"Ooooooh, there's a gooooood boy, Kaiser… I'm sorry I yelled at you, boy. I just hadn't met you yet, had I…? Good dog, Kaiser…"

The black and tan dog nuzzled up close to the sweet-smelling younger girl, reflecting, to himself, the similarity between this new human and the one who had retired to the other room. At the same time, he sensed that the blonde girl who was stroking him was young – perhaps too young – but there was a gentleness about her nature that the older woman didn't have. Instinctively, Kaiser knew that this female was more like him, for at two, he was still a lively, exuberant puppy. Impulsively, he thrust out his long pink tongue, running it along the inside of her wrist to show the affection he already felt for her.

"Ooooh, what a friendly dog you are!" Jackie cooed. She'd never had a pet, partially because her father hadn't liked animals that much, but she had always felt at ease around the dogs and cats that her girlfriends owned. Her native apprehensiveness prevented her from being the kind of person known as an animal lover, someone who goes around gushing over every dog or cat that comes along, but still, Jackie felt a kind of kinship with the animals she knew, and she could feel a kinship rapidly developing between herself and this new dog, Kaiser.

"Did Mother feed you yet, Kaiser?" she asked, noticing the huge bag of dry dog food on the kitchen sink. "Are you hungry?"

Kaiser merely wagged his tail and hung his tongue out as he followed the pretty new mistress toward the sink. It was till September, and Sacramento was warm this time of year, so it wasn't surprising that Jackie wore no hose, just a pair of sandals and a conservative, but alluring summer dress. The German Shepherd stroked his face across her bare calf, growling unconsciously with the silky soft smoothness of her tanned skin. Jackie twitched when his cold dog nose contacted her summer-warm leg, and she instinctively pulled her leg away.