The dog approached after forty minutes.
He smelled the enclosure but would not enter.
A truck sounded its horn on the road.
He fled.
We returned that evening with different equipment and fewer people. Marcus provided Noah’s blue jacket—the one the dog had used to pull him from the lake.
The fabric had been washed and returned by the hospital, but scent remained in the seams.
Rachel placed it beside the food.
The dog emerged at dusk.
He smelled the jacket from ten feet away.
His body stopped.
He moved closer, placed his muzzle against the reinforced shoulder, and stood there for nearly a minute.
Then he lay beside it.
Rachel approached from the side while I remained behind. She did not reach for him. She placed another piece of food on the ground and retreated.
The dog ate.
On the second attempt, he allowed Rachel within six feet.
