Chapter six: A lesson
4 months after the great meat heist, a hard winter has passed and spring was in full swing.
"Wake up sleepy pants"
"I don't wear pants"
"Oh come on Tramp! Boris said he has an important lesson to teach you today!" said Peg as she tugged Tramps ear.
"Ah, okay, okay! I'm coming! Please leave my my ears alone, you are ruining their natural beauty" Tramp yawned as Peg laughed.
"Um.. they are not beautiful.. they are flappy. Mine on the other paw are as perfect as can be" she said as she started showing off.
"Well when I'm done with them they are gonna have as much holes as swiss cheese!" Tramp started lightly tugging her ear and used one paw to hold her in place.
"Hahaha! Stop it! Tramp!" said Peg between laughs.
Tramp continued this for another minute before Peg seized a chance and bit one of his long ears just enough that he would let go. He yelped and fell on his back, she jumped on his chest and started licking his muzzle.
"I love you Tramp"
"I love you to Peg"
Boris, Daschie and Buster came just around the corner to witness this scene.
"Well this is awkward" said Buster.
"Yup" confirmed Daschie.
"Um..." hummed Peg and Tramp in union, Peg was still on top of his chest.
"Come on Tramp. Me and Daschie have an important lesson to teach you and Buster" said Boris.
"Can you guys give me sec?" asked Tramp.
"Of course, we will be waiting for you at the back gate" smiled Boris before he and the boys rounded the corner.
"Do you really have to go? Right now?" Peg looked at Tramp with puppy dog eyes.
"Yea... sorry love" he said as he nuzzled her.
"Be back soon, okay?"
"I will, I promise"
He got up and went to catch up with the rest. As soon as he reached the gate he started asking questions.
"So what do you two have to teach us?"
"You will see when we get there" answered Boris.
"Where?"
"The forest"
"I hope you are not wasting my time Boris..." said Tramp annoyed.
"I truly am sorry for cutting for time short today Tramp, but we figured this was the best time" explained Boris.
It took them about an hour to reach the forest, it was a typical mixed forest with all kind of trees and shrubbery and many animals ranging from as small as mice to deer.
They continued walking until they reached a small pond with a big rock on one side, Boris climbed the rock and cleared his voice before speaking.
"Here we are, this is where we are going to have our lesson"
"You mind telling us what it is?" asked Tramp bored and annoyed.
"Yeah" Buster burped "I'm tired as hell, please tell me we are not going to do some hippy stuff" he then yawned.
While Buster and Tramps behavior was disrespectful and unpleasant Boris didn't really mind, the boys were going through puberty and their hormones were raging, but Daschie on the other hand did mind and he made sure to voice it:
"Hey! You two shut up, if it wasn't for the old man you two would have been cat meat a long time ago!" yelled Daschie, the boys were quick to retaliate.
"True, if it wasn't for him we would already be some ladies coats because of you" said Buster as he got in Daschies face, even if the boys were young they were already taller and stronger than Daschie and most of the junkyard dogs.
"Yeah Daschie, you never apologized for that!" said Tramp baring his teeth and approaching from the flank. They were ready to fight, Daschie put on a strong face but inside his hearts was racing, he knew he could't win.
"I... i"
"TRAMP! BUSTER! WHAT KIND OF BEHAVIOR IS THIS?!" yelled Boris, booth of them quickly snapped their heads to him.
"I THINK I TAUGHT YOU BETTER!" now they were looking at the ground, ashamed.
"I'm sorry Boris" whispered Tramp.
"Me to"
"I don't think you should be apologizing to me" said Boris as he glanced at Daschie, he also got a scare from the yelling.
"Sorry" they booth said in union.
"It's okay kids" replied Daschie quietly.
"Hhh.." sighed Boris "listen you two, you can't just lash out at people. I know your bodies are changing, your hormones are working and you are finding out your identity but you have to keep your temper in check, otherwise you are going to hurt someone you really care about" he said the last part while looking Tramp in the eyes.
Neither said anything.
"Now. Let's get to the lesson. Do you two know where we get out food from?" asked Boris.
"Well yeah, from the garbage and restaurants" answered Buster.
"Where are you going with this Boris?" asked Tramp.
"Well you see children, its not always like that. Some winters food is scarce and we have to hunt" said Boris.
"We aren't wolfs Boris" said Tramp with a smile.
"No, but we are related, besides most of the meat we ate the past winter was from hunts"
"Really?" asked Buster.
