Chapter 34

My Dogs

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Author's note – Would like to thank everyone for the 300+ reviews I have, I can't believe it, it makes me so happy that so many people have taken the time to tell me what they think, I love you all for it. X

Special thanks to; aridnie, beck9y, Lovefremione, KagomeGirl021, HinaLuvLuvChan, dreamer 3097, Krynny, Purplehonor, Nija Assasian, patipatiti, Red, Phictionmaker7, wildfireburnstheforest, aunthay and Melody for the lovely reviews.

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Kurt walked towards the principal's office, he told Kurt to come there to look over the dogs. Kurt didn't even know what types of dogs there would be or even if he'd find one he could actually like. He had a bit of a love hate relationship with canines, since most of his tormentors back at McKinley seemed to own one.

He knew it would probably be a bigger dog, he just really hoped there were no pit bulls or Rottweiler's in there. He really hadn't gotten over being chased through a park by some of the bullies with those big dogs and he really did not want one himself.

He knocked on the door to the headmaster's office and opened the door as he told Kurt to enter.

"Oh Kurt, good afternoon, are you well?" he asked standing from his desk and walking over to Kurt. He clapped a hand on the young man's shoulder and guided him down to a conference room that they commonly used to have staff meetings.

"Now we have quite a few dogs in here, now you can choose any of them that you like, they have a special coat they can wear so you can take them into stores and I've allowed them in the classrooms. But if you don't see one you like we'll get some more in and see if we can find one for you." Principal Dermott said and Kurt nodded.

They walked in comfortable silence till they got to a room that was set apart from the general area of the school and Kurt realized he'd never been down here before, he'd never had need to, these were the rooms the teachers used and didn't normal have students in them.

Principal Dermott opened the door and Kurt was immediately assaulted by the smell of dog, it was a very distinct smell and he hoped that as he kept a dog the scent wouldn't fully permeate his clothes or they'd be being cleaned with fabreeze every day.

"Scott nice to see you and you must be Kurt." A tall woman with waist length wheat blonde hair said with a wide smile, she had large hazel eyes and a kind face.

"Yes, nice to meet you." Kurt greeted as they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you too hunny, I'm Kristen, now I'll let you know how we're going to go about this, firstly we'll go over what kind of dogs you don't like, after all we don't want you to see a dog you're afraid of or anything, then we'll go over a few specifics, you know if you want them to be easier to handle. After all I think a few of my dogs weigh more than you do." She joked smiling at him.

Kurt nodded at that, he wasn't as skinny as he used to be, he was still underweight but not by much and he was much fitter now than he had been as well.

"Yeah, although I do weigh more than I did when I started attending here." Kurt replied with a slight shrug, he didn't mention he'd also been about 4 inches shorter and scared of every male he came across to some extent.

"Good to hear, I'm glad you're improving. Now are there any particular breeds of dog you dislike?" she asked.

"I'm scared of Rottweiler's and pit bulls; I'm not a fan of Dobermans either." He told her his hand rubbing his arm as he looked rather uncomfortable about admitting that.

"That's fine, I won't bring in the Rottweiler I brought, I'm not a fan of pit bulls I think it's easy for bad breeding to give them bad temperaments so I don't work with many and I didn't bring any Dobermans, so we'll work from there. Now are you very active normally?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm in the cheerleading squad, I like to go running with my friends at least two days a week and my boyfriend and I tend to go for a walk together most evenings." Kurt said, the walks had been a practice Blaine had brought in when Kurt had started physical therapy and was allowed to walk for short 20 minute periods, he made it a point that they would take a slow walk together every night after school, now those walks could last well over an hour and Kurt loved them.

"Good, that's always a major question because we need a dog that will keep up with you since it will go just about everywhere with you. Now are you a very social person?" she asked.

"Yes I have friends over all the time and I hang out with a lot of people, mostly my glee club and the cheerleaders." Kurt told her gesturing to his uniform.

"So we want a dog that will be easy for you to control, but will be social with the appropriate people and protective when it needs to be, I have a few ideas on what would be good, I'll go get the first one, now all I'd like you to do, is when I tell you the dog's name, just call it, alright, then we can see which dogs respond to you best and work with the ones that respond to you." She said smiling as Kurt nodded, it made sense to him.

