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Ryland is epileptic. He cant afford a service dog on his teaching salary so, he's going for the next best thing. A dog from the local adoption center.
Hopefully he can take the dog through training eventually. So, thats the only thing on his list today after school.
Ryland takes a deep breath and walks through the door, the bell ringing as he steps inside. A man looks up from the counter, he has short black hair, a huge scar over the left side of his face, his left eye is milky white, and he's missing his left arm.
“Welcome in.” He grumbles from behind the counter.
Ryland smiles and waves. “Hi, um… I'm looking to adopt a dog preferably out of the puppy phase and that may have had some kind of service animal training? The last part isn't completely necessary though.”
The guy blinks and sets down the book he was reading. Harry Potter. Nice. His name tag says Simon.
“Oh! Also, hi! My name is Grace. Sorry.” He laughs.
“Service animal training? What for?”
Ryland rubs the back of his neck nervously. “I'm epileptic and can't afford a real service dog. And my epileptic episodes have been getting progressively worse over the past six months, so I'm trying to get them under control.”
Simon nods. “Hmm. We have a few dogs that went through a bit of training, but I'm not sure if they're the kind of dogs you're looking for.” Simon says thoughtfully.
“Honestly, any kind of companion would be nice. My apartment gets lonely.” Ryland chuckles.
Simon stands up, he's towering over Ryland's six foot frame. Dang.
“Holy cow.” Ryland whispers.
Simon frowns. “What?”
“Woops. Didn't mean to say that out loud.” He chuckles. “You're just really tall.”
“...Thank you?”
“You're welcome!” Ryland says cheerfully.
Simon leads Ryland into the back with all the kennels. All the dogs bark excitedly as Simon leads Ryland past them.
Ryland waves at all the puppies (dogs) as they walk by and close at them. Simon chuckles in front of him, but Ryland doesn't really care.
“We have this dog right here, his name is Brock. Don't ask why, we dont know. He's a Boxer and he has some service dog training, but his trainer passed away and he doesn't really let anyone else get close. We can try him?” Simon offers as they stop at one of the kennels.
Ryland crouches in front of the gate and holds out his hand for Brock to sniff. Brock simply growls at Ryland and Ryland sighs, pulling his hand away.
“Don't take it personally, angel. He's like that with everyone.”
“Angel?”
“Yeah, cause your name is Grace and uh…” Simon coughs and runs his fingers through his hair. “You have really pretty eyes. Pure actually.”
Ryland feels his whole face heat up, his ears hot. He sputters and covers his face with his hands.
“Sorry- I-I shouldn't have said that.” Simon chuckles awkwardly.
“N-no. It's okay… I-I don't mind.” Ryland says and peeks through his fingers.
Simon's face breaks out into a huge smile before he masks it when he sees Ryland looking. He spins around and starts walking. “A-anyways! Let's find you a dog.”
Ryland scrambles to stand up and follow Simon. His long legs carrying him quickly through the kennels.
“And um… we have this Red Heeler, her name is Ragatha, the previous owner said it's after a TV show? Anyways, she has one eye, but she's great. She's super loyal and sweet.” Simon says and motions to an adorable looking dog.
“Ragatha, that sounds familiar.” Ryland mumbles and crouches in front of the gate. He holds out his hand with a smile. “Here, girl.”
Ragatha immediately sniffs his hand and lets out a bark. Ryland smiles and carefully reaches through the fence. Ragatha starts licking his hand and panting excitedly.
“She's so sweet.” Ryland coos.
“Yeah.” Simon agrees softly.
Ryland retracts his hand and stands up. “She's sweet, but I would like to keep looking.” Ryland smiles.
Simon nods and walks all the way to the very back of the kennels. “This sweet little guy is a sheltie, Shetland Sheepdog. He was born deformed, he has an extra leg on his back. It doesn't do anything, we call it decoration. His name is Rocky. He's had almost two years of service animal training… no one wanted him due to his deformation so they sent him here.”
Ryland looks at Rocky and feels an instant connection. He puts his hand on the gate and Rocky barks happily. “This one.” Ryland whispers.
Simon blinks in surprise, but slowly opens the gate. “I need to see how he acts with you before I let you sign any paperwork.”
Ryland nods and sits on the concrete floor. The second the gate is open Rocky runs right into his arms, his extra leg flopping while he runs.
Rocky starts licking Ryland's face and places his paws on his chest. Ryland wants to cry from the pure joy he feels with this dog.
Ryland chokes on a sob and hugs Rocky, petting his long soft fur and whispering things to him.
Ryland hears a sniffle and looks up to see Simon wiping his eye.
“Yep. He's definitely yours…” Simon sniffles.
Ryland laughs wetly and wipes his tears, burying his face into Rocky's fur while Rocky's pants happily.
They sit like that for a while, Rocky in Ryland's lap, Simon crouched beside them while Ryland cries.
