Chapter 1

"This runt too?" Tommy wrinkled his nose. "Please?" Jasmine begged. "We need him out of the shelter plus all the volunteers say he has the spirit!"

I was a shelter dog almost all my life and finally, Jasmine was opening a hole to a real life. Tommy was the police dog trainer for some police station.

"Come on, Tommy!" Jasmine pleaded. "Try him out!" Tommy frowned but said,"Fine." He begrudgingly took my carrier and loaded me in his van with the other dogs.

Sam, a german-doodle, looked at me haughtily. So the little Toby comes. Humph! He scoffed. And you pushed Lily out of a spot! Shame on you! He glared at me. Now

wait a second! They said Lily was too timid to do this work! So quiet! I barked back. Sam only smirked.

Tommy loaded a box of collars in and closed the trunk. I sniffed my collar, right on top, which proudly says: TOBY. That was me. Toby. Jasmine calls me Tobias, though. She'd always say, "Tobias, huh?" and give me a treat.

I watched sadly as we drove away. All the "Tobias" and a treat was left behind. I was going to be a police dog!

I must have puffed out