the side of the house that was open just enough for me to jump through. That had been a tight squeeze too and I almost couldn’t get through, but I had been trained to flatten my body when I had to shimmy under fences and low walls when attempting to apprehend a perp. That perp that slammed the door in my face wasn’t expecting me to meet him in the hallway of his own house. When Davis had finally busted down the front door, he went down the hall to take over for me. I had been standing over the perp, giving him my deepest growl and flashing him all my sharpest teeth. After the perp was handcuffed, he found me in a back bedroom where I was trying to comfort a very scared young girl. She had ropes around her hands and tape over her mouth. I couldn’t chew the ropes fast enough to get her loose, so I was whining and hoping Davis would come and find us, which he did.

It turned out the girl had been missing and she wasn’t expected to be found alive. What a great day that was! That was a “case closed” day for us. My partner’s boss was really happy that day and that weekend he threw us a great party, although I waited for my partner in the kennel because I don’t really like too many people crowding around me. I did get a steak dinner that night. That was good enough for me.

I watched intently as Davis’ body tensed up. That wasn’t a good sign and I was ready to throw myself against the car door if I had to, although it would be hard to break through that metal on the window, but thankfully, Davis turns and starts walking to the car.

Once in the car, we’re off! I feel a sense of urgency emanating from Davis and I brace myself in the backseat as we speed down the streets as fast as we safely could. Davis always has our safety in mind, even when time is of the essence, as seems to be the case now.

I lay low in the back seat of the car and wait in anticipation of reaching our destination. After what feels like a long time, although admittedly it is difficult for me to gauge time, we pull up to a curb alongside other police cars. I know we are parked up the road from where I can guess our destination is by the menagerie of scents permeating the air surrounding a certain house a few blocks away. Scents that stand out from all the other houses in the scarcely populated neighborhood. These scents stand out from the strong aroma of pine, oak, and other trees that make up the wooded area we have converged on. My nose is so sensitive that I can pick up smells like the coppery, acid smell of blood I was picking up now, almost a mile away, even amongst scents that are stronger, if the wind is right, and this afternoon, the wind is right. Davis has my leash in hand as he opens the door to the back seat. He gives me the sign that means “quiet” and I rise and wait for him to clip the leash on my collar. Before he clips the leash on my collar, he puts a vest on me, much like the vest he is wearing himself, but fashioned for my body.

I jump out of the car and we join several other officers gathered in a small clearing just inside of the wood line. Although the tension is thick, and we are ready for action, I can sense that our company was in a waiting mode. It is not time to move yet. Although I prefer to take action, I am a highly trained professional and so I can exhibit more patience than most of my kind. I stand at my partner’s side and I wait.

As the sun begins to disappear behind the trees, the energy in our group changes. I feel the energy rising, along with a sense of dread throughout the group of men and women around me, as we begin to prepare for their ascent. I too prepare to move. Davis gives me a small bowl of water and, having been thirsty for several hours now, I drink. He squats, gets level with my eyes, and stares into them. Out of respect, I attempt to turn away, but he puts a finger under my jaw, and turns my head to face him again. I can feel there is a certain tension in him that is different from the rest of his peers. He has seriousness in his demeanor and his voice cracks as he says, “Rex, this is going to be a tough one. Maybe the very worst of your career so far, and mine. You are a good dog. You have to be stealthy and quick. Find that S.O.B. and, hopefully, victims that are still alive.” He sighs deeply, building courage in himself before he stands and says, “Ok Rex, it’s go time.”  That last part was truly the only part I understand, but understand I do. I start a low whimper in excited anticipation. Davis gives me the hand signal for silence as we, all of the men and women in our company, move as one unit toward the house, and for me, the scent of blood.

As we move through the densely wooded lot, everyone around us splits off to move in opposite directions. They are going to surround the house. Davis and I keep facing straight ahead as we weave around the trees, looking for the path that will allow us to stay as quiet as possible. I can feel the tension through the leash as we approach the last of the trees, and stop in front of the house. I am a machine made of sinewy muscle, powered by electricity that fires throughout my body. I stand stock still, legs and tail ridged. I can feel Davis’ hesitation before he unclips my leash.

