One handler shrugged as he signed off the forms. “Was supposed to be a hunter,” he said casually. “Didn’t have the drive.” He said it the way someone talked about a machine that never started, not a living animal that had endured months of training.
Sam watched the dog closely. He was trembling, but not at the noise or the crowd. The shaking worsened whenever a handler stepped too close. Sam recognized the difference immediately. This wasn’t overstimulation. It was fear tied to specific people, not the environment.