Rolling Over

Garnet could feel Emerald’s eyes on her as she perked up as she saw the human come in the entrance of their enclosure from her vantage point, her tail automatically starting to thump against the ground.

“I don’t understand your fascination with them,” Emerald huffed, though it wasn’t an unkind remark as he let his own head settle back onto his paws when he deemed that it was only one of their usual keepers and she hadn’t brought food this time.

Garnet tilted her head, regarding him thoughtfully for a moment as she tried to figure out how to phrase it, before she simply shrugged. “They’re not that bad, at least most of them,” she finally settled on.

A soft whistle rang out. “Garnet!”

Garnet’s ears pricked up, and she hauled herself to her paws. She offered her mate one last smile before she bounded down the hill, only stopping in front of the human. She barely came up to the woman’s knee. Amara, she recalled.

“Hey, sweet girl.” Amara smiled, offering a hand to sniff and Garnet felt her tail wag as she bumped her nose against it with a little woof. “You just know I’ll give you treats, don’t you?”

That was certainly a perk of Amara’s visits usually, but she did genuinely like the human.

Garnet let out another woof, winding around the human’s legs.

“Okay, okay!” Amara laughed, reaching down to offer her a head pet. “Sit.”

Garnet put her rump on the ground, tail still wagging side to side.

Amara grinned, pulling out a small piece of chicken from her pocket and offering it to the wolf, who was more than happy to take the small morsel. “Good girl. Stand.”

Garnet huffed but raised back to all four paws, earning another treat.

“Around?”

She obediently walked in a circle around Amara in the direction the human gestured, earning another treat as Emerald finally wandered down to join them.

“Hey, Emerald,” Amara greeted softly, pulling out two more chicken pieces. “Can you both sit?”

Garnet sat immediately, shooting a look at her mate. “C’mon, love, you’ll get treats!”

He rolled his eyes but finally begrudgingly did as asked.

Amara beamed, handing Garnet her treat and tossing Emerald his. “Good wolves,” she praised. “Down,” she requested.

Obediently, Garnet laid down, ear flicking as she heard some human pup let out a delighted cry as she noticed the display going on.

Emerald huffed, staring at Amara for a long moment, before he sighed and complied.

“Good girl!” Amara cheered, handing Garnet a treat. “That was amazing, Emerald!” she added, clearly delighted as she tossed him another treat. She smiled. “Do you two think we can try something new?”

Emerald huffed, hauling himself to his feet and padding off in a clear refusal. Garnet watched him take a few steps away before sitting down again to observe, before she turned her attention back to the keeper and let out a bark of agreement.

“Atta girl,” Amara murmured with a beaming grin. She pulled out another piece of chicken, holding it out as Garnet stretched her nose up to sniff at it, slowly bringing it over until the wolf was laying on her side and trying to figure out what she was meant to do to get the tasty nibble. A gentle hand came to rest on her side, just barely nudging her.

Oh!

Garnet rolled to her other side.

“Good girl, Garnet! Good girl!” Amara cheered, the chicken delivered.

Garnet’s tail thumped against the ground as Amara pulled out another piece, rolling back over as the chicken led her around.

Okay, that wasn’t too bad… It was pretty easy even.

They did it several more times, a soft ‘roll over’ command being introduced, before Amara got her to stand up once more.

Garnet couldn’t help but shake out her pelt, tongue lolling as she grinned up at the human.

“Good girl, Garnet. Go play.”

Garnet offered the keeper a quick lick to her hand before bounding over to tackle Emerald, her mate huffing in surprise as she bowled him over before she was bounding away, hearing his steps follow her.