“No. Yes. We did. I just…”
“It’s okay if you’d prefer not.” He schooled his expression to carefully neutral. She was important to helping Atlas and he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable working with him just because he’d asked her on a date. Dumb idea anyway.
She bit her lower lip but had the grace to look him directly in the eye. “You’re a very nice man, David. And I can’t thank you enough…”
He held up his hand. “No need to thank me.”
He’d slam his own head into a wall before letting her accept a date with him as a thank-you for what any decent person should’ve done for her. Interested in her? Yes. But everything in him rebelled at the idea of pressuring her. He liked his women willing and he didn’t exactly have a problem finding them. This just needed to quit being so damned uncomfortable.
“I’d like to keep things at the professional coworker level…and friends. Is that okay?”
How could he say no? He wasn’t an absolute dick. And besides which, his priority was Atlas. The dog needed for them to work well together and David wasn’t about to let his hormones screw anything up.
“We’re good.” He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Totally professional and no hard feelings.”
She let out the breath she’d been holding and gave him a small, unsure smile.
He pushed the fries closer to her and handed her a napkin. “Have another fry. You’ll need the energy this afternoon working with our friend here.”
* * *
“Agility?” Lyn studied the course. It wasn’t the standard agility course she was used to seeing but rather a more rugged course. There were items specific to K9 training like the broad jump, catwalk, and brick wall jump. The Catch-A frame was completely new to her. The car door jump and window jump were actually painted in more realistic colors as opposed to the standard white. The equipment was familiar to her but not part of her usual clientele’s goals.
David took the lead off Atlas. “He can do all of it. Easily. The question is whether he wants to.”
She nodded. A dog learned exponentially faster with internal drive. Incentive could help too, but a trainer learned to align training with the natural drive of the dog for the best results. Which meant finding a situation in which the dog wanted to perform a particular action.
At the moment, Atlas was sitting next to David and not even looking at the agility course. Not interested.
“What’re we using for incentive?” She’d used treats usually for clients, but the K9 and military trainers didn’t always have the same practices.
David pulled a tennis ball from his pocket. Atlas watched the slow arch of the ball as it crossed the distance between them. Lyn was happy she caught it. It would’ve been insanely embarrassing if she’d dropped it considering how much time David had given her to catch it.
“He gets this after completing each exercise.” David lifted his chin toward the ball in her hands. “Then we’ll see if we can get him to do the whole course for the ball.”
She raised her eyebrows. “That’s assuming a very fast learning curve.”
He shrugged. “This is all review for him. He used to run a course like this for the sheer joy of doing it. If we get him back into a mood to do it at all, I don’t think it’ll take long for him to demonstrate how easy this is for him.”
She laughed. Atlas did seem to have his fair share of pride. “Okay.”
“Walk to each obstacle and give the command. Let’s take them one at a time and see how much he needs to obey.”
“Obedience.” She frowned. “We haven’t confirmed he’s consistently obedient yet.”
Only a few commands this morning and during lunch. Every time, she’d seen the pause, the consideration, as Atlas had decided whether he wanted to obey.
“He’s still got solid obedience.” David spoke with utter confidence, almost irritating. “There’s a delay but he doesn’t ignore
“It’s okay if you’d prefer not.” He schooled his expression to carefully neutral. She was important to helping Atlas and he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable working with him just because he’d asked her on a date. Dumb idea anyway.
She bit her lower lip but had the grace to look him directly in the eye. “You’re a very nice man, David. And I can’t thank you enough…”
He held up his hand. “No need to thank me.”
He’d slam his own head into a wall before letting her accept a date with him as a thank-you for what any decent person should’ve done for her. Interested in her? Yes. But everything in him rebelled at the idea of pressuring her. He liked his women willing and he didn’t exactly have a problem finding them. This just needed to quit being so damned uncomfortable.
“I’d like to keep things at the professional coworker level…and friends. Is that okay?”
How could he say no? He wasn’t an absolute dick. And besides which, his priority was Atlas. The dog needed for them to work well together and David wasn’t about to let his hormones screw anything up.
“We’re good.” He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Totally professional and no hard feelings.”
She let out the breath she’d been holding and gave him a small, unsure smile.
He pushed the fries closer to her and handed her a napkin. “Have another fry. You’ll need the energy this afternoon working with our friend here.”
* * *
“Agility?” Lyn studied the course. It wasn’t the standard agility course she was used to seeing but rather a more rugged course. There were items specific to K9 training like the broad jump, catwalk, and brick wall jump. The Catch-A frame was completely new to her. The car door jump and window jump were actually painted in more realistic colors as opposed to the standard white. The equipment was familiar to her but not part of her usual clientele’s goals.
David took the lead off Atlas. “He can do all of it. Easily. The question is whether he wants to.”
She nodded. A dog learned exponentially faster with internal drive. Incentive could help too, but a trainer learned to align training with the natural drive of the dog for the best results. Which meant finding a situation in which the dog wanted to perform a particular action.
At the moment, Atlas was sitting next to David and not even looking at the agility course. Not interested.
“What’re we using for incentive?” She’d used treats usually for clients, but the K9 and military trainers didn’t always have the same practices.
David pulled a tennis ball from his pocket. Atlas watched the slow arch of the ball as it crossed the distance between them. Lyn was happy she caught it. It would’ve been insanely embarrassing if she’d dropped it considering how much time David had given her to catch it.
“He gets this after completing each exercise.” David lifted his chin toward the ball in her hands. “Then we’ll see if we can get him to do the whole course for the ball.”
She raised her eyebrows. “That’s assuming a very fast learning curve.”
He shrugged. “This is all review for him. He used to run a course like this for the sheer joy of doing it. If we get him back into a mood to do it at all, I don’t think it’ll take long for him to demonstrate how easy this is for him.”
She laughed. Atlas did seem to have his fair share of pride. “Okay.”
“Walk to each obstacle and give the command. Let’s take them one at a time and see how much he needs to obey.”
“Obedience.” She frowned. “We haven’t confirmed he’s consistently obedient yet.”
Only a few commands this morning and during lunch. Every time, she’d seen the pause, the consideration, as Atlas had decided whether he wanted to obey.
“He’s still got solid obedience.” David spoke with utter confidence, almost irritating. “There’s a delay but he doesn’t ignore
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