Christie the police dog sat proudly with his chest puffed out.
“All right! Let’s go, Christie,” said Kobayashi the trainer, holding the leash. “Do it like we practiced, and you’ll be fine.” Christie’s brown tail wagged a little.
That day was Christie’s first job—his proud debut as a police dog. Christie and his trainer were in the parking lot of a shopping mall near the port. It was late afternoon on a spring day, and the air was still cool.
Kobayashi turned to one of the plainclothes investigators next to him and asked, “Is this the suspect’s car?”
“That’s right. We got a tip that the stolen goods were being handed off at the mall, but apparently, they found out we were onto them, and they took off. This was in the driver’s seat.”
The investigator handed him a sealed plastic bag. Kobayashi took the bag, pulled out a single work glove, and held it before Christie’s nose.
Sniff.
Another investigator watched Christie smell the glove and remarked, “Kind of rare for a Shiba Inu to be a police dog, isn’t it?”
“Yes, usually they’re German shepherds. But this one’s excellent. He passed the police-dog test with almost full marks.”
Christie stopped sniffing the glove and looked up at Kobayashi.
“Okay, search!”
The dog immediately put his nose to the ground and began to pace around, tracking the scent. Kobayashi and the investigators followed behind him.
“We looked all over the area but couldn’t find anything. There’s a big crowd, after all…”
Despite it being a weekday, the parking lot was busy, and there were lots of people coming and going.
Kobayashi nodded. “For places like these, it’s better to have a smaller Shiba than a full-size shepherd. Not only are they easier to get around with, but they don’t frighten as many people.”
The investigator nodded, impressed.
Kobayashi was a small man with a kindly face, and he was dressed in casual attire and a windbreaker. He and Christie simply looked like a young man and his dog out for a walk. Members of the public would never dream that he was actually an officer out patrolling with his police dog.
Christie followed the remaining scent, growing more certain with every step. He left the lot and went toward a street. While one of the investigators stopped traffic, the police dog marched directly across the road and turned left along the wharf overlooking the water.
When Christie reached the end of the wharf, the dog finally lifted his nose from the ground and looked at Kobayashi with concern.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “You can find it. Keep searching.”
Christie pointed his nose into the air and sniffed around. Kobayashi and the investigators watched with bated breath.
Eventually, Christie stepped onto a patch of grass to the right, poked eagerly through the greenery, then resumed walking.
“Hmm, he’s heading to the pier…,” observed one of the investigators.
Crossing over the grass to the pier was quicker than following the path.
The other investigator remarked, “Wait! That’s it. The handoff of the stolen goods didn’t happen at the mall. They did it on…a boat?”
The dog confirmed his suspicions by heading straight down the pier.
“Look!” the investigator cried. A small cruiser at the end of the pier was just starting up its engine. A man on board hurriedly undid the rope tying the boat to the dock.
Both of the investigators took off running, shouting, “Stop that boat, right now!”
The suspect jumped behind the helm, just as one of the investigators grabbed the end of the rope. The cruiser’s engine roared to life, pulling the boat away from the pier and yanking the investigator into the water. His partner reached for him, only to be pulled in as well.
“Aah! Oh no!”
Kobayashi started running, too. Christie practically pulled him off his feet, rushing toward the end of the pier.
Suddenly, however, the leash went taut, and Christie was yanked backward. Behind him, Kobayashi was lying face-down on the ground. And behind Kobayashi was a man holding a metal pipe, breathing heavily.
Instantly, Christie rushed back to Kobayashi’s side.
“C-Christie, here…”
He reached out, offering something in his hand to Christie. The dog took it into his mouth as Kobayashi undid the leash before shouting, “Go, Christie! Don’t turn back! Just run!”
Christie hesitated for only a moment, then hurtled between the pipe-wielding man’s legs and sprinted away.