Chapter 7: Visit to Puppy Camp
Kaybri found Noah’s and Autumn’s report on her desk two days after Kipper’s death. The information was clear without doing a statistical study. The dogs sold by Puppy Camp were dying too young and too often. Of the sixteen dogs that had died, eight had been purchased there. She asked Noah to go with her to Puppy Camp. She was surprised when he said yes since he had been keeping his distance from her ever since Kipper died.
As they drove the forty miles to York in her truck, Kaybri explained their cover story. They would present themselves as a married couple shopping for a puppy. It was quite believable, she said, because they were about the same age and happened to both be wearing jeans, T-shirts, flannels, and work boots. “We look like we have the same taste in clothes!”
Her comment broke the tension and made them both laugh.
It wasn’t hard to make conversation after that. They tried to think of other things they had in common, such as singers and bands they both liked. Noah admitted to being a Swifty, but he also liked standard blues and country music. But when it came to movies, it became clear to Kaybri that Noah had not seen very many. And then she remembered why.
“Er, Frank told me you grew up Amish. I guess you didn’t see a lot of movies as a kid.”
“Never saw one until I snuck out with a non-Amish friend I made in town when I was sixteen. The first film I ever saw was Erin Brokovich. It had a big effect on me. This lawyer helps a lot of people stand up to a big company. Made me think about how bad the profit motive can be sometimes.”
“Do you ever see your family, Noah?”
“Almost never. Occasionally by accident. It’s…well…complicated.”
“Don’t they call the Amish the plain folk? Doesn’t that mean that life is kind…of simple?” Kaybri asked.
“Plain in dress. There’s nothing simple about living life without modern conveniences,” Noah said tersely.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be insulting. It was just a question.”
“Sometimes questions reveal a person’s thoughts and feelings. Someone calling Anabaptist Plain Groups ‘simple’ might be construed as insensitive or poorly informed about how the Amish live their lives.” He chuckled and rolled his eyes. “And, Kaybri, telling a man whose dog is dying that ‘maybe it’s better that way’ might also be kind of sending the wrong message,” he said gently.
Kaybri fell silent for a moment. “I’m sorry I said that. Can you help me be a better person?”
“I think you’re already a pretty good person. Maybe not always a good communicator. We’ll talk more on the drive back.”
A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination. When they entered the pet store, a teenaged girl sitting behind the cash register barely looked in their direction. She was intently playing some noisy game on her phone. Kaybri was ready to do her best playing the role of an excited married woman looking for a new member of the family. But the teen didn’t bother to get up from her stool.
The first things Kaybri noticed were the seemingly hundreds of family Christmas cards plastered on the walls all around the store. Each card consisted of a photo of a family wearing red and green pajamas and kneeling in front of a decorated tree with one or more children hugging an adorable puppy. As she looked them over, her eyes came to rest on one at eye level that contained people and a puppy she recognized: it was Finn Atkins and his family posing with Kipper. Kaybri’s hand lightly touched the photo, and it fell to the floor. As she went to pick it up, the salesclerk's voice stopped her.
“Happens all the time. Don’t worry about it.” The teen, now having emerged from video-game coma, scooped up the photo and placed it on the counter. She then turned her attention to Kaybri and mechanically delivered what sounded like the greeting she was trained to offer. “Hi, I’m Dylan. Welcome to Puppy Camp where you can find your family’s best friend. Which of these fur balls can I show you?”
Kaybri pointed at a yellow lab in one of the dozens of polished kennels behind the glass that separated customers from the dogs.
“Can we see that one, Dylan?”
“Sure. That’s what I’m here for.”
A low moveable pen had been erected in the center of the store so that customers could interact with the dogs. Noah took Kaybri’s hand and led her to the enclosure. “Come on, honey. Maybe this is our family’s best friend.” Kaybri giggled, glad to see he was getting into the role.
As Dylan explained how to approach the puppy, how to let him smell the back of the hand, and where to pet him, the two professionals fought to keep straight faces. Apparently satisfied that the pair knew how to be with dogs, Dylan soon got up and returned to her stool and her video game. They called her back every fifteen minutes or so to swap one puppy for another, pretending to be very choosy.
