Archive of Our Own

"Simeon? C'mon, where are you? I need to show you something!"

Helmut sniffs him out first. Simeon kneels on the floor behind one of the living room sofas, engrossed in a human game where he tries to match up flat pieces of wood to make a picture. The pup keeps looking at a ticking device on his wrist. Every time he hears Bronco call for him, his heart beat increases ever so slightly and his muscles tense in a way that only Helmut notices.

He hears light footsteps and detects Bronco's scent getting closer right before the other pup comes into the room. Simeon's fingers twitch as he reaches for one of the pieces to the picture.

"Helmut? What are you doing back there?" Bronco looks behind the couch and smiles. "Simeon! There you are! Can you come into our room for a sec? I need to show you something before Chess Club."

Simeon doesn't look at Bronco when he answers. "I'm not going to Chess Club today."

Helmut lowers his tail. He can now sense Bronco's muscles tensing too. "What d'you mean? You have to come. We've got the tournament next month!"

"So?"

Bronco swings his arms back and forth. "So? So you're the best one to practice with! We need you to come!"

"I don't want to." Simeon's voice rises. "I want to stay here and work on my puzzle."

Bronco's voice rises too. "You can work on your dumb puzzle some other time! Chess Club is today! Besides, if you stay home, Dad has to stay home with you and then he has to get someone else to take me. And if he can't find someone else, then I have to stay home too!"

Simeon throws down the piece that he was holding. "I said, 'I don't want to go!' Leave me alone, Bronco!"

The other pup takes a step back. "Why are you yelling at me?"

"I'm not yelling at you!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

The truth is, they're both yelling now. Helmut whines, but they ignore him.

It's happening again. Their faces turn red. Their voices shake. Their hearts pound like they do when the pups have just been running all over the house.

As their dog, Helmut is determined to protect them from anything that causes them distress. The problem is that Simeon is the cause of Bronco's distress, and Bronco is the cause for Simeon's. He doesn't know how to protect them from each other. The best that he can do is nudge Bronco away from Simeon and whine. They ignore him.

"I'M. NOT. GOING."

"YES. YOU. ARE."

"NO, I'M NOT! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

Bronco steps around Helmut and grabs the flat board that keeps Simeon's puzzle together. "STOP!" Simeon wails. He gets up from behind the sofa and pushes his way past Helmut. "Bronco, what are you doing? Stop it!"

The other pup throws the puzzle pieces to the floor. "There! Now you have to come!"

Helmut gets between them, barking to scold them as best he can, while also making enough noise to alert his human. There is little else he can do. Simeon starts to cry, and Bronco shifts. He looks down at the ruined puzzle and stammers, "Simeon…I…I'm…I'm really…"

But Simeon gets around Helmut again and shoves Bronco, knocking him into the fallen pieces. "I HATE YOU!" he screams. "I'M TELLING DAD!"

There is no need. Helmut can hear heavier footsteps approaching. He lifts his tail and whines for his human to hurry. The pups, still howling and shouting at each other, do not hear the door open or see Bodhidharma Kanis standing over them.

He gives a sharp command, "Enough," and at last, the pups scramble away from each other.

"He started it! He says he won't come to Chess Club and I need him to be there!"

"I don't want to go and Bronco ruined my puzzle!"

"The chess tournament is next month! I need him there! We all do!"

"It took me forever and now I can't finish it!"

Bodhidharma raises his hand to calm them both. It doesn't seem to work; Bronco's heart rate goes up and he cringes. Helmut nuzzles him, then licks away Simeon's tears.

"I said, that's enough."

He doesn't need to say any more. They both run from the room and two separate doors slam shut. Their human cries can still be heard clearly through the walls. Bodhidharma listens for a moment. He sighs and makes his way over to one of the sofas. "Two more weeks to go," he mutters. "What am I going to do with them, Helmut?"

Helmut jumps up and licks his face. "Kheh-heh-heh-heh. You don't know either, do you? Noooooooo, you doooooon't." He scratches Helmut behind the ears. "I thank you for bringing things to my attention. You're a good boy. Although…" He chuckles. "…It wasn't necessary. I could hear their howls just fine."

The howls continue, mixed with little choking gasps. Helmut whines. His pups need him. Bodhidharma seems to have the same idea. He slowly pushes himself off the couch and reaches for Helmut's harness. "Well, let's see what we can do."