"Yes, rabbit and dear, caught by me and Daschie"
"So that's why is tasted so fresh" said Tramp and booth him and Buster laughed a little.
"So now we are going to teach you have to hunt, Daschie, will you tell them the basics of hunting?" asked Boris.
"Yeah.." he was mad about earlier, but what had to be done had to be done "It's really simple, you just get close to your prey and snatch it" he explained.
"That simple? Ha, this is going to be easy" said Tramp to which Buster gave a confirm bark.
"If you two think so, then go and catch something, we haven't eaten anything today." said Boris.
"Lets go!" said Buster as they started running.
"You really looked scared" said Boris glancing at Daschie.
"Well i was only acting I didn't want the situation to escalate. I could take 'em" answered Daschie.
"Sure you could" laughed Boris.
The boys ran for about 100 meters before they split of, Tramp went for the forest, while Buster entered the clearing.
Tramp stopped and started sniffing around, he knew that this is what hunting dogs do when they hunt, he was taught this by an old dog named Chief who would come to town once in a while with his owner to sell animal fur.
He snooped around for about a minute and he caught many scents:
rabbit "to fast" he thought
fox "to strong"
deer "to tall"
then he felt the sent of a squirrel "perfect"
By the strength of the sent he determined that the squirrel was here not to long ago, he followed the sent to an old oak and took a look to the other side. There he saw the squirrel, 10 meters away from him. He crouched and quietly crept closer through a patch of tall grass until he was 3 meters away from him, the squirrel started turning around looking for predators. Tramp might have been in the grass but he became nervous and gave sprint, his jaw wide open.
The squirrel screeched and started running, it didn't take it long to get to the top of the tree at which Tramp ran nose first into.
"Ouch" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"I hope nobody heard that" he looked up to see the squirrel peacefully siting on a branch, it wasn't coming down soon so Tramp had to find new prey.
"Nuts" he thought.
After rubbing his sore nose he put it to the ground and started sniffing, soon he found scent of another squirrel.
"I hope it's your mother" he thought as he glanced up at the one that escaped him.
It didn't take a lot of looking around for him to find it, as he glanced at it he saw that it was bigger than the other one, probably older and had a limp.
"Perfect" he thought as he got closer to it, hiding behind trees. He quickly stood right near it, just had to turn around the tree to see it. He mustered up his skill, got near it and lunged and he caught it by the tail. It started screeching and clawing his face as he pined it to the ground, he used one paw to hold down its back while he wrapped his jaw around its head in one swift move from his paw and jaw he crushed its head and spine.
Proud of himself he picked it up and ran back to Boris and Daschie.
He got to them quickly and dropped the squirrel at their feet.
"I caught it guys! I caught it!"
"I see" said Boris as he inspected the prey.
"Hmm, bloody and messy, not bad" said Daschie, a lump appeared in his throat, would that have been him if Boris hadn't intervened? Nah, the kids were to soft heart to do that.
"But..." started Boris.
"Yes?" asked Tramp, anxious to hear the rest.
"It's to small kid, you couldn't feed one mouth with this." said Daschie as he tasted the squirrel, it wasn't bad.
Just then Buster came to them, caring a small mouse in his mouth.
He dropped the mouse at their feet.
"So what do you think?" asked Buster.
"To small" said Tramp.
"That's what she said" said Daschie grinning.
All of them left out a small chuckle, even Boris.
"You need some bigger prey to satisfy your hunger, have you boys thought about rabbits?" asked Boris.
"They are to fast!" said Buster.
"True, but one rabbit could satisfy two dogs" added Daschie.
"Okay so where could we find large numbers of rabbits?" asked Tramp.
"They usually come together on clearings" answered Boris.
"I know one! Follow me Tramp!" said Buster and started running with Tramp on his heels.
They reached the clearing and went on the far side of it towards a hill, they got to the other side of it and saw multiple rabbits.
"Let's chase!" ran Buster.
"Wait!" screamed Tramp.
Buster tripped and started rolling down the hill, seeing him the rabbits all scattered towards the forest. On the top of the hill Tramp couldn't stop laughing.
"I feel dizzy" said Buster as Tramp came towards him.
"Ha ha ha, I wonder how you caught that mouse, you made a mistake of running to soon"
"A lot of trying and failing, but it worked! Let's get 'em" said Buster as he got ready to run again.
"Wait! I have a plan"
"What plan?" asked Buster, curious.