"So the first dog I'm going to bring out is a Neapolitan Mastiff, he's called Chief, now all I want you to do is call his name, we just want to see if he'll pay attention to you okay." She asked patting Kurt's shoulder as he nodded.

She came back with a massive dog and Kurt almost wanted to take a step back, he was sure that animal weighed a hell of a lot more than him. It was a blue colour with a big wrinkled face and massive slobbering jowls.

"Just call him Kurt." Kristen said a firm hold on a very thick leash.

"Umm, Chief." Kurt croaked and the dog barely snorted in his direction.

"Alright, obviously he's making you uncomfortable so we'll try the next one." She said giving him a kind smile again, she had a feeling that he wouldn't like any of the huge mastiffs she had brought but it was worth trying them anyway.

"The next one is a Puli, she's called Dana." Kristen told him as she went to take Chief back to her truck, and get out the next dog.

Kurt eyed the Puli with intrigue; it was a surprisingly small dog with thick dreadlocks rather than conventional fur. "Dana." He called gently and she looked in his direction for a moment before going back to sniffing the floor.

"Alright, not bad, let's move on to Anatolian Shepherd Dog, she's called Kayla." Kurt had been intrigued by the whole process so far and he wasn't really sure what he was doing or how this would help with his choice of dog, but he was willing to defer to the expert.

Kayla was a large, sandy coloured dog with black tipped ears and a long tail which curled up over her back. Kurt wasn't as intimidated as he was by the size of the first dog, but it really was a huge animal. He called her and her head swivelled to look at him before she let out an almost snort and Kurt wasn't sure if he should feel insulted or not.

"Okay, maybe not." Kristen said and she led the dog away. Kurt was getting a bit disheartened by this, he wasn't sure if dogs didn't like him or if he wasn't good with dogs, but he kept his head up as she brought in another dog.

"Now this is Bruno, he's a Giant Schnauzer." She said and Kurt looked at the big black dog, it had a long rectangular muzzle and hair made a sort of moustache and eyebrows for the dog.

Kurt called him and he looked interested for a moment before turning back to Kristen. "Good, that's the kind of response we want at the moment, they need to be interested without trying to intimidate you." She told him and Kurt nodded that made sense.

Kurt didn't know how many more dogs there were going to be, what he didn't expect to be next was a huge white dog.

"Alright Kurt, this is Willow and she's a Great Pyrenees." Kristen introduced and the dog stared at Kurt with her big brown eyes before looking at Kristen for instructions.

"Call her." She told Kurt and Kurt did as asked; Willow looked back at him sniffing the air towards him.

"Very good, so we have about 3 more dogs to go through then we'll go from there but I think it's safe to say Willow may be a good candidate."

Kurt nodded, he wasn't sure but he was willing to go with her more experienced opinion on the matter, after all he knew next to nothing about dogs and his only pet was a canary.

"You doing alright Kurt?" Principal Dermott asked.

"Yeah, I'm just not used to dogs." Kurt replied and the older man smiled at him and nodded, "It'll be fine, she wouldn't bring any dogs that won't listen, it's just the process of placing you with the right dog."

"I know." Kurt replied with his own shy smile.

"Now Kurt this is Kaleo, he's a German Shepherd, more your classic guard dog." She said bringing in the fluffy dog; its fur was jet black. Kurt thought it was a gorgeous dog.

"Kaleo." He called and the dog immediately turned to him, his tail wagging rapidly.

"Well I think you have a friend here, but I'll go through the last two before we make the choice alright?" she asked and Kurt nodded feeling more optimistic.

"Now this girl is a Malinois, her name is Bella." Kristen introduced, the dog looked similar to the last one, except it had short tan fur with black ears and a black muzzle.

"Bella." He called, he was getting into the swing of this now and it was ironic that you could get a hang of just calling a name.

She looked at him and cocked her head to the side, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as she panted.

"Okay, last one is a Bullmastiff and he's called Frankie." She told him and Kurt nodded as she took the tan dog away and Kurt was glad this would be over soon.

"Now, Kurt, last one." She said and the Bullmastiff was huge, Kurt blinked, it too had tan fur and a black muzzle, but it also had black framed eyes making it look like it had gotten in a fight.

