Pet King
chapter-495

Zhang Zian understood that the police dog in Cage 5 suffered from PTSD, a type of mental illness.

Due to the long-standing disregard and prejudice against mental illnesses in China, even ordinary people would receive strange looks if they went to a therapist, as if they were patients with contagious diseases. No one pays attention to a dog's mental health. Whether it was SWAT, Fu Tao, or Old Yang, they all believed that this dog was a coward. These former police officers despised gutless humans and dogs.

PTSD and cowardice were not the same thing. The former was a disease, while the latter was a personality trait.

X's deeds were well known so no one would think that it was a gutless dog. However, X's training mainly took place in jungles. If it had received the urban anti-terrorism training and suffered the same explosion that Zhan Tian did, X's performance wouldn't be much better than Zhan Tian's.

Dogs were so intelligent that they were able to perceive the emotions of human beings. The neglect and disgust it felt, amplified Zhan Tian's mental trauma.

The veterinarian in SWAT may have been aware of this, but apparently there's no value in treating Zhan Tian because it's basically impossible for a patient with PTSD to fully recover. Zhan Tian's reputation had been smeared, as if it was a time bomb that may explode at any moment, no one let Zhan Tian participate in the real combat against terrorists. So, it was inevitable that Zhan Tian was removed from SWAT.

After learning the whole story, Famous looked at Zhan Tian across the cage with a heavy heart. Famous was compassionate towards Zhan Tian because it was afflicted by similar conditions.

Old Yang and Fu Tao's conversation finished. When they realized that Zhang Zian was far behind them, they told him to catch up.

Zhang Zian put the matter of the police dog in Cage 5 behind. Just when he was about to catch up to them, Famous bit the leg of his pants.

He was startled, and then he told Old Yang to wait a moment. He squatted down and whispered, "What happened, Famous?"

Famous looked at him with its shiny eyes and said in a low voice, "Can we bring Zhan Tian back to the pet shop?"

"Is that the police dog's name? Zhan Tian?" Zhang Zian was surprised by its proposal. "Why should we bring it to the pet shop?"

Famous suggested it impulsively. When Zhang Zian questioned it, it was a little confused itself. Why should we bring Zhan Tian to the pet shop?

Is there anything special in the pet shop that could help Zhan Tian?

It thought for a moment, and finally grasped the fleeting idea in its mind. When it first saw Zhan Tian, it had compared the cowering police dog to Galaxy.

"We can try to cure Zhan Tian," it said.

"Cure Zhan Tian?" Zhang Zian was not sure what Famous was saying. "Do you mean we should take it to Sun Xiaomeng's clinic?"

"No," Famous said, "I mean, you can cure it like you cured Galaxy."

Zhang Zian hadn't really thought about this. He remembered that Galaxy also had PTSD. According to Sun Xiaomeng, abuse was one of the catalysts of PTSD.

At first, Galaxy was so afraid of people, now it was slowly improving. He believed that Galaxy would one day get back to normal.

Zhang Zian looked at Famous. It was concerned about Zhan Tian and Galaxy, but what it didn't realize was that it had lost its memory because it was suffering from PTSD as well.

"Okay, let's bring Zhan Tian home." He quickly decided. "I'll talk to Fu Tao about it."

Fu Tao was surprised by Zhang Zian's request. "You want to adopt Zhan Tian?"

Old Yang was also surprised. He and Zhang Zian arranged this trip to send dogs here, why would Zhang Zian go through all this trouble to adopt a dog from the nursing home? If he wanted to raise another German Shepherd, why not pick one of the ten retired German Shepherds? Why would he want this cowardly dog?

Zhang Zian did not intend to explain himself in detail. He smiled casually and said, "As a professional in the pet industry, I pay attention to the chemistry between humans and animals. I like this dog, so I want to adopt it. Master Fu, is there any paperwork?"

Fu Tao felt something was off, but he didn't know what. He froze for a moment before he said, "Since you got the letter from the police force, it wouldn't be a problem for you to find a guarantor, right?"

"No problem," said Zhang Zian with confidence.

"Well, you can take it then. Just send me the signed documents." Fu Tao readily agreed. He and Old Yang did not like the gutless dog. Since Zhang Zian was willing to take this dog from him, why not let him? Besides, his burden would be relieved a bit.

He untied a string of keys from his belt and opened Cage 5. "Zhan Tian, you can leave with this man."

Instead of walking out its cage, Zhan Tian just cuddled up into a ball.

Fu Tao looked helplessly at Zhang Zian, meaning to say, Look how scared this dog is, are you sure you want it?

Fu Tao wanted to go inside the cage to pull Zhan Tian out, but Famous had already gone inside. It whispered in Zhan Tian's ear, then rubbed Zhan Tian with its head.

Zhang Zian didn't know what Famous said to Zhan Tian, but Zhan Tian stood up from the corner and left the cage after Famous.

Zhan Tian was so obedient, it was like a puppet. Zhang Zian tied it to a leash.

Fu Tao and Old Yang were walking in the front. Holding Zhan Tian, Zhang Zian walked behind them with Famous by his side.

"Famous, what did you say to Zhan Tian?" Zhang Zian asked it in a low voice.

"I said, 'let's go home,'" said Famous calmly.

It's that simple?

Zhang Zian scratched his head, quite puzzled.

While they were walking together, Old Yang asked Fu Tao for some details.

Famous passed a few cages, some were empty and some had police dogs. Although their appearances were similar, every police dog had their own unique story.

Inside Cage 9 was a German Shepherd that looked to be around eleven years old. It had stood up with anticipation when Fu Tao and Old Yang walked passed its cage, thinking that it was feeding time.

Fu Tao rubbed its head and smiled. "Are you hungry again? I'll cook for you later."

Both Zhang Zian and Old Yang noticed that this police dog was limping, as if there was an old wound on its front leg, but they didn't think much of it. X was injured more severely than this dog, but maybe this dog was also hurt while on a mission.

When Famous saw its eyes, it was dumbstruck and stopped walking immediately.