Pet King

Blackie’s back was to Zhang Zian, and he was excitedly pulling open the beef jerky packet. He threw the jerky into the cage piece by piece and observed the reaction of the puppies. Even though he didn’t know much about dogs, he did know that competition bred the best, and he wanted to choose the strongest one out of the bunch. There was no better way to do that than with food.

Even the audience felt that there was nothing wrong with Blackie’s method.

Snowy noticed that Zhang Zian clearly disapproved of Blackie’s method, though. On behalf of her audience, she asked, “Mr. Owner, is there something wrong with beef jerky? Is it too salty?”

She was considering it from the health point of view.

“That’s not it. Dogs aren’t as sensitive to salt as cats. And with just these few pieces of jerky, it’s alright even if it’s saltier. We have to talk about dose when it comes to health.” Zhang Zian rejected her guess. He had wanted to explain further, but Blackie seemed to have already made his choice.

After the beef jerky fell into the cage, a few puppies rushed forward to snatch it.

Blackie realized that one of the puppies was significantly larger than the others and was stronger than its siblings. With a nudge here and there, it had moved the rest of them out of the way and even bared its teeth to scare the other dogs into backing off. It had snatched up half of the entire packet of jerky, and the other half was left to be split amongst the rest.

One of the puppies was clearly thinner than the rest of its siblings and had been squished to the corner of the cage. It didn’t manage to even snatch a bite for itself.

Blackie considered the fact that the dog that he wanted would be bearing the elements with him in the wild and would have to face all kinds of harsh conditions. The stronger the dog, the better it was. The fiercer it was, the better it was. He had planned to choose the bigger puppy.

“Boss, how much is this one?”

Ear cropping was difficult surgery, and expensive. The lady was still haggling with the doctor when Blackie asked the question. She turned back around to take a look, before putting out four fingers—4000, she meant.

For a Doberman with no proof of its lineage, 4000 wasn’t an exorbitant price. It was actually reasonable.

Blackie had already made his choice, and if Zhang Zian didn’t object to it, that was what he would choose.

Zhang Zian walked over, waving his hand. “Don’t rush into a decision.”

He saw that the jerky had been all consumed, so he put his hand out to the side of the cage, snapping his fingers.

The puppies had different reactions to the snap.

Some puppies didn’t notice it at all and nervously stared at the crowd flitting past them. Some puppies continued looking at Blackie, hoping that he would throw in a few more pieces of jerky. The rest of them, including the one that was smaller in size, immediately stared at Zhang Zian’s fingers, twitching their ears.

Zhang Zian then moved his fingers left and right randomly, constantly snapping his fingers and observing the puppies’ reactions.

The difference was then further illustrated.

The puppies that hadn’t looked earlier now turned to stare at the finger, and the puppies that had turned to look earlier realized that there was nothing going on, and turned their attention elsewhere. Some of them never reacted to it at all.

But the smaller puppy exhibited an extremely strong interest in the snapping. No matter where Zhang Zian moved his fingers, it followed, its desire to investigate radiating through the gap in the cage.

“It’s better to choose this one.” Zhang Zian pointed to the smaller puppy. “Of course, this is only my suggestion. You have the final say.”

Blackie didn’t quite understand. He didn’t know what Zhang Zian’s reason for this choice was, but he still asked the woman, “What about this? How much?”

The woman turned back again. A short, accented local phrase burst out.

“What?”

Blackie wasn’t a local and didn’t get what she said.

Even though Snowy was a local, she had been speaking the main language, and she hadn’t learned the local dialect.

Zhang Zian didn’t know how to speak the dialect either, but he could at least understand it, and he explained it to them. “She said it’s the runt of the litter. You can have it for 3000.”

“Runt of the litter?”

Yet another completely new phrase. Blackie and Snowy were both confused, but from the woman’s expression, it definitely didn’t seem like a positive phrase.

It was the first time the audience had heard this phrase too. Even those that had dogs at home hadn’t heard it before.

“The runt of the litter is the weakest dog in the entire litter. The difference in size wasn’t that big at the start, but as they couldn’t fight with their littermates for milk and food, their size started to differentiate more and more with the lack of nutrients.”

“I understand all that, but why choose this dog?” Snowy asked the question for Blackie and the audience.

Zhang Zian pointed at the beef jerky packet in his hands. “Firstly, it’s not that much useful to use food to bait puppies. As long as they’re not sick, all animals will have a huge desire for food.”

“What was your standard when choosing them?” he asked Blackie. “To choose a dog that looks good? To choose a dog that can win the opponent in a dog fight? Why did you choose ‘strong’ as a trait?”

Blackie seemed to understand a little then.

Zhang Zian answered his own question. “Neither. You’re choosing a partner for wilderness survival,” he said. “To dogs, especially working dogs, intelligence, excitement, and focus are all traits way more important than strength. You have to know that in police dog training grounds, they spent a lot of money bringing in German shepherds from Germany. Many of them were disqualified due to their lack of obedience, but none of them were disqualified due to their lack of strength.

“It’s just like people. Whether your strength is 100 or 120, what difference does it make? How many chances do you have to actually fight? But whether your intelligence is 100 or 120 makes a huge difference.” Zhang Zian pointed at the small puppy. “This one’s excitement and focus to sound was exemplary. After I had stopped snapping my fingers, it quickly calmed down, and this showed that it was a very stable one too. Compared to other dogs, it will be a lot easier to train.”

“But… when clients go to your shop, you don’t remind them of this…” Snowy had been to Amazing Fate Pet Shop a few times, and immediately saw the discourse.

This was the first time she had heard of this. When clients went to the pet shop to purchase their dogs, Zhang Zian only made suggestions based on the breeds. He didn’t interfere with which one they chose.

The audience, especially those who had bought pets from him before, immediately protested. Why did Zhang Zian only help Blackie with this but not them? Because Blackie had abs?

Zhang Zian answered smoothly, “That’s because I had already done that level of filtering at the breeders, and only chose dogs that are suitable for training. Did you guys really think that I had asked for a more expensive price compared to other locations for no reason?”