Hi! My name is Bowser and this is my friend, Chip. I am a golden retriever puppy, and Chip is a black, white, and tan Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy. Right now, we are in the pound. Anyway, this is our life.

In the morning, we wake up on our very uncomfortable beds with this yucky soup in front of our noses and it smells disgusting. Anyway, you get that it is disgusting. Then, here comes the boring part, we bark for the rest of the day until the dog catcher (Bob) comes back with another dog.

One day, two girls came in, and they looked at all of us. I was trying to cross my paws but it was hard. Anyway, getting back to the story, they took 15 minutes. I was surprised, but people choose at different paces. Finally, they chose.

“I want Bowser,” said the younger girl. I was so happy. But what about Chip?

Now I was happy and scared, and then the older girl said, “I want…Chip!”

Chip and I jumped for joy. Bob picked us out of our crates and handed us to the two girls. Then, they paid for us and took us outside. The summer breeze brushed against our fur, ruffling it up. They took us into the car and the younger girl, named Sam, picked us up and put us in the back seat. Then, she sat with us. The older girl, Bella, started driving out of the parking lot.

I stuck my head out the window and started to bark. Chip wanted to get up too, but she was too tiny. So, she climbed on my back. Suddenly, the car screeched.

“We’re here!” said the older girl.

This time, Bella took out Chip and Sam took out me. They put us on the ground and we ran around in the yard. We couldn’t wait to go inside.

Bella opened the door and said, “Mom, we’re home!”

Then, a grown-up came and said, “These dogs are so cute!” I guess that was the mom.

Then, the dad came out and said, “Who wants some lemonade in the backyard?”

I tried to raise my paw. Chip and I ran outside again and Sam came after us. We ran two laps around the house, then she got us, carried us to the backyard, and closed the gate. Their dad poured us a big bowl of lemonade and put it on the ground. We drank it as fast as we could. It was very yummy and sweet. We pushed our bowl to the dad’s feet.

He said, “Oh you guys want more?”

And he poured us a big bowl of lemonade. We were so happy. We drank it, and we drank it all.

“Dinnertime!” called the mom. Chip and I ran through the door.

Sam stopped for a minute and scratched her head. “Maybe we should get a doggie door for them.”

“Okay,” their dad said. “Maybe we’ll go to Petco tomorrow.”

“Great!” said Sam.

Bella and Mom were setting the table. Chip was sniffing the kitchen.“This kitchen smells yummy.”

I sniffed. “You’re right!”

We went out to our bowls. There were yummy kibble all over! I howled and wagged my tail!

Chip said to me, “Finally! Yummy food!”

We ate all the food and licked the bowl clean.

“Bedtime!” called Dad.

Bella and Sam raced up the stairs. Then, me and Chip. I won. I ran to Sam’s room and Chip ran to Bella’s room. They were both brushing their teeth. Sam came out, picked me up, and put me on her bed. I sank into the mattress. It was puffy and soft. It was so much more comfortable than the one in the pound! She got in and, as soon as she laid down on her bed, she fell asleep.

***

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!” said the rooster on the roof.

“It’s morning,” I barked. Sam woke up. I looked at her then I rushed down the stairs.

“Wait,” she said as she ran down the stairs.

I waited at the bottom of the staircase with my tail wagging and my tongue hanging out of my mouth.

Sam came running down the stairs and picked me up and giggled, “You’re such a naughty dog, Bowser!”

I gave her a small grin, and she laughed. She put me down. I walked into the kitchen. The sweet smell of my new food was going up my nose. Chip wasn’t down in the kitchen yet. So I waited for her. While they weren’t looking, I jumped up on the chair and grabbed a piece of pancake on the table… but they never noticed! The pancake tasted sweet and sticky! It was one of the most yummiest things I’ve ever tasted in my life.

Then, I heard the soft click of Chip’s nails on the staircase.

“Good morning,” Chip said to me as she walked into the kitchen. “It smells good in here!”

“Yeah, it does, right?” I said.

We went over to our bowls. We smelled it (it smelled like dog food, but not the kind of dog food we had in the pound, the kind of dog food that tastes really good.) and then we ate it all.

“That was so good!” I said to Chip.

“Yeah it was!” said Chip.

We looked out the window. It was a nice summer day. Bella and Sam took us to Petco after breakfast. We walked without leashes, but we were going to get some just in case the dogcatcher came and took us away. Or at least that’s why I thought we were going to get them.

When we got there, we looked at all the doggie doors they had. Finally, Chip and I chose one that was blue and pink, both of our favorite colors. My favorite color is pink, and Chip’s favorite color is blue, so it was perfect for us.

When we got home, Dad cut a hole in the backyard door and installed the doggie door. Chip and I ran through the front door and out through the backdoor. It was so fun, we tried it ten times. Soon we got dizzy, and we fell on the kitchen floor. Sam and Bella picked us up, put us on the couch, and sat with us. When we woke up, Bella was looking on her phone, and Sam was just watching us.