He kneels again beside me, unclips my leash, and commands “Fuss.” We walk towards the house, side by side. I stay at a heel as he has commanded. We circle the house and find no open entrance. As the company of other officers begin to arrive from various locations in the woods, we hear a yell from the direction of a nearby home several yards up the street. “Geh vorous!” Davis shouts and I bolt in the direction the scream.

I approach the house where the scream emanated from and I waste no time. I pace around the house searching for a way in, but find no open doors or windows. There is a glass sliding door on the back side of the house, and I get to working the door with a paw, catching my nails on the metal lip. I am able to budge the heavy door just a bit with my toe nail; enough to fit the tips of my paw in the crack, and then finally my nose. The weight of the door against my nose is painful as I continue to push, and finally, my entire head can fit in in the door jamb, and it slides open a little more, enough for me to wrestle my shoulders through and force the door open enough to lunge through it. I bound at top speed running throughout the house, seeking, and sniffing. That unmistakable smell of blood leads me to a room in the back of the house. I enter the room and find a man with blood stains all over his shirt. He has a large knife and is standing over a wide-eyed woman who is cowering on the couch. The knife is raised as if he is gaining momentum to plunge it as deeply into the woman’s flesh. She screams again as I hurl myself toward the figure with the knife. He turns to face me and yells as my body crashes into his and we both tumble to the ground. My teeth gnash wildly, ripping bloody cloth and finding skin on his shoulder. He screams and drops the knife as we roll, and he’s yelling “Enough already! He’s tearing me to pieces and I’m losing too much blood! Call him off!” I then hear my partner in the room saying “Aus, Rex.” I release my bite hold but stay standing over the perp. As my partner is approaching to cuff him, the perp’s hand grasps the blade that he had partially rolled on top of. Suddenly, he plunges the knife into my side. I yelp, and as he is rolling to get on his feet for an escape, I lung again and sink my teeth in his leg. He screams again and poises the knife to find purchase in my neck just as the shot rings out, quieting the screams of the woman, Davis’s yells, the perp’s swearing, and my growls. The perp crumbles to the floor, his blood spilling over the blood on his shirt. He stops breathing and his scent is now the scent given off in death.

I lay on the floor motionless, a searing pain accompanying each labored breath. I hear Davis saying my name over and over, worry and panic in his voice. I hear “So ist brav, Rex, good dog, good, good dog,” as I drift into a dark, dreamless sleep.

I struggle to open my eyes but they are too heavy. I can’t seem to move, although I am not in any discomfort. I lay here motionless, listening to the voices in the room with me. I don’t know any of the voices. I attempt to open my eyes again, and this time they flutter for a moment before they become too leaden and I am too tired, too weak to fight it. I listen again as the voices become closer. They are approaching me. As I lay there, I begin to get a sensation in my paws, and I feel a pain in my side when I breathe, but the pain is subdued. Then I sense a familiar presence in the room, even before he says a word, I smell him. My partner is here.

Davis draws close to me, but he doesn’t touch me. He bends down close to my ear. “Hey there, Partner.” I could smell the heavy emotion cascading off of him in waves. “I thought we had lost you. You did it. You saved the neighbor woman who had discovered his sordid secret, and the little girl that P.O.S. had drugged in his house.” I could smell and feel the anger in him as he spoke these words. He lost the anger as he continued, “We got the perp and now, the vet tells me you are going to pull through. Just going to take a little time. You are one amazing dog, Rex. I got a new position after this; a promotion. But you, my friend, are never going to have to work again. Oh, you can go to work with me still and stay in my office with me, but no more chasing perps on the streets. Well, you get some rest now. You’re in good hands here. I will come and visit tomorrow. Just wake up soon so you can come home, ok?” I feel the glow of love towards me, bathing me in a golden light. I know my tail is wagging, and my eyes open completely. I am going home with my partner. Nothing could be better than that.