They reach Simeon first. His cries come from behind the door of the room that he and Bronco share. Bodhidharma lets go of the harness and knocks. "Helmut, you go check on Bronco. I will be with you both shortly. Good boy."

Helmut whimpers. He can hear how much Bronco needs him, but Simeon needs him too. When Bodhidharma goes inside, he hesitates and listens by the door. Through the crack, he can see his human putting his arms around Simeon and stroking his hair. The pup leans against him and sobs.

"I didn't mean it! I…I…I…" Through more little gasps and hiccups, he gets out, "I don't hate him! I don't! Honest! I…I don't want to hate him! I don't know why I get so mad! I just don't want to go today! I'm sorry!"

Bodhidharma rubs his back and the pup's heart rate slows down. "There, there, let it all out," he says, his voice gentle.

Seeing that he has Simeon taken care of, Helmut moves away and sniffs out Bronco. He finds the other pup hiding in a place that he personally finds terrifying: the bath tub. He pushes aside the shower curtain with his nose. Bronco's eyes are red, with matching red blotches all over his face. Helmut places his paws on the side of the tub and lets Bronco cry into his fur.

"Good…good boy…I'm really sorry…"

Helmut hears those words a lot this time of year.

Like all dogs, Helmut knows when a storm is coming long before it arrives. There is a change of tension in the air that leaves him feeling unsettled. As the pressure builds, his tail goes down, and he often presses himself against one of the members of his human family as he waits for the moment when the sky finally explodes.

And when the temperature drops, when colored lights appear on buildings, when the air smells like pine and chicken, and small animals go into hibernation, a different kind of storm starts to form. Not the kind that makes the sky explode, but a kind that leaves him no less unsettled.

At this time of year, most of the humans that Helmut meets show signs of happiness. Their voices take on high-pitched, cheerful tones as they greet one another. Human pups jump around a lot and point at the bright things in windows. They ring bells, like the kind that Helmut wears on his harness. Many of them seem to like wearing red fur coats.

Bronco and Simeon are not like that. The colder it gets, the more they start to unravel. They begin each day normally, but it does not take long for the storm clouds to brew. Any little thing triggers it. Today, it is Chess Club. Two days before that, Bronco tried to help Simeon with the same puzzle that he knocked over and was told that he couldn't help. Their voices get louder. Their hearts beat faster. Their faces scrunch up. Then the tears start.

Soon they will run and cling to each other and continue to howl as they promise not to upset the other one again. The house is calm once more.

Except it isn't. Not to Helmut, at least. The pups may be smiling and playing with one another again, but he can sense that the tension isn't fully gone. And sure enough, the cycle repeats itself.

Eventually, the trees and the lights will come down and the pups will act like themselves again. But Helmut doesn't know when that day will come.

The door creaks open. Bronco clings to Helmut, getting tears and snot mixed into his fur. "D-d-dad, I'm really sorry! I'll…I'll fix Simeon's puzzle for him! I promise!" His voice cracks. "Please don't be mad…I…I just really wanted him to come…please, please don't be mad…"

Bodhidharma follows the sound of his tears and crouches down. Helmut moves aside so that he can now wrap his arms around Bronco and rub his back. There is no need for a command; it's time to check on Simeon.

After the pups have apologized to each other and dried their eyes, it is decided that Bronco can still go to Chess Club and Simeon can stay home. Bodhidharma calls one of the pups' friends to pick Bronco up, and the house settles into a true state of calm.

"Well, now…" Bodhidharma smiles down at the two of them: Helmut, stretched out on his back next to the puzzle, and Simeon giving him a belly rub with one hand while searching for a missing piece with the other. (Distracted belly rubs are, in Helmut's opinion, the worst kind. He nudges Simeon with his paw, knowing he can do much better than that.) "Since you aren't going to the library today, and there is no Bronco around, perhaps you'd like to see what I'm making him for New Year's?"

Simeon's hand hovers over the puzzle.

"Of course, you would have to promise that you won't show it to him before New Year's Eve. I can trust you, can't I?"

Simeon puts the puzzle piece down and smiles. "Yeah! You can! I won't say anything."

