Chapter 11

Today was the day.

Today was finally the day.

Today was the first official day that Elsa could go out for a walk.

Anna was beyond excited, it was agony to wait. The past few weeks waiting for her puppy to get all the necessary shots couldn't have gone by any slower. But she didn't have to wait any longer, and in a fun coincidence, she had the day off too.

Elsa followed her into her room after breakfast, sensing the very obvious excitement on her owner's face.

"Today's the day, Elsa," Anna said gleefully. "I'm taking you out on your first official, legal walk! Okay maybe not legal, I don't think you can arrest a puppy for walking, but you know what I mean? Right?"

Elsa pranced around in her closet, oblivious to the question.

Anna grabbed the harness from the top shelf. Per Dr. Maren's advice, she put it on Elsa before to make sure it fits and that she'd be comfortable with it. And then walked her around her apartment, which was more fun than she thought it'd be.

The husky, meanwhile, was apprehensive about being wrapped with nylon straps. And it took her a minute to realize that she was still technically free to move and walk around. Even now, she eyed the harness as if it was a comb threatening to munch at her fur again.

But with Anna's soft reassurance, she allowed herself to be harnessed and off they went to the front door.

Anna grabbed her needlessly heavy drawstring bag and put it on. "I sure hope I'm not forgetting anything," she said. Everything was packed the night before, and she'd checked and double-checked her list. There was a whole roll of poop bags, two water bottles, Elsa's water bowl, dog treats, and a tennis ball just in case Elsa got bored. Yeah no, she was definitely prepared.

"You ready, girlie?" Anna asked. She looked down at her feet but Elsa wasn't there. The leash, however, acted as a breadcrumb trail that led her to the couch, where Elsa was stubbornly sitting.

That was odd, Elsa was energetic and yippy before, why was she...oh.

It's because every time they went outside, Anna would take her to the shelter.

Anna sighed, "We're not gonna see Dr. Maren today, Elsa." Sadly. "We're just gonna go for a walk! That's all."

Elsa didn't budge, she eyed her owner carefully.

"Come on! It'll be fun!"

Still, she didn't budge.

Anna rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'm carrying you."

She sneezed as her owner picked her up.

With a finger boop to her nose, Anna remarked, "And I will absolutely say that I told you so when you end up having fun."

The first thing Elsa did- after pawing and sniffing at the front door- was go straight for the grass and pee. Which Anna should have expected, of course. She also should have expected that Elsa wouldn't even think about going down the path that lead to the car.

But regardless, it was fascinating and vindicating to see Elsa take that first step, and then the second, and then the third. Anna thought she'd be more apprehensive about going back outside after spending so long being a stray, but that wasn't the case. Maybe having shelter and some well-needed care helped to normalize the world again for her.

Maybe being happy and healthy made Elsa feel like she could be a normal dog.

Or maybe Anna was just projecting, and Elsa missed the outside world more than she thought.

They walked around Anna's apartment complex, which was mostly asphalt and three-story buildings. But again there was no complaining on the puppy's part. She scurried around on her tiny paws and sniffed everything, some areas more than others.

To be honest, Anna expected more prancing and yelping, more excited behavior in general. Like she was a princess stuck in a tower for so long and was smelling the grass and dirt, just like she dreamed they'd be. But, again, Elsa was most likely accustomed to these kinds of areas, and so walking was just another...thing for her.

With the added benefit of a harness and leash to know that she wasn't alone this time. Not anymore.

Which was good, because if Anna wasn't with her, she'd probably eat every leaf and bit of trash in sight. Anna tugged on her leash gently and made a noise, "Stop trying to eat candy wrappers, oh my gosh." Elsa tugged back on the leash in protest to sniff at the bits of peanut butter and chocolate. Which didn't work since she weighed as much as Anna's foot.

Her plan was to loop around the apartment complex, so that Elsa could get a good feel for her surroundings in case she got out (again). And on the southwest side was a decent-sized park that they could take a break at so she could give the puppy some water and treats for being such a good girl.

Most people kept to themselves here, so Anna wasn't surprised when there was no one else walking around too. The most social interaction during the walk was waving to people on the other side of the gate.

This didn't deter Elsa from being as social as possible, however. She sniffed at every door, tugged at the leash when she saw anyone being the gate, and paused at random moments whenever she heard a bird. If there were any children around, she'd probably jump on them.

Well, that theory wasn't about to be tested anytime soon since there was no one at the park either.

"Oh thank goodness," Anna said to herself, she wasn't ready to talk to children right now. They kinda freaked her out.

Elsa was excited to see bigger patches of grass and a big, colorful, metal contraption and she paced towards the park. "I knew you'd like this place," Anna said proudly. "You wanna go on the swings? I'm joking, obviously, that'd...shoot, that'd be adorable."

They walked to one of the benches. "Come here, girlie. Let's take a break." As Elsa inspected the ins and outs of an unremarkable wooden bench, Anna took out her water bowl and dog treats. She poured water into the bowl and placed it down, and the husky ceased her curiosity to drink it all.

Or at least half of it. Maybe she underestimated how parched the puppy would be. After all, they'd only been walking for like fifteen minutes.

...maybe she overpacked.

She made a mental note to ask Dr. Maren for more advice on puppy walks. That would replace step eight, which was going to be catching the doctor's gaze and smiling at her. Which, thinking about it now, would have been too bold of a move.

Anna gave one of the treats to Elsa and sighed, "I hope you're better around people than me. I wouldn't blame you if you weren't, though. People are kinda scary."

Elsa licked up the scent of her treat from Anna's fingers, she pretended that the puppy agreed with her. There was a lot about Elsa's past that was a mystery to her, and might always be a mystery. Who knows how well she'd do when a total stranger was in front of her, someone who didn't have food or a stuffed animal for her to maul.

But hey, now was not the time to be broody and mope. This was a good day, a great day! She was outside and finally walking around with Elsa, a day she'd literally dreamed about for weeks. And from the lack of howling and stubborn sitting, it seemed like Elsa was enjoying it too.

They explored the park together, the swings tempted her once again. How cute would it be to see Elsa in one of the seats that looked like a diaper? But Anna ultimately decided against it when Elsa looked more interested in climbing up the playground.

So they did that instead. Elsa sniffed every bit of metal she could find, pulling away from the sides when she saw that there was no more floor to walk across. And when they got to the top, Anna had a different, possibly better idea.

"You wanna go down the slide?" she said mischievously.

Elsa tilted her head at her when she asked and sat at her feet, panting as if she'd just been told she was voted the world's number one puppy.

"I'll take that as a yes." Anna picked Elsa up and walked to the biggest slide at the end of the playground. She hadn't gone down one of these things since middle school, they used to feel so much higher.

With a hopefully excited husky in tow, Anna sat down- relieved that she was still slim enough to not get stuck- and pushed them down using her knees.

"Wheeeeee!" she said in a fake excitement that almost turned real. Slides were always her favorite part of the playground, her mom used to do this with her too back when their family was complete. And now she could do this with Elsa, assuming that she was having fun too.

They got to the bottom and Anna forgot to stop herself with her feet, which resulted in her landing on her butt, thankfully not hurting Elsa.

"Oww," she groaned. "Wasn't that fun, Elsa?"

Elsa licked her face and wriggled out of her arms, walking back to the stairs.

Anna stood up, still in slight pain from landing butt-first. "I told you so," she said with a smile.