Sweetie (5 page)

Dear Reader,

I have never had a poodle but I know that they are very special dogs. People who have poodles are crazy about them and often have more than one! My friend Annie loves her two black miniature poodles, Oggi and Pearl. They are so smart and funny and they love to curl up in your lap just like a cat would. And my friend Leda has two golden doodles, Pippa and Pogo. They love to play together. Even though they are only half poodle (the other half is golden retriever), they have to be groomed every ten weeks, just like poodles do.

Yours from the Puppy Place,

Ellen Miles

P.S. You can read more about therapy dogs, and the training they need, in
Snowball.

Here’s a peek at
CHEWY AND CHICA!

What happened was this. First, there was a knock on the door. “Ms. Dobbins?” Andrew, the boy who worked at the front desk of the animal shelter, poked his head in. His cheeks were flushed pink and he stumbled over his words. “I — I think you might want to come see what just arrived.”

Ms. Dobbins stood up. “Thank you, Andrew,” she said.

There was something in Andrew’s face that made everybody else stand up, too, and follow Ms. Dobbins out to the parking lot in front of the shelter. There Lizzie saw a big shiny black car, pulled up at an angle to the front door. The car’s windows were rolled down just a bit. Lizzie couldn’t believe what she was seeing, so she stepped forward to take a closer look. That car was full of puppies! Puppy noses stuck out of every window, sniffing and snuffling and snorting. Puppy paws pressed against the glass. Lizzie saw brown puppies, white puppies, and black puppies; fluffy puppies and sleek puppies; big puppies and tiny puppies. Lizzie had never seen so many puppies in one place!

The car door opened, and a tall, gangly man unfolded himself from the front seat, holding back three puppies that tried to climb out after him. He wore worn, faded overalls, with a clean white shirt underneath. He wasn’t handsome — in fact, he was kind of funny-looking — but there was something about him that Lizzie liked right away. He tipped his red baseball cap and smiled at Ms. Dobbins. “Hello, ma’am,” he said.

“Mr. Beauregard?” Ms. Dobbins stared at the car, and at the man, and at the puppies. “What is this?”

The man pushed back his cap, scratched his head, and smiled shyly, and Lizzie found herself smiling back at him. “Puppies,” he drawled in a southern accent. “A whole passel of puppies.”

“I can see that.” Ms. Dobbins turned to the others. “Mr. Beauregard is new to town but he has already become a very generous supporter of Caring Paws.”

Lizzie knew what that meant. He might not look it, but this man was R-I-C-H. And he loved animals. That was good! Caring Paws always needed money for dog food and cat litter and flea shampoo and veterinarians’ bills.

“These are some other friends of the shelter.” Ms. Dobbins swept a hand toward the members of the Kindness Club. “And I think we
all
want to know what you’re doing with a carload of puppies.”

Bear
Buddy
Cody
Flash
Goldie
Honey
Jack
Lucky
Maggie and Max
Noodle
Patches
Princess
Pugsley
Rascal
Scout
Shadow
Snowball

Ellen Miles likes to write about the different personalities of dogs. She is the author of more than 28 books, including the Puppy Place and Taylor-Made Tales series as well as
The Pied Piper
and other Scholastic Classics. Ellen loves to be outdoors every day, walking, biking, skiing, or swimming, depending on the season. She also loves to read, cook, explore her beautiful state, and hang out with friends and family. She lives in Vermont.

By the way, base-boodja is a game Ellen and her brother made up. They used to play it for hours.

If you love animals, be sure to read all the adorable stories in the Puppy Place series!

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Copyright © 2010 by Ellen Miles.
Cover art by Tim O’Brien
Cover design by Steve Scott

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, LITTLE APPLE, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. Lexile is a registered trademark of MetaMetrics, Inc.

First printing, January 2010

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e-ISBN: 978-0-545-32463-2