"Good boy. You wait here." Bodhidharma pats his leg. "Helmut!" Helmut has already jumped up and goes to his side. They make their way into his human's bedroom and Bodhidharma crouches down to feel for Bronco's present under the bed. Helmut nudges him in the right direction until he finds it.

Simeon waits patiently by the puzzle for them to return, and his eyes grow big as he sees what Kanis is holding. "Wow. You made that chessboard, Dad?"

"Yes, for many nights I have been carving this while the two of you were asleep. Today, I thought I would start on the pieces while you went to Chess Club," He holds it out towards Simeon. "Well? What do you think of it?"

The pup takes the board carefully in his hands. He doesn't sniff it - the first thing that Helmut would have done. Like other humans, he uses his eyes to examine each corner and counts the squares with his fingers. He sets it down and points both of his thumbs upward. "It's perfect! You did great, Dad!"

"How kind of you to say so. Would you fetch me the plastic set that Bronco keeps in his room? I will need those pieces for modeling." Simeon does so immediately, while Bodhidharma beckons Helmut to his side. They cross the room to search for the tools that his human uses for cutting up wood.

When the pup returns, Bodhidharma starts performing his wood carving trick. Helmut lays down across his feet and closes his eyes. The house is warm. The humans are calm again. Time for a nap.

His dreams take him to Gourd Lake, where he runs and plays with his pups, and they are happy again. Then day shifts to night, and he and Bodhidharma are on a hunt. His legs twitch in his sleep as they make their way down the street.

"That pawn looks good, but the top needs to be round."

Simeon's voice awakens him and he opens his eyes halfway. The pup sits close to his father on the couch, watching as wood chips fall away and land in Helmut's fur below, which he removes with a quick shake.

Bodhidharma chuckles. "I am aware of the shape of the pawn. The rounded top comes next."

"Oh." Simeon leans against the couch. "When do you want me to help you?"

"When…?"

"Yeah. Don't you want to know if your pieces are coming out right?"

"Kheh-heh-heh-heh." Bodhidharma lays down his tools and places a hand on his pup's shoulder. "You think I need help because I am blind, don't you?"

"Well…yeah." Simeon's brow furrows. "Don't you need me to tell you if they look okay? Since you can't see them?"

Bodhidharma chuckles again. "Always such a kind and considerate pup. It is not necessary. I can feel the shape of the plastic pawn in my hand, and that tells me how to shape this carved one. But of course, I will always welcome your opinion on how they look."

The pup's voice sounds confused. "Then what do you need my help with?"

"You may help by providing me with the pleasure of your company, if you'd like."

Helmut puts his head down and goes back to sleep.

The next time Helmut awakens, it comes from the sound of the telephone ringing. He raises his head and sees that his pup is waking up as well - Simeon had been resting his own head against a pillow placed over Bodhidharma's lap, and the wood carving tools had been put away.

But now, Bodhidharma has stopped caressing the pup's hair and gently sets him aside. Helmut jumps up. He understands what all of this means. His human wants to go to the ringing phone. Bodhidharma knows how to follow sounds to their location, but the trouble with phones is that they stop ringing before he can get there. With Helmut's assistance, he can reach it faster.

"May I ask who is speaking?"

Helmut hears the faint sound of a new voice, one that he recognizes from trips to the library with his humans. The one that is friendly to his pups, gives them treats and brings out the wooden chessboards that they like so much. "Mr. Kanis? Sorry to bother you, but would you be able to come to the library early today to pick Bronco up? We had a bit of an incident over here…"

His human's muscles tense, and he moves his hand over his face. "Yes. Yes, we will be right over. Thank you." He sets the phone down with a heavy thump. "Well, it seems that our silly pup has gotten himself into some trouble. Will you come with me to the library to pick him up? There's a good boy."

Simeon does not act like a good boy; he moans and grumbles as he drags himself off the couch and gets ready to go outside. Helmut, on the other hand, perks up. They are going outside. That means walk. His tail smacks into various furniture as he moves his humans towards the door. He licks the pup's hand to help him understand that this is a very good thing. For whatever reason, the pup still doesn't get it.

Simeon runs ahead to open the library doors and Helmut becomes entranced by the new smells greeting him. So many humans come in and out of this place. Sometimes they bring their dogs too. He sniffs the air once to take it all in: new books, perfume from someone standing a few feet away, milk being given to a very small pup in a carrier, the traces of a dog that does the same kind of work as him, wrappers that once contained a hamburger lying in a garbage bin.

