Chapter 1
Austa meet Copper
The sheep were spreading out again. What did it take to get them to stay still? Austa, a female Australian Shepherd, was getting frustrated. Her brother, Turvan, watched from the door to the house.
"Good luck, Austa!" Turvan called to her.
"Thanks!" Austa called back. Turvan nodded his grayish colored head. "All right." Austa set a paw down on the soft grass. She stood fully up and ran to a sheep, nipping at its legs. It protested with its "ba" but went towards the remains of the herd. Austa set out to gather the others. Once she was down she started herding them into the fence.
"Good job girl." Her master, Stu, shut the gate and went inside. Turvan trotted to his sister and sat down beside her.
"Good job," he said.
"Thanks," replied Austa. "Hey look! Amos is taking Chief out!" Turvan stood up to get a better look.
"As long as Cop…" Turvan's voice trailed away as a brown and copper colored dog came into view behind Chief. Turvan grunted a farewell and trotted back inside the house.
"I wonder who they'll kill today," growled Austa. She disliked the fact that hunting dogs took other animals' lives away for sport. Austa personally thought that hunting dogs were as stuck up as dogs could get. She had never met Copper but she met Chief at the fair once. He had boasted about how he tracked down a raccoon and allowed his master to kill it and how he had been rewarded for his "good" deed.
Austa saw Copper talking to her brother when she, Turvan, and Copper were puppies but then she watched them fight and they never spoke again. Other than that and watching Copper track animals, she never met him.
Austa heard a crash behind her so she spun around. She heard the chickens crying out in shock so she raced to the chicken coop. Austa saw a male fox going towards one of the hens.
"Hey!" she barked. The fox turned around and froze when he saw her. "What do you think your doing?" She lowered her voice. "Amos Slade is hunting near by and if I howl he probably come running."
"Please don't," the fox begged. "I have a record with him and I don't want that record to continue. "It's just that my mate and I are starving. It's nearly impossible to catch food right now."
"I can help you," Austa said. "There's some meat in my dish right about now. I'll go without until supper." She turned around. "Don't touch the chickens or the deal is off." Austa trotted to the doggy door. The flap brushed against her fur, scratching her back then, once she was inside; she made her way to the kitchen. She saw Turvan look up at her. "Copper's still out there." She took the large slab meat out of her dish and trotted back to chicken coop. She dropped the meat at the fox's paws.
"Thank you," breathed the fox. "I'm Todd."
"I'm Austa," she replied. "Come back if you ever need help again, okay?"
"All right. Next time it may be Vixey, my mate," Todd told her. "So if a strange fox comes please ask her if she's Vixey, ok?"
"Ok," Austa replied. "You should get out of here, Todd. My brother might come back out." Todd nodded and padded away. Austa watched him leave. It was nice creatures like that that made her hate hunting. When Todd had left, she looked around for Amos, Chief and Copper but didn't see them. They must have left.
That evening, Austa trotted outside again. A soft breeze ruffled her fur gently as she looked out towards the forest. She heard the running of paws and saw a rabbit running like the wind and then she saw Copper running after it. Copper slowly pulled to a stop, grinning. He looked around and saw her. Austa stood her ground as he trotted towards her slowly.
"Hi," he panted, "I'm Copper."
"I'm Austa," she said. "You going to hunt me?" Copper tilted his head, confused. "You were just about to kill that poor rabbit!"
"No, I wasn't," Copper replied, frowning. "I was just chasing it. I don't like hunting."
"Then don't hunt," growled Austa.
"I have to," Copper responded, shuffling his paws. "Amos will probably disown me otherwise."
"Stand up for yourself!" Austa barked, frustrated.
Copper looked at her. "I can't. I don't know how." He wouldn't meet her gaze.
"I'll teach you," Austa offered before she could stop herself. Turvan had warned her about how traitorous Copper was!
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Their eyes met for a moment. Austa didn't look away so that he knew that she was tough but Copper did look away.
"Thanks," Copper muttered. "I couldn't stand up to Amos or Chief for the life of me."
"Well, I have one condition." Austa wasn't going to let him get off so easy. "When you've learned you have to stop hunting."
"O-OK." Copper looked at his paws.
"You have to promise me, Copper," Austa said.
Copper looked up and met her gaze. "I promise."
"This will be hard training," Austa warned. "Trust me."
"I do," Copper replied, his voice getting stronger.
"If you want to back out, you can," Austa told him.
"I won't," Copper said, a smile creeping across his face.
"You sure?" Austa asked.
"Hey," Copper responded, "I made a promise." Austa grinned at him.
"You really are different than my brother said," she chuckled.
"Who's your brother?" Copper asked. Austa was about to reply when a voice shouted, "COPPER!" Copper looked at Austa.
"You haven't started training yet," Austa replied. "Go on." Copper grinned and started to go home but he stopped and turned around.
"I'll… er… see you tomorrow then?" Copper asked, a hint of hopefulness in his voice.
"Yeah," Austa replied. "See ya tomorrow." Copper grinned at her then trotted off. "See ya, Copper."
Copper walked home a little slower than usual. He looked over his shoulder and saw the farm. "Bye, Austa." He looked back ahead and sighed. How was he going to pull this off? What would Chief think? Copper pushed those confusing thoughts to the back of his head and thought about what would come the next day.
I hope you liked this! I'll update soon. PLEASE review! Copper gives puppy dog eyes