I found it beside the front door.
Then her stuffed rabbit, Daisy.
Then one sneaker.
Then her blanket.
Always things she used before bedtime.
Emma thought it was hilarious.
“Maybe he wants me to sleep downstairs.”
Mark looked at me.
Neither of us laughed.
The most disturbing incident happened on a Thursday.
I was cooking dinner.
Emma was upstairs.
Mark had not returned from work.
Suddenly, I heard a crash.
Then Emma screamed.
I ran.
Cooper stood inside her room.
Emma was against the far wall.
Her small bookshelf had tipped forward.
Not completely.
Cooper had rammed against the side hard enough to knock several books down.
“What happened?”
I yelled.
Emma looked frightened.
“Cooper went crazy.”
He was barking at the wall.
Again.
I grabbed his collar.
He twisted away.
Not toward me.
Toward Emma.
Then he seized the sleeve of her sweatshirt in his teeth.
My blood went cold.
“Cooper!”
Emma screamed.
He pulled.
Not shaking.
Not biting her arm.
Pulling the fabric.
Dragging her toward the door.
I slapped my hand against his shoulder.
“Drop!”
He released immediately.
Emma started crying.
I pulled her behind me.
Cooper stood in the middle of the room panting.
His eyes went from me to Emma.
Then toward the wall.
He barked once.
I had never been afraid of Cooper before.
That afternoon, I was.
When Mark came home, I told him everything.
Emma immediately defended the dog.
“He didn’t bite me.”
“He pulled you.”
“Because he wanted me to leave.”
“Exactly.”
I said.
“That’s the problem.”
Mark examined her arm.
No mark.
Not even redness.
Cooper had held only fabric.
Still, it felt like a line had been crossed.
Mark said:
“We need a trainer.”
Emma burst into tears.
“You’re not giving him away.”
“No one said that.”
“You’re thinking it.”
I looked at Mark.
Emma saw.
She started crying harder.
“Cooper would never hurt me.”
I knelt.
“Honey.”
“We know he loves you.”
“Then why are you mad?”
“Because loving you doesn’t make every behavior safe.”
That was the sentence I believed.
It was reasonable.
Responsible.
And almost completely wrong about what had just happened.
The trainer came Saturday.
Her name was Amanda Price.
She spent two hours with us.
Cooper behaved perfectly downstairs.
Sit.
Stay.
Recall.
Drop.
No resource guarding.
No aggression.
Then Amanda asked Emma to walk upstairs.
Cooper’s entire body changed.
Head lifted.
Ears forward.
Muscles tense.
Emma reached the landing.
Cooper hurried past Amanda.
Blocked Emma from entering the bedroom.
Amanda stopped us.
“Don’t correct him.”
Mark frowned.
“Why?”