"First, let's go see where they scattered of to, when we find them you hide in the bushes and I'll chase them towards you, once one gets close you grab it and kill it" explained Tramp.
"Okay, this better work or I'm chasing again"
"It will, trust me"
Tramp caught the rabbits scent and followed it, they found the rabbits in another clearing. For a moment Buster had a problem controlling his prey drive but he bit his tong and got it under control for now.
Tramp instructed him to go towards a bush opposite of them, which he did and expect for a few rustles of leafs it was quite. Once he got there he gave Tramp the signal by raising his paw above the bush. Seeing this Tramp got ready and gave chase, the rabbits scattered in all directions with two going towards Buster, he lunged at one and quickly crushed is neck.
The other rabbit didn't move from shock long enough for Tramp to get close and kill it.
The boys hugged and congratulated each other, they then picked up their kills and ran back towards the older dogs.
"Do you think they'll really catch a rabbit?" asked Daschie.
"I think they will" answered Boris.
"I actually doubt Buster will, but Tramp might, the kids bright" said Daschie.
"We shall see" said Boris.
A few moments latter the boys appeared in front of them panting, after catching their breath they put their kills in front of the older dogs.
Not even Boris expected two rabbits, but he hid his surprise with a smile, while Daschies jaw drooped.
"You actually caught two!" said Daschie.
"Yup" answered Buster.
"How?" asked Boris.
"I planned it!" said Tramp puffing out his chest.
"Ha, I always knew you were bright kid! Congratulations!" said Daschie while shaking Tramps paw, seemingly forgetting what happened earlier, this was one of the few times he would show affection towards Tramp.
"Good job" congratulated Boris.
"Thanks guys!" said Tramp.
"Hey! I participated two!" Buster was getting a jealous.
"We are not forgetting you Buster, the congratulations was for you two" said Boris.
Still Buster was still a little jealous, this was the first time he felt Tramp as a rival, not a friend.
"Yeah, I could't done it with out you buddy!" said Tramp.
Buster managed to subdue the feeling for now, but it still lingered there, probably waiting for another chance to pop out and it probably will...
"Lets eat!" said Daschie as he started eating one of the rabbits.
Buster joined him, while Tramp and Boris shared another one.
Latter Daschie and Buster had already started their journey back to the junkyard, Boris made an excuse for him and Tramp to stay, he needed to talk to him. Luckily they bought the excuse and went of.
Tramp and Boris sat in silence until Boris interrupted the silence.
"Do you know why I want to talk to you?"
"Nope"
"Well, okay, I want to ask you: Are you and Peg in a serious relationship?"
"Well I guess, I mean we spend our entire day together" answered Tramp.
"Okay do you know what heat is?" asked Boris.
"When its warm?"
"No, not that heat. I mean when a female is in heat?"
"Yeah, Peg told me about it"
"And?"
"And what?" was getting confused where this conversation was going.
"Tramp, Peg is 6 months old, she will have her first heat and will be irresistible to every male including you, so I want to know are you going to have pups?" asked Boris.
"What?! No! We are not ready for that! Why would you think that?!" answered Tramp loudly.
"You will think differently when it starts. you need to be responsible, you are to young for pups. Talk with her about this, when it happens I want her to be with Jessica for its duration" said Boris.
"But what if she doesn't want to go?" asked Tramp.
"Then i'll drag here there. We cant risk it, she needs to be safe from other dogs and maybe Buster..." Boris said the last part sadly.
"Why Buster? He would never hurt her!" reasoned Tramp.
"He's emotions are unstable, did you see how jealous he was because Daschie praised you and not him?"
"Well there is a difference between jealousy and lust"
"I wont risk it, he is not mature enough to control himself and neither are you or her. When it starts I want you to get away from her as quickly as possible. Jessica will come for her and take her I already arranged this" said Boris.
"Wait. You did that before consulting us?" asked Tramp in slight anger.
"I didn't want to disturb you while you are happy"
"Well, okay, so when will this happen?"
"It might happen tomorrow, I'm not sure, but it will be this week. Are you ready for this?" asked Boris.
"I will be, i'll talk with her about it when we get back" answered Tramp.
Boris smiled "Well then lets get going night is already failing"
"You up for a race old man?" asked Tramp with a grin.
"I'm always ready to show a pup how it's done" answered Boris.
"Oh yeah, lets go!"
They raced and like predicted Boris won.