“Why are you always on your phone?” Sam asked Bella calmly, trying to ignore her. “Why don’t you spend some time with the dogs?”

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” Bella said, in a mean voice.

“Sam, Bella, be nice to each other!” Mom called from the kitchen.

“Okay,” both of therm said in a grumpy voice.

Chip and I were watching the whole conversation. We were very confused about what was happening. But whatever, let’s get back to the story. As soon as Bella left the room, we started licking Sam to make her feel better because we thought she looked sad. Then, she got up and stomped around the coffee table angrily. Then, she stomped into the kitchen. Chip and I jumped down from the sofa and ran after Sam.

When we got into the kitchen, Dad was washing the dishes, and Mom was setting up the table for lunch.

“What’s wrong?” Dad asked.

“Bella just won’t spend any time with the dogs.”

“It’s okay. She’s older. Let her do what she wants.”

“Fine,” Sam groaned and walked into the dining room and sat down on her chair. Soon, Dad called, “Lunch time!” to Bella and she came down.

Mom said, “I have special news for you guys!”

“What is it?” Sam asked, her frown turning into a smile.

“We’re going to Hawaii.”

Bella screamed and dropped her phone. The back case fell off, but she didn’t care. “When are we going?” she screamed.

“Tomorrow night, so you have time to pack.”

“I need to start packing right away!” said Bella.

“First, you need to eat lunch,” said Mom and pulled her daughter by the arm back to the table.

“Fine,” she groaned and ate her sandwich as fast as possible.

Chip and I didn’t notice until Sam bent down and said, “We’re going to Hawaii. Please keep the house safe.”

We decided from that moment to be the guard dogs.

The next morning, Sam and Bella woke up at 5:00 a.m. to start packing. Chip and I brought all their stuff to them when they pointed to it. It was kind of fun! We got to carry their backpacks, notebooks, shirts, shorts, and headbands. We wondered why they got up so early, because they had at least 12 hours until their flight. But I guess they just wanted to pack early. So Chip and I brought their sunglasses.

We were a little sad that they were leaving. But we were happy that we could keep the house safe, or at least the nanny that was staying with us would. We heard that they were giving us a nanny. We thought we would be staying here alone, but I guess not. Anyway, we can still protect the house, and that’s what’s important.

Then, Chip asked, “How long are they going to be there?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe we can go check Mom and Dad’s calendar in their room. Maybe they wrote it in!”

So we ran into the hallway, our paws skidding on the wood floor. Then, we ran down to Mom and Dad’s room. We passed Bella’s room. Then, we passed the bathroom. Then, we passed Dad’s office. And then, we passed Mom’s office. Then, finally, we reached their bedroom. And there it was: the calendar was right on the bed, and July 8th to July 22nd was highlighted in blue.

As soon as we saw it, Chip said automatically, “That’s two weeks!”

I was still counting in my head!

“Sam! Bella!” called Mom and Dad. We ran down the hallway again and jumped down the stairs. Sam and Bella came right behind us.

“Yes?” Sam and Bella said.

“Do you want to go get some tags for Bowser and Chip before we leave in case they get lost?”

“Sure!” They said.

So Mom grabbed the keys, and Dad grabbed me and Chip, and said, “Come on little guys! We’re going to Petco again!”

So Chip and I barked and ran along. Soon, we were at Petco. The sliding doors opened as we walked through. We walked to the tag-making machine, a big square, that looked kind of like an ATM! Sam showed us each color in front of our faces, and if we didn’t like it, we put our ears down. And if we liked it, we put our ears up! At that point, we chose pink and blue tags. I picked pink, and Chip picked blue!

We loved going to Petco because some of our best friends lived there, like Pinky the Guinea Pig and Squeaky the Mouse. And we have one friend that’s kind of unusual… Her name is Silky the Cat and she loves to play with her friends, but sometimes she gets really excited and she scratches them, or she sits on them. And the reason why she sits on them is because they’re mice and they’re tiny. But she’s friendly with us because we’re too big and she can’t sit on us! Bella knew about our friends so she took us to see our friends. We had a fun time.

Then, Bella’s dad told us to come so we said goodbye to our friends and ran to him in the dog food section. We paid for the tags at the cash register and then we left.

When we got home, Dad said, “Uh-oh! We’re a bit late. We’ve got to go now.”

So Bella and Sam said goodbye to us, and they left. We noticed the nanny sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV. Chip started running towards her, but I pulled her back because we had no idea who she was and what she was doing here.

Chip said, “Why are you doing that?! I want to say hi to the nanny.”

I said, “Oh! So that’s who she is!” and I let Chip go over. She ran to the nanny and jumped on her lap.

The nanny said, “Hello! What’s your name?”

Chip put up her head so the nanny could see her tag.

