Chapter Ninety: The Dog with Two Faces

Before coming here, Yang Baoqian had already done his homework.

Only, what he had prepared was not how to train a dog well, but how to make a dog trainer fail.

The dog really had been adopted by him that very day, though it came from a stray animal rescue center.

After rescuing strays, that center usually put them through a period of training, and only when they could be guaranteed to live comfortably with people would the staff seek a suitable adopter.

This dog was the exception. The center had trained it for months, yet it still could not break its habit of biting people, so it had never been placed. With no other choice, the center was preparing to put it down humanely.

That was when Yang Baoqian came along.

And so the dog ended up in his hands.

Before coming here, Yang Baoqian had already taken the dog on a long round of wandering, deliberately seeking out crowded places. He knew well enough that if one wanted to train a dog properly, the first step was to keep it in a stable state.

What he was doing was nothing more than provoking the dog, making things harder for Zhang Congwen when the training began.

Besides that, Yang Baoqian had no intention of telling Zhang Congwen anything else about the dog. Under those circumstances, Zhang Congwen would be training blind, groping at shadows, which would only make the task more difficult.

Even so, Yang Baoqian still felt it was not enough. He opened the dog crate, yanked the dog out in one motion, and said to Zhang Congwen, “You’d better handle this dog today. I’ve got things to do and need to go somewhere else. If you can’t train it well today, I won’t accept it.”

After all this commotion from Yang Baoqian, the guests in the room had long since been drawn out as well.

Hearing that, Aunt Liu stepped forward at once and said, “For someone who looks so respectable, how come you can’t spit out a single decent word? Even a three-year-old knows dog training takes time. Don’t tell me you don’t know that. I think you’re here to cause trouble.”

As soon as she said this, the onlookers began to murmur among themselves.

Aunt Liu’s words may have been harsh, but they were perfectly reasonable. How could anyone possibly train a dog in a single day? Yang Baoqian clearly was not here to have a dog trained; he was here to stir up trouble.

“You—” Yang Baoqian never expected anyone in the crowd to speak to him like that.

But before he could finish, Aunt Liu cut in again. “What do you mean, you? I’m not from the Dog Language Training Base. I’m just saying something fair because I can’t stand to watch this. If you’re so capable, then go find me a trainer who can handle a dog in one day. If you can’t, then either stay here and train the dog properly, or get lost back to wherever you came from.”

Seeing how formidable Aunt Liu was, Yang Baoqian knew he could not outtalk her, and he also knew his demand had been far too much. Pushing the matter further would gain him nothing, so he could only lower his standard. “Fine, I’ll give you some face. It doesn’t have to be trained right away. As long as I can see a noticeable change, that’ll do.”

He thought that once he relented, Aunt Liu would stop talking.

Who would have thought that Aunt Liu would still mutter, “After I’ve gone and scolded you like that, you still want to give me face. You really do have no shame.”

Yang Baoqian nearly spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot, and could only keep telling himself inwardly that a good man does not fight with a shrew.

Zhang Congwen had already gotten used to Aunt Liu’s temperament, and fearing the two would keep arguing until it all turned into a ridiculous scene, he hurriedly said, “Use a leash to hold your dog. Don’t wait until it bites someone.”

Yang Baoqian shook his head. “I came in a hurry and didn’t bring a leash.”

Aunt Liu added from the side, “Taking a dog for a walk without a leash is the same as letting the dog walk you.”

Yang Baoqian felt a tightness in his chest and could only comfort himself that he was not the one being walked, so he did not need a leash.

Seeing this, Song Jiawei fetched a leash from inside and handed it to Yang Baoqian.

Yang Baoqian very casually put the leash on the dog.

Zhang Congwen watched from the side the whole time. Yang Baoqian had said the dog bit people, yet from start to finish he had shown no fear of it at all. Even when putting the leash on, he had been entirely at ease, and the dog had shown no sign of biting.

Could Yang Baoqian be lying?

Still, Zhang Congwen could tell that although the dog showed no aggression and did not resist the leash, it did make evasive movements while the leash was being put on.

It could be said with certainty that the dog, though showing no intent to attack and making no attempt to flee, was not as calm inside as it appeared.

“Under what circumstances does this dog bite people? Don’t tell me you don’t know either,” Zhang Congwen asked, frowning a little.

Yang Baoqian said, “It’s my dog. Of course I know. It doesn’t bite people outside, but once it goes inside, it reveals its true nature.”

He looked entirely confident, waiting to see Zhang Congwen make a fool of himself. He knew this dog’s temperament all too well: once it entered a room, it turned into a completely different animal. When he adopted it, it had nearly bitten him.

It was precisely because of that that Yang Baoqian had chosen this Jindo in the first place.

Since the trouble only appeared indoors, they would have to take a look inside.

The moment they entered the room, the Jindo immediately showed a disobedient side. Zhang Congwen held the leash, but the dog did not want to follow him at all, always trying to take the lead itself. Whenever Zhang Congwen applied force, the Jindo would brace and pull back hard, a low, whining growl rumbling from its throat.

When Zhang Congwen pulled again, the Jindo suddenly burst forward and lunged for his leg. Zhang Congwen had already been prepared; he dodged easily, and with a slight lift of the leash in his hand, he took the dog’s front paws off the ground. Seeing that there was no follow-up attack, he set it back down.

With Zhang Congwen no longer pressing it, the dog quickly calmed down again, though its low growl continued and the hostility in its eyes had not faded in the least.

Seeing this, Zhang Congwen stopped forcing the issue and led the dog back outside.

The instant it stepped out of the room, the dog reverted to its former self, no longer nearly as unruly as before. No matter how Zhang Congwen guided the Jindo with the leash, it would obey.

Zhang Congwen even tried pushing the dog over by hand, and the dog offered no resistance at all. It fell easily to the ground, even rolling over to expose its belly, as though begging to be petted.

Judging only from the dog’s behavior outside, no one would have doubted that it was gentle and well-behaved. Yet everyone present had also seen what it had done the moment it went indoors.

Among the onlookers were people who kept dogs, or had kept dogs before, and knew them well.

Ordinarily, dogs are more docile indoors and become wary and aggressive outside. Or else they remain aggressive whether indoors or out.

This dog, however, was the opposite. Outside, it was as docile as if it were a flawless, well-behaved animal; inside, it was as though some demon had possessed it.

Many people had never even heard of such a strange dog.

Those on Zhang Congwen’s side could not help becoming nervous. A dog with two opposite faces was indeed bizarre, and some were even thinking that Yang Baoqian might have deliberately trained it this way just to make things difficult for Zhang Congwen.

Zhang Congwen frowned. He really had never encountered a dog like this before. Its behavior was truly strange. If Yang Baoqian would cooperate and let him understand the dog’s past experiences, things might be easier.

Clearly, Yang Baoqian was not going to cooperate honestly.

Zhang Congwen had foreseen this already. He had also spent a lot of effort finding such a dog.

He had even already thought up how he would ridicule Zhang Congwen once he discovered that the dog could not be trained.

Zhang Congwen’s frown did not last long before it smoothed away. He said to Song Jiawei, “Fatty, bring out the muzzle we keep for the dogs.”