“I-I love him.” Ryland sobs softly.
“Good. I'm glad.” Simon whispers.
Rocky suddenly starts whining and pawing at Ryland's arm. He frowns in confusion. Simon sits up straighter.
Suddenly he's blinking slowly and confused to find Simon in front of him, holding his hand. “There you are. I think you had an absence seizure.”
“...Oh. Yeah, those happen fairly often. They're not as bad as a grand mal, but they're exhausting.”
“...Understandable.” Simon nods slightly.
Simon helps Grace stand up and puts a leash on Rocky. Grace smiles as Rocky leans against his leg.
Simon watches Grace for another moment, then leads him towards an office in the front of the store.. There's surprisingly nobody in the store. Rocky stays at Ryland's side the whole time.
“Have a seat. I need to ask you some questions and you need to fill out some paperwork.” Simon motions to a chair.
Ryland sits down, relaxing into the chair. This isn't the most ideal place to be spacey, but it's fine. Rocky lays his head on Ryland's thigh.
“Grace?”
Ryland looks up at Simon, confused. Oh right, paperwork.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just spacey.”
“...Do you want to wait?”
“No, it's fine.” Ryland waves his hand and sits up straighter, ready to answer questions and sign paperwork.
“Okay. Well, for starters, how many people live in your home?”
“Just me.”
“Do you own or rent your home?” Simon asks and writes something down.
“Rent.”
Simon nods. “Do you have a fenced in yard?"
“...No.”
“I'll give you a walking schedule for Rocky then.” Simon nods and writes something else down.
“How many hours per day will Rocky be left alone?”
“Um, I'm a teacher, so probably eight? Nine at most? But I'm going to try and get him registered as a service dog so I can bring him to work.
Simon nods with a small smile. “Where will Rocky stay when you are not home?”
“Well, my apartment. Probably in a kennel for the first week while he adjusts, then I'll let him roam throughout the day.”
“Okay. What is your daily activity level and exercise plan for Rocky?”
“My daily activity level? I mean I bike to and from work, then I kinda run around the school all day. I come home pretty exhausted, but I can totally take Rocky to the dog park twice a week.”
“Okay.” Simon nods thoughtfully. “Okay, we'll, all you need to do is sign the paperwork and I'll be by your apartment sometime this week to make sure Rocky is settling in well. You'll be able to take him home today.” Simon smiles.
Ryland grins and takes the papers, ready to sign. “Okay!” He reads them over and signs easily.
“Alrighty, that's all.” Simon smiles. “Make sure to write down your address and phone number.”
“Was that an attempt to flirt?” Ryland smirks.
Simon's ears turn red. “N-no. It's- I need to know for the inspection.” Simon stutters.
“Sure. Sure.” Ryland chuckles and jots down his phone number and address. “Text me whenever.” Ryland smiles and stands up.
“Here are Rocky's papers. He has all his vaccinations, he's a registered service animal actually, all you need to do is re-register him under your name, they'll send you a vest for Rocky and some new tags. You should probably buy some stuff for him while you're here though. I'll show you the food he eats.”
Ryland smiles. “Okay.”
Simon leads Ryland out of the office and over to the wall of leashes and collars. Ryland's eyes are immediately drawn to a blue collar with gold stars.
“You like stars?” Simon asks softly.
“I love stars. I'm a science teacher after all.” Ryland chuckles.
“Really?”
“Yes! And I have several PHD's.”
“What are you doing teaching science then? Unless you're a college professor?”
“I’m not. I teach middle school science… and it's a long, embarrassing story.” Ryland chuckles.
“Well, Rocky wears a Large if you want that collar.”
Ryland nods and grabs the collar and matching leash, then Simon leads him over to the dog food.
“Rocky prefers the chicken over the beef, but he usually eats Ol’ Roy cause it's cheap, but also its better than Pedigree. NEVER GIVE HIM PEDIGREE.” Simon says seriously.
Ryland nods in agreement. “No Pedigree, got it.” He grabs the food that Simon suggested and throws the twenty-five pound bag over his shoulder. He's not a muscle-y guy, but he's not weak either.
Simon's eyes widen, then his ears turn red again and he walks back to the counter. Rocky has been glued to Ryland's side this whole time, that's not any different as he walks up to the counter and sets everything down.
Ryland pulls out his wallet and pays for everything, including the adoption fee for Rocky.
“Alright. You're all set.” Simon smiles and hands Ryland the leash and collar. “Do you need help?”
“No, I don't live far. Thank you. Um… text me whenever.” Ryland smiles shyly and puts the collar on Rocky and hooks the leash up to it.
“Okay… Um… be safe. I-I'll text you.”
Ryland grins and grabs the dog food once again. “We will be safe. Thank you. Um… bye.”
Ryland starts walking, waving Simon goodbye as he walks out the door. He has a feeling that this will be great.