I want to make sure she’s safe. Even when I’m not around. – Elias
Liana
“He’s seriously going again?” I asked, watching Miso happily bounce into the hallway as Elias picked up his leash.
“Third session this week. I think he likes it.”
Elias shrugged on a light jacket, clipped the leash to Miso’s collar, and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. “It’s good for him. Discipline, commands, socializing.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You mean obedience school? Because you make it sound like military boot camp.”
He smirked. “Only slightly.”
I narrowed my eyes. “They yelled at me last time I brought him in late, only for 5 minutes. What kind of dog school has a schedule stricter than a college?”
“The kind that takes security seriously,” Elias said innocently, tugging the leash. “Be good while we’re gone.”
Miso gave a sharp bark like he was agreeing to the terms of a secret mission.
I watched them go, shaking my head. “Weird boys.”
Elias
We didn’t go to the dog park.
We didn’t go to a dog school either.
Instead, we pulled into a half-shaded training facility at the edge of the city—gated, quiet, and well out of sight from the public. Inside, padded mats, obstacle courses, and uniformed trainers waited.
Miso leapt out of the car with practiced ease. He knew the routine now.
“Still growing,” a familiar voice called as we entered. One of the trainers, a retired K9 officer named Rio, grinned. “He looks sharp.”
“He’s getting there.”
We started with the basics: response to voice, off-leash control, pressure cues.
Then we advanced.
Simulated attack scenarios. Bite training. Target identification. Threat response.
Miso nailed them all.
He was smart, fast, and already stronger than most people realized.
When we wrapped for the day, Rio clapped a hand to my shoulder.
“Dog like that? Bonded to a handler like her? He’d kill for her.”
I looked down at Miso, who sat obediently at my heel.
“Yeah,” I said softly. “That’s the idea.”
Liana
When they came home, Miso looked a little dusty, a lot tired, and extremely proud of himself.
He trotted straight to the water bowl and guzzled half of it, then sprawled across the kitchen tiles like he’d just returned from war.
I laughed. “Did they make you do calculus?”
Elias, who looked suspiciously too calm for someone who supposedly went to a dog school, just winked. “He passed with honors.”
I ruffled Miso’s ears. “Good boy.”
He thumped his tail against the floor.
Whatever they were doing over there, it was clearly working.