The nanny said, “Oh! You’re Chip! And who’s your friend over there?”

So Chip dragged me over to her, saying, “Come Bowser! Meet the new nanny. She’s really nice.”

I said, “Okay,” because after Chip said hello to the nanny, and she was nice to her so I thought she would be nice to me too! Chip told me to lift up my head so she could see my tag. So I did.

She said, “Oh! You’re Bowser! I’m Kathleen. I’ll be spending the next few weeks with you.”

“Okay!” We both barked.

“And we’ll have a great time. I’ll take you to the park, and I’ll give you lots of yummy food. But not too much! Otherwise, you’ll get sick.”

A few minutes later, she said, “Bowser and Chip, lunch is ready!”

We ran into the kitchen, the smell of our delicious new food came through the air. We both stopped and sniffed the air.

“Yummy!” Chip said.

“Yumzo,” I said.

The last time we had it, it tasted like something so delicious, I can’t even explain it. Wait! I can! It was the yummiest chicken noodle soup in the whole entire universe! The next thing we knew, we were smashing our faces into the bowl. It was so good. Soon, we finished it, and Kathleen gave us some more. We smashed our faces into that too, and then we ate it.

Then, she said, “That’s enough. You guys want to go to the park?”

We barked, “Yes!”

She put on our leashes and collars and took us outside. It was a really nice, sunny day with a little wind. We went to the doggie playground, and we met our friend Ziggy from the pound! He got adopted a few days before us! He was a French bulldog with a French accent. We know a bit of French because he taught us in the pound, but after he got adopted, we didn’t know if we would ever see him again.

When we walked up to him, he said, “Bonjour!”

We said, “Bonjour!”

He said, “Comment ca va?”

We said, “Ca va bien, et toi?”

Ziggy said, “Moi aussi.”

And then we said, “Can we speak in English now? We’re kind of having a hard time…”

He said, “Okay!” And then we had a conversation about how happy we were to be adopted and how we met him again!

Then, we went home and took a little nap. After that, we went to the park again because it was such a nice day. We were sitting on a bench with Kathleen when we saw two people across from us sitting on another bench.

A minute later, Kathleen said, “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get you guys some water, and me some lemonade, at the little food stand right down there.”

We looked down there. Then, she walked off. A couple minutes later, the two people who were on the bench in front of us got up and ran to get us. We ran away as fast as we could but then one of them caught Chip, because her legs were smaller. So, I decided to give up and let them take us because they took Chip. And me and Chip were best friends. As we were walking through the park, they held us so tight it was hard to breathe. But, I kind of moved around on the person that was holding me, and so her arms loosened up. So Chip did the same too.

Once the two people carried us for about ten minutes, Chip said to me, “I think that those are Bella’s friends. I know that because today when we were in the park, they were looking at us. Also when they were at our house, they were wearing the same clothes that they are wearing today. So, that gives me a lot of information about them.”  

“Oh no, I think they want to steal us! But maybe they aren’t nice to us,” I said in a very, very, nervous voice.

“It will be okay, you’ll be with me the whole time,” said Chip.

That calmed me down a little bit, but still, we were stolen by our owner’s own friends! That was really weird when I said it. Eh, whatever! Soon we were at what seemed to be Bella’s friends’ house. Their house was different from our house, Their house was cream-colored and ours was brick, and their door was dark blue and ours was brown. Then all of a sudden, the door opened and we were in the house. Then, one of the girls called out to her mom that she found some dogs on the street and that she wanted to keep us.

The mom said, “You can keep them if they do not have a collar.”

One of the girls quickly took off our collars and threw them in the yard.

“But I like that collar! That’s my favorite color!” I said in a sad voice.

“Okay,” they said. Then, they ran up the stairs with us in their hands.

Later that night, the two girls were asleep. I pushed the window open and and let Chip jump out. Then I jumped out. Then, we started running down the street. I remembered that we lived on Ellington Road, and they also lived on Ellington Road, so all we had to do was go down a few houses and we would be there! So Chip and I started to go down the street. Soon, we were there. We went through the doggy door and went into our beds and fell asleep.

The next morning, we had our yummy breakfast.

Then Kathleen said, “I thought you guys went home while I was getting us some water and lemonade! Well, Bella, Sam, and their parents are coming home this morning.”

Then, suddenly, the doorbell rang, and we saw Bella’s friends’ mom. Kathleen opened the door.

The mom said, “I found Bowser and Chip’s collars on the ground.”  

“Thank you,” Kathleen said, and closed the door.

She put the collars back on us, and then we heard another ding-dong. It was Bella, Sam, and their parents. They were back. Yay! Chip and I played with Bella and Sam for the rest of day. We had so much fun. Then, it was time to go to bed. Chip and I dreamed about Bella and Sam and how we would play for the rest of our lives. And this was true because we would live with them for the rest of our lives!

The End  

Chip says, “Bye!”