Chapter 492: Dignity
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian took Famous out the car. Old Yang turned off the engine before he got out the car as well. The two of them looked around.
This place was so remote, there wasn’t anyone to talk to.
While they were considering coming back another day, Famous heard some voices coming from the hill and it barked twice, indicating that someone was coming.
Zhang Zian cupped his hands above his eyes and looked to the distance. A short figure holding a German Shepherd appeared. It looked that this person had just come back from walking the dog.
As the figure approached, Zhang Zian saw that it was an elderly man in his fifties or sixties. Most of this man’s short hair had turned white, but he seemed quite healthy.
The German Shepherd that the man was holding was at least 12 years old. Its teeth were rotting and it was walking with difficulty. When this German Shepherd looked at Famous, there was no desire of competition, only depression in its eyes.
Old Yang winked at Zhang Zian, guessing that this person was probably the owner of this police dog nursing home.
Zhang Zian thought so as well.
Old Yang’s age looked like he was closer to the man’s age, so it was better for Old Yang to speak. Old Yang went up to the man and asked him, “Excuse me, are you the owner of this police dog nursing home?”
The man glanced at Old Yang and shook his head, “That dog is still very young. It’s too early for it to be sent here.”
He didn’t deny that he was the owner of the police dog nursing home.
Old Yang chuckled and said, “We aren’t sending this dog here. We’re here to look around because we want to send a group of police dogs to your place. Here’s my ID.”
Old Yang handed his work permit of the police dog training base to the man.
Zhang Zian felt embarrassed. He knew that Old Yang was just a cook in the police dog training base, what if his work permit alone couldn’t prove that he was responsible for the police dogs.
Sure enough, the man looked at the work permit and grew even more doubtful. He gave the work permit back to Old Yang and asked, “Are they police dogs? If they are, why don’t you go through the formal procedures? My nursing home only takes in retired police dogs, I will not accept other dogs.”
“This … because …that…” Old Yang stuttered. “They’re the dogs eliminated from training, they’re not police dogs exactly.”
The man frowned, did not speak.
Zhang Zian took a letter from his pocket and handed it to the man. “This is a letter from the Binhai Criminal Police Unit.”
The man was a little surprised. He re-examined Zhang Zian and took the letter.
Sheng Ke wrote the letter and stamped it with the official seal of Binhai Criminal Police Unit. No one would bother to forge such a letter.
While this person was reading the letter, Old Yang looked at Zhang Zian and seemed to say, Why didn’t you take the letter out sooner? I was so embarrassed!
Zhang Zian remained calm. Because I wanted to show off.
After reading the letter, the man gave the letter back to Zhang Zian and said, “Come in.”
He unlocked and opened the gate.
Since this place was so remote, and out of fear that the car would be stolen, Old Yang drove the car into the yard.
With training props like walls, bridges, high-jump stands, and rings of fire, this yard was practically a mini-version of the police dog training base. However, after a second look, Zhang Zian noticed that the props were smaller than the props they had. Old Yang noticed this as well.
Zhang Zian did not understand why the retired police dogs still had to train.
There were two rows of white-gray bungalows in the yard. An electric tricycle with fresh vegetables in its basket was parked in front of the houses.
Perhaps the dogs had heard the gate open because they started barking.
One row of bungalows served as a kennel, while the other row was for people.
The man locked the gate, brought the German Shepherd into the kennel, then greeted Zhang Zian and Old Yang, “Come inside.”
Zhang Zian and Old Yang followed him into the house, but later realized that Famous didn’t come with them.
Famous stayed outdoors, thoughtfully staring in the direction of the kennel.
“Let it play outside. The gate is closed, no one can come in to steal it,” said the man.
Zhang Zian nodded. He wasn’t afraid that Famous would get lost.
A heater hung on the wall inside the house. Perhaps it was natural gas that was being burned, the house was very warm. Zhang Zian and Old Yang took off their coats and hung them on the coat rack.
“Feel free to sit down,” said the man. He then went to boil water for tea.
The furniture was simple, only some old tables and chairs. The only entertainment was a 32-inch TV.
After a moment, the man came back with a large iron teapot and three tea cups.
“Please enjoy a cup of tea, warm yourselves up.” He poured a cup of tea for Zhang Zian and Old Yang, then introduced himself, “My name is Fu Tao, I own the nursing home.”
Zhang Zian and Old Yang introduced themselves and stated the intention of this trip. They wanted to find a place for a group of German Shepherds that had worked in the movie, Dog Warrior. Even though the German Shepherds weren’t official police dogs, they had received training and had nowhere to go after filming. They couldn’t return to the base, and it’d be difficult for them to be adopted by ordinary people.
There was more than one police dog nursing home in Binhai City, but Zhang Zian and Old Yang wanted to work with this one. If Fu Tao declined their request, they’d continue their search.
Feng Xuan had promised that part of the budget of the Dog Warrior would be devoted to finding a home for the German Shepherds. The crew would pay for the living expenses until the dogs died of natural causes so that caring for the German Shepherds wouldn’t be a burden for the nursing home.
Honestly, Feng Xuan had allotted a considerable amount of money for the German Shepherds. To prevent someone from taking in the dogs just for the money, Zhang Zian and Old Yang deliberately told Fu Tao a modest price. If Fu Tao accepted the offer, they’d go into further detail.
Fu Tao pondered for a moment, and sighed. “I understand the situation in general. I was also a police dog trainer in the Binhai Municipal Police Bureau, and I cared for the police dogs. I opened this nursing home for the German Shepherd that I had been training. Later, some of my colleagues sent their dogs to me, saying that they would feel reassured if I kept their dogs. Not that they weren’t willing to keep their dogs, but they couldn’t due to limitations. My colleagues come here to see their old comrades on holidays and stop by to support my business.”
Zhang Zian and Old Yang nodded, waiting for Fu Tao to continue speaking. The situations Fu Tao described, were very common. The police officers wanted to keep the retired police dogs, but their families wouldn’t agree or where they lived didn’t allow the raising of police dogs.
Fu Tao gestured to his surroundings. “You’ve seen that I’m a loner here. Even though I want to raise your German Shepherds, I’m afraid that I can’t. There are already a dozen retired police dogs I need to take care of…”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but his meaning was obvious.
Zhang Zian put aside the matter for the time being. He had been thinking of something this whole time, so he asked, “You just went to walk the dog, right? Why don’t you walk more dogs at the same time? Do you walk on dog at a time?”
Wang Qian and Li Kun were usually in charge of walking the puppies in Zhang Zian’s pet shop. They took all of the puppies and walked them on a green field behind his pet shop. How taxing would it be to walk every puppy, one by one?
Fu Tao said with certainty, “Yes. I walk one dog at a time.”
“Are you are afraid that they’ll fight each other if you walk them together?”
Zhang Zian thought of what Liu had said, that these police dogs were so competitive that they wouldn’t be able to perform tasks together unless they were related or friends.
“No. They too old to fight each other.” Fu Tao smiled and said plainly, “How should I put this? Unlike pets in a shop, these police dogs have been accustomed to living and training with their owners. So, even though they’re old, they’re still proud, and I want them keep that pride. “
These words touched Zhang Zian. He looked at Old Yang, and both of them thought that Fu Tao was the right person for the job.