Several other customers arrived over the next couple of hours, and they also asked to play with some of the puppies. One couple with a small child bought a listless-looking beagle that they said they thought would fit well into apartment life. Kaybri and Noah were hard-pressed not to stop the couple from purchasing the dog.
Kaybri and Noah got to directly observe twelve different puppies of various breeds. With the six they played with, they let the dogs nip at their hands and wrists, which gave them a chance to see the dogs’ teeth up close. They were also able to feel their joints, examine the health of their coats, and press their abdomens while looking for tender spots. Half of the dogs presented well, the other half seemed weak and unfocused. Most noticeably, Kaybri was struck by how quickly the dogs tired.
At noon, after they’d been there for two hours, Kaybri asked Dylan if there was a rest room that she could use. Dylan explained that there wasn’t one that was normally available to customers, only for staff. “But you’ve been here so long, and are so good with the dogs, I’ll make an exception and let you use the one in the office.”
As she started to follow Dylan to the office, Kaybri called out to Noah, “I’ll be right back, honey.”
He winked and said, “I’ll be right here, sweetheart.”
Dylan showed her to the bathroom and then went back to the showroom. But Kaybri had already noticed a little storage room on the other side of the office and decided to check it out. The room was lined with shelves filled with jars that seemed to hold thousands of blue pills. The labels on the jars indicated that the pills were vitamins. Kaybri looked around to be sure Dylan wasn’t hovering nearby before she pulled out one of the jars to inspect the pills more closely. She recognized them as amphetamines, not a type of medication that would be given to puppies.
Kaybri decided she had seen enough. She went back out to the showroom to suggest to Noah that they leave, but before she could say a word the border collie Noah was holding had a fecal explosion. The dog’s emissions missed Kaybri but caught one side of Noah’s jeans and coated his work boots. Dylan ran to them with a plastic sprayer filled with disinfectant and a roll of paper towels. She apologized profusely to Noah, who paid no attention to the mess dripping from his clothes. His only concern was for the stricken puppy. Panicked, the girl rushed to the counter to make a phone call.
“This dog needs treatment,” Kaybri whispered to Noah.
“We don’t have any equipment with us.”
“Then let’s buy the dog.”
The puppy cost $1,200, and Kaybri certainly didn’t have that kind of cash in her pocket. But she did have the clinic’s credit card. As Noah walked toward the door with the border collie, Kaybri raced to the register and slammed her card on the counter. “We want that one.”
“That one is awfully sick. Are you sure?”
“Charge my card and please do it quickly.”
“If that’s what you want…”
“It is. And I’m in a hurry, please.”
Kaybri scribbled her name on the receipt and was already heading to the door when she heard Dylan say, “There’s some paperwork that needs to be completed.” But Kaybri pretended she hadn’t heard and just kept going.
She found Noah in her truck with the border collie on his lap.
Kaybri slammed the driver’s door closed and started the engine.
“We just blew our cover,” Kaybri said. “The owner will know who we are when he looks at the credit card receipt.
Kaybri might as well have been talking to the windshield. Noah was entirely focused on the stricken dog. “Do you smell that?” he asked.
“The shit on your clothing that’s now on my seats?”
“Yes, but it has a uniquely horrible odor. You’ve never smelled it before. I have.”
“It’s bad.”
“It’s worse than bad. Only a dog suffering from parvovirus has feces that smells like that.”
Kaybri pressed the accelerator harder, as the truck raced toward the clinic. She had little experience with parvo, but she knew, as did every veterinarian, what it meant. Since they had a few minutes before they reached the clinic, Kaybri decided to share what she had learned when she was on her way to the rest room.
“They’re giving the dogs amphetamines. That’s why they seemed so perky at first. They must put the drugs in their morning food.” Kaybri looked at the time on the dashboard. “The dogs were tiring because the drugs wore off.”
