Chapter 36

She didn’t have much in the way of clean clothes available. After changing into a PetHub t-shirt and shorts, Emma went and retrieved her cell phone from our apartment before driving over to Brent’s.

She reached for the door bell, then thought better of it. She pulled her phone out and called Brent.

“Hi, Brent, it’s Emma. I’m at the front door. I didn’t want to ring the doorbell and get Bruiser more worked up.”

“Oh, ok,” Brent answered, “I’ll let you in.”

The front door opened and Emma saw Bruiser immediately. He was wrapped in his ThunderShirt on the far side of the living room, but it didn’t seem to be helping as he was quivering like a leaf.

“He can tell when I’m getting ready to leave and gets very worked up,” Brent explained sadly.

“I can see that. No worries though, I’ll take good care of him,” Emma said with a smile.

Bruiser was trembling all over as Emma walked up to him. He gave one token bark, but that was it and didn’t move.

Emma crouched down and slowly approached him. He didn’t try to flee; just kept shaking where he was.

Emma picked him up gingerly and brought him to her bosom. She wrapped her arms tightly around him.

He looked to Brent; perhaps for permission. Brent was smiling, so that was good enough. Turning back to Emma, he licked her chin.

“Who’s a good boy? Bruiser, Bruiser’s a good boy!” Emma said in her best baby-talk voice. “Does Daddy have a blanket of Bruiser’s he can get me?” she said. The question was directed at Brent, but she aimed it at Bruiser, keeping the same ‘goo-goo-gaa-gaa’ tone.

“Yeah, sure!” Brent said. He dashed for his bedroom and returned immediately with a hand knitted blanket. It was only about three feet by three feet.

“This is Bruiser’s ... my wife used to knit and made it just for him.” His tone was calm, though somber.

Emma took it from him while maintaining her smile directed at Bruiser. Walking over to the couch, she wrapped the blanket around the pug but still kept him tightly clutched to her chest. It was then that Brent noticed that Bruiser was no longer trembling. Sitting on the sofa, Emma was rocking him back and forth.

“My God, that’s amazing,” he said softly.

“No, not really. He’s not my only client with separation anxiety. The familiarity of the blanket is soothing, just like it is for babies; also, maintaining the positive pressure on him has a comforting effect as well. That is the idea behind the ThunderShirt.,” Emma said. Her eyes glanced up at the wall clock and saw it was 9:40.

“I think we are good here; you shouldn’t be late for work,” she said.

Brent turned to the clock with alarm.

“Oh shit! You’re right!” He bent down gave Bruiser a kiss on the head. He touched Emma on the shoulder and she looked up at him.

“Thank you so much, Emma. You don’t know how much this means to me!” he said.

“No problem. I’m happy to help. Now go! We’ll be fine here!” Emma said with a shoo-ing motion.

After he’d left, Emma spoke to Bruiser in a motherly tone.

“So, just me and you tonight, little guy. Do you want to watch some Animal Planet?” she asked him. He didn’t though, because the blanket coupled with her soothing voice and the rocking movements were making his eyes close. In another couple minutes, he was snoring softly against her.