"Umm, Frankie." He called and the dog looked at him.

"Okay, so I'll put him away and be back to talk to you." She told him and Kurt nodded, the principal handed him a chair and Kurt sat down. As Kristin came back she pulled up her own seat and sat facing Kurt smiling warmly at him.

"Now Kurt what I want to do is to shorten the list of dogs, now where there any of the ones that reacted appropriately that you didn't like, that made you uncomfortable?" she asked.

"Umm, Willow was kinda big, I think she weighs more than me and I'm not sure I could control her." He said with a slight wince he hated admitting that but he knew it was pointless having a dog he couldn't control, that would just make him more stressed.

"Alright we won't bring her back in, I'm also going to suggest we take Dana out of the running, you need more a guard dog and I think a slightly bigger dog would find that task a bit easier." She said and Kurt nodded in understanding, that made sense after all.

"Well that leave Bruno, Kaleo and Bella, now if you want a dog that is easier to control I'd suggest Kaleo, German Shepherd's are one of the best breeds for guard dogs and they listen to instructions, once you have the training down then you'll be able to call him back without a second thought on his part." She explained and Kurt nodded, that sounded like what he needed as an inexperienced dog owner.

"So what we'll do is you can take Kaleo now and start introducing him to safe people, that's basically your friends and the like so he gets used to them and their scent, I'll come by after school 3 days a week in order to properly teach you the commands and things, I'll also give you everything you'll need for him and give you a little guide book." She said and Kurt was extremely grateful, he would be floundering on his own.

But he was glad that that dog had been agreed upon, Kaleo seemed like a friendly dog and as long as he could deter people that was just what Kurt needed, plus it was a good looking dog, as shallow as that may seem but it was easier to feel protected by a good looking dog rather than a skinny little thing with thin hair.

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Kurt left the school a leash in his hand and the black dog on the end, with the principal helping him to carry everything Kristen had given him, everything from bowls to a dog bed and food.

"So Kristen will be back in a couple of days once you've settled into a routine with him." Principal Dermott said and Kurt nodded with a smile, as they approached Thompson.

"Thank you for all of this sir." Kurt said as they got closer to the dorm building.

"You're welcome Kurt, I mean, we deal with sad cases all the time, but just seeing you, go from that scared young man in a wheelchair in my office into the wonderful ambitious young man you are now, it's truly inspiring and any way I can help you, or any of these boys, I'll do it." He told the teen, Kurt reminded him of his own son but he didn't dwell on that sad story.

Kurt opened the door to Thompson holding it open for the principal as he heard feet pounding down the stairs; it was almost like a stampede as his friends appeared.

"Aww it's so cute." He heard Jeff say in a funny baby voice that most people seemed to get when talking to animals.

"Let me take that sir." Addison said taking the supplies from the Principal and Tory took a few off of him.

"Well I'll leave you all to get settled, Kurt if you need anything than call me." He told the teen.

"I will, thank you sir." Kurt said and the principal left them all to it.

"So what's he called?" Blaine asked coming up to Kurt and wrapping an arm around the taller boy's waist.

"Kaleo, I like it actually it's different, after all it wouldn't suit me if he had a normal name like Fido." Kurt replied and the other had to laugh at that, it was a true fact, even though they wore uniforms Kurt still found ways to accessorize, as did most of the other boys, one boy in Wilson had a collection of odd coloured watches, ranging from camo to neon.

"Sounds good, normal really wouldn't suit you." Blaine replied kissing his cheek and holding his hand out for the dog to sniff and as the dog relaxed he pet his fuzzy head. Kaleo licked his hand.

"Well looks like he'll fit in just fine." Tyler said presenting his own hand to the dog and Kurt knew he and Kaleo would get along it was just going to be a case of getting used to each other.

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So Kurt has a German shepherd called Kaleo, this is so what I a naming my next pet btw. It's supposed to be pronounced Car-Leo it means sound or voice, so I think it's nice, so what do you all think? Also if I don't get chance to post before then, Happy Holidays folks. (I celebrate Christmas but I know some people don't) Enjoy it all and hope it's full of fun and joy x