“My father wouldn’t be happy to know the dogs he is breeding are being drugged.”
Kaybri was a little shocked by Noah’s statement. Maybe he had uttered it in an unguarded moment, but the naked hypocrisy of it enraged her. “We wouldn’t be here if people like your father bred dogs in a humane manner.”
Few words were spoken as they drove at fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit, hoping they wouldn’t be stopped by state troopers, except that Kaybri asked Noah to call Erika and ask her to meet them at the clinic. Noah dialed the number and put it on the phone’s speaker.
“What are you doing right now, Erika?” Kaybri asked.
“I’m making my husband a Philly cheesesteak. The Eagles are playing the Giants. What’s up?”
“I need you to prep the procedure room.”
“Uh-oh. What’s going on?”
“Noah and I are driving to the clinic with a border collie pup with parvovirus. We’ll be at the clinic in thirty minutes.”
“Oh, no!” she exclaimed. Then it sounded like she turned her head away from the phone, but Kaybri could make out her words, presumably addressed to her husband. “No cheesesteak, sorry. The clinic has an emergency.” Then she said clearly into the phone, “See you there!”
When they arrived, Noah carried the collie to the procedure room and softly set him on the table. Erika shaved a small area above the dog’s paw and began inserting an IV into the dog’s leg. Usually, Noah would assist, but not today. Kaybri tried to keep the anger out of her voice when she told Noah he should go to the kennel and isolate all of the dogs Amos Epps had brought to the clinic. Then she instructed him to go through the clinic’s files so he could find any abandoned Amish dogs they had placed in the last six months.
After Noah left the room, Erika asked Kaybri why she was so angry.
“Please, it’s not the time,” Kaybri said a little too sternly.
“Frank would never talk to Noah with that tone of voice.”
“I’m not Frank, and I wouldn’t stand by while dogs are being raised in abominable conditions.”
“That’s not fair, Kaybri. Frank has treated hundreds of dogs that were abused by the farmers. He’s devoted his life to their welfare.”
“It may not be fair, but it’s true.” Kaybri took a deep breath. “If the dogs hadn’t been bred under deplorable conditions, then there would be no need for the extraordinary care that Frank provided and I provide now.” Kaybri took another deep breath before continuing. “Thank you for coming in, Erika. I appreciate it. Please go home to your family now. I’ll finish up.”
“I don’t think so.”
Kaybri looked up from her examination in surprise. “Why?”
“You need to learn that we’re family, and we take care of each other as much as we take care of our patients.”
At first taken aback, Kaybri quickly softened. “Thank you. I forget I’m not alone. I’m not used to people being on my side.”
Once the collie was receiving intravenous fluids, Kaybri left the treatment room and went to find Noah. She found him in the reception room with hundreds of files spread across the floor.
“Maybe we should get a computer records system,” Kaybri said with a smile. She was hoping that Noah was still talking to her. He wasn’t. Kaybri decided to try a humble approach. “I’m sorry I spoke about your father so harshly. I find the whole puppy mill situation untenable. So much so that I have trouble controlling my emotions.”
Noah didn’t even raise his head.
“I mean…I wish I could see the situation…rationally. I can’t.”
“You should try,” Noah muttered angrily.
“What exactly should I try?” Kaybri said snarkily.
“To see events from other people’s perspective.”
“Come on, get it out. You’re unhappy with me.”
“You know almost nothing about the Amish, my father, or me. But that doesn’t stop you from passing judgments. You assume Finn Atkins doesn’t care that his family has lost their first dog. You assume that it’s an imposition for Erika to come to the clinic on a Sunday to help save a dog’s life. You think that Frank doesn’t care about the plight of the Amish breeding dogs. Your life experiences are so narrow, and yet you act like you’re an authority on so many subjects when in reality, you’re the least experienced person on the staff.”
“I finished first in my class.”
“But last, I can only assume, in people skills.”
“What makes you think you can pass judgment on me? Aren’t you doing the same thing?”
“If you were Amish, I’d call you doplich.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you don’t know one end of the cow from another.”