Then he shakes it off with his whole body and guides his human through the obstacle course of shelves set before them. Sometimes they practice navigating these same shelves while the pups play their chess game. But today, they go straight through until they find the room set aside for human pups to use.

Bronco sits slumped in a chair next to the man that Helmut heard on the phone. "Hey, Simeon!" the man calls out. "We missed you today!" His voice is friendly. Normally, Helmut is wary of any humans that try to talk to his pups, but he has gradually gotten used to this one. Bodhidharma doesn't see him as a threat, and that is more important than anything else.

"Hi, Mr. Marc." Simeon looks down at the other pup. "What happened?"

"Why don't you two wait out here? I need to talk to your dad in my office."

Bronco slumps deeper into the chair. Simeon sits down next to him, and Helmut - after seeing Bodhidharma tilt his head in the pups' direction - lays down over Bronco's feet. The door clicks shut.

"So, what happened?"

Bronco has his arms crossed tight over his chest. "I lost." Then the human words come flying out of his mouth. "It's not fair! I was playing against Alek and I haven't played against him in a while and I had a really good strategy but he kept blocking all of my moves! It didn't matter what I did! He'd see what I was doing and he kept capturing my pieces and I couldn't figure out how to trick him into giving up his! It wasn't fair! So, when he won, I threw the board across the room."

Helmut rarely understands the things that humans say to each other, but the words make even less sense when they talk fast. All he knows is that Bronco is hurting. He presses his head against his pup's legs.

"And then everyone was looking at me…" Bronco's voice shakes. "And…and then this stupid little kid who wasn't even in Chess Club says, 'You shouldn't do that! Santa's going to put you on the Naughty list!' He wasn't even supposed to be there! His mom was picking out books for him or something! So I got mad and I said, 'No, he won't, 'cause Santa isn't real!" And the stupid kid said, 'Yes, he is!' and I said, 'No, he's not!' and I kept saying it over and over until the kid started crying and then his mom started yelling at me and Mr. Marc."

His breathing sounds off. He keeps hiccuping as he talks to Simeon. "And they were all looking at me and Max goes, 'Dude, what is wrong with you?' and none of them said goodbye when their parents came to pick them up." The tears come now; they stream down his face. "Do you think they'll ever like me again?"

Simeon ponders over this. Then he leans against Bronco and gives him a hug. "I still like you."

Bronco sniffs a few times and rests his head against Simeon's. "Th-thanks. I'm…I'm sorry about your puzzle."

"You already said sorry about that."

"I know. But I really am."

"You wanna help me fix it later?"

"Okay."

The cycle continues. By the end of the week, Helmut's pups are exhausted. They spend just as much time lying in their beds as they do anything else. He goes from one to the other, smacks his paws against the floor, sometimes brings them his rope toy or a tennis ball. They smile, pat his head, and call him a good boy.

But the praise doesn't quite feel the same now. No matter what he does, they still hurt. Nothing seems to work. So, how can he be a good boy, if he can't protect them from what is causing them to hurt?

A day comes when Simeon gets up and follows Bodhidharma from one room to the next. The pup doesn't use human words much, and leaves Bodhidharma's side even less.

Bronco does not join them. He spends most of the morning hiding in his room. Helmut checks on him several times, and when it's time for an afternoon walk around the neighborhood, Bodhidharma suggests that Bronco take the leash. The pup stretches out on his bed and grumbles. "Dad, I don't want to. Why can't Simeon do it?"

Simeon, lurking in the doorway behind Bodhidharma, says, "I did it yesterday. It's your turn."

"Fine." Bronco drags himself out of bed and whistles for Helmut.

Outside, the air feels perfect: nice and cool, running through Helmut's fur. Human cries of "Merry Christmas Eve!" can be heard all over the neighborhood. Like always, they sound happy. They sound nothing like his pups.

The leash hangs limp between Bronco's fingers. Helmut could easily pull away if he wanted to. But he doesn't want to. He stays by his pup's side until it's time to go in.

When the sun goes down, the pups grab every blanket and pillow they can find in the house and bring all of it into Bodhidharma and Helmut's room. There they drape blankets over chairs and curl up together underneath their makeshift den. Helmut lies across their feet.

His human comes over and places some extra blankets over the pups when he feels them shivering. They both murmur, "Thanks, Dad." He smiles, pats each of their heads, and wishes them goodnight.

But he doesn't go to sleep. The pups' breathing gradually slows, but his human seems restless tonight. Helmut checks that the pups are comfortable before going to Bodhidharma's bed. He hears a soft sigh in the dark. "I need some tea. Come, Helmut." The pups continue to sleep as they go quietly past the blanket fort.

The worst part about tea time is the awful whistling noise that the kettle makes. Helmut draws his ears back as his human prepares the drink, and doesn't lift them until the noise stops. At least the tea smells good, like peaches.

Bodhidharma leans his back against a window as he sips. "Heh. The glass feels just as cold as it did three years ago."

Helmut wags his tail at the sound of his human's voice.

Bodhidharma takes another sip. His heart beat, always so steady and calm, starts to race. His fingers grip the handle of the mug. "If I ever find out who hurt them, you and I will go on another hunt, Helmut."

Like all storms, the threat is loud, but invisible. Helmut can't fight off whatever he can't smell or see.

Yet, like all storms, there comes a time when it finally breaks.

The day after the pups spend the night in Bodhidharma's room, the clouds scatter. The pups regain their energy. At first, they spend much of their time quietly: playing their chess game, staring at the big black box that shows moving pictures. Simeon draws pictures, and Bronco helps him finish his puzzle. They both give Helmut belly rubs when he paws at them.

And then, gradually, as the days go by, they start playing with him again. The three of them run back and forth from room to room and wrestle with Helmut's chew toys. The pups' laughter is deeper; it echoes all over the house, and the tension that once lay underneath it is gone. Even after getting scolded by Bodhidharma for being too noisy, their "sorry!" cries are quick, without tears, and they are already running off to play something else.

Bodhidharma shakes his head. "And to think, just last week, I would have given anything for this." He scratches behind Helmut's ears. "Make sure they stay out of trouble."

But Helmut can't stay with them all the time. When the pups invite friends over, he has to stay by his human's side. He has never understood why. Someone needs to stay with the pups and growl occasionally when other humans invade the house. But his family doesn't seem to mind the invasion. All of the pups crowd around the big black box and shout things at it as they pass a little device around to each other.

"Go left! Go left!"

"Use your arrows!"

"Here, give me the controller! I know how to aim!"

Helmut grumbles. His human chuckles and pats his head. "Steady, Helmut. Good boy."

The pups chat away with their friends, the ones they call "Max" and "Lucy." Out of all the human pups that invade the house, they tend to come over the most, and Helmut likes Lucy best. She always says hello to him too and has a treat ready to give.

"So, what'd you guys get for Christmas?" she asks now.

"We don't celebrate Christmas," Bronco answers. "We give each other presents on New Year's."

"Oh, right. I forgot. So you guys have to wait a whole week to get your presents? I could never do that."

"Yeah, Lucy, you can't even wait until Christmas," says Max. "Mom's running out of places to hide the presents."

"Hey, can I have the controller? It's my turn." Simeon holds out his hands, Max passes it to him, and they go back to shouting at the box. Most of them, at least. Simeon rarely yells at the box when he is the one holding the device. He hunches over and his fingers tap buttons, his eyes locked on the moving pictures.

"Right! RIGHT!"

"I know! I've got it!"

Helmut lets out a frustrated snort.

"Very well, boy. Let's leave them to it and go for a walk."

He perks up at that word, the most wonderful word in the whole human language, only to get distracted at the door by the pups' happy screams. They are cheering and jumping up and down over something to do with the black box. He considers going back to check on them. But they have already begun to settle down again, and his human waits patiently with the leash. They go out to enjoy the slight chill in the air and the streets lined with garbage cans that hold pine trees and scraps from chicken dinners.

By New Year's Eve, the pups cannot keep still. They eat their dinner standing up and resume their chasing game with Helmut until it's time for the presents game.

The presents game is only played on special occasions. The humans cover things up in bright colored paper and then swap the boxes with another human in the room. The other human then opens the box and gets to keep the toy hidden inside. Most of the time, Helmut doesn't get to play the game with them. But on New Year's Eve, they let him join in the fun. Bronco and Simeon both struggle to pull out some mystery from Bronco's room, wrapped in paper and red ribbons. It is tall, thin, and it smells wonderful.

"Here you go, boy. Happy New Year!" Bronco lays it at his feet. Helmut smacks his paws against the wrapping to imitate how humans open boxes. It doesn't work, so the pups have to unwrap it themselves.

Inside there is a bone-shaped container wrapped in red ribbon and full of treats. "You like that, huh, boy?" says Bronco. Helmut prances around and tries to claws his way through the packaging.

"Yeeeesss," say Simeon, "Yes, you dooooo. What a good boy!"

The pups manage to get it open themselves and start tossing out treats right and left. Helmut is completely beside himself with joy and can't make up his mind which one to eat first. They are all over the floor and the pups laugh as he spins around.

"It sounds as though you are teasing my poor Helmut," says Bodhidharma.

"We're not! Honest!" Simeon assures him. "Here, boy. Take it." He picks a treat up off the floor for Helmut to snap up. And after licking the pup's face once, Helmut gets to work on the rest, his tail wagging the whole time.

As he sniffs around the carpet, he hears shrieks of delight. He lifts his head and sees Bronco running his hands over the finished chess set. "Wooooooow!"

"Dad made it for you. I watched him do it!" Simeon tells him.

Bronco jumps up and throws himself at Bodhidharma, which startles him. Helmut hurries over to check on his human, but Bodhidharma has recovered and pats Bronco on the head. "You're quite welcome."

"I can't wait to show it to everybody at Chess Club! It's so much cooler than the boards we use and my pocket set!"

Simeon has gotten to work on his own present, and now echoes Bronco's cry of "Woooooow!" as a new box is revealed. "Did you make this puzzle too, Dad?"

"Kheh-heh-heh-heh. I tried, but unfortunately, I am still a novice when it comes to wood carving. That one came from the store. Perhaps next year will be different."

Bronco leans over Simeon's shoulder. "Can I help you with it?"

Simeon hesitates, then shrugs. "Okay, sure." They continue swapping boxes with each other, and the treats and toys pile up. Helmut rolls around in the discarded paper. He likes the crinkling noises that it makes.

His human has one last present for each of the pups and suggests that they open their boxes at the same time. Bronco, as always, takes this as a challenge. "Race ya!" They tear into the paper and throw more pieces onto the floor for Helmut to roll over. Then come the familiar cries of "wow!"

"There. You each have your own set of chisels now, if you would like me to teach you how to carve for yourselves."

Helmut watches from the floor as they both wrap their arms around his human. They happily shout about their gifts, and it takes a long time for them to calm down after all of the excitement.

And then it's back to the black box with its moving pictures and weird noises. "You're really gonna let us stay up until midnight this year?" asks Bronco.

"Yes, I think you're old enough," says Bodhidharma.

"We should drop some of Helmut's treats when the ball drops," Simeon suggests. Helmut thumps his tail.

But the proposed treat-dropping doesn't happen for a while, and Helmut's tail goes down again. All of the excitement has gotten to be too much for him anyway, so he lies down by the fireplace and takes a nap. The excited noises and smells fade into the background. He catches the scent of buttered popcorn and hears the faint whistle of the tea kettle. Then Simeon starts to giggle.

"He's gonna be sooooo mad if he sleeps through this."

Helmut opens his eyes. Simeon leans over the sofa, where Bronco has now fallen asleep in Bodhidharma's lap. "Can I wake him up and tell him he missed it?"

"No, you may not."

"Please?"

"If he does not wake up on his own, I will wake him up before midnight."

"But it'd be so funny…"

Helmut closes his eyes and doesn't open them again until he hears his name called. "Helmut! Helmut, wake up!"

His pups bounce around on the rug. And Simeon has treats. Immediately, he is awake again and sits patiently at the pup's feet.

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!"

The patience starts to wear off. Simeon needs to throw the treats soon. Otherwise, why bother waking him up?

"Six! Five! Four!"

He is briefly distracted by a soft thump - his human has stretched out on the couch to rest.

"Three! Two! One! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Simeon finally throws the treats into the air and Helmut rushes to try and catch them all. When all is said and done, the pups climb back up onto the sofa and snuggle close to his human. He smiles and puts his arms around them as he wishes them a happy new year. Helmut lays down in front of them and gnaws on one of his rope toys.

Whatever a "year" is, it's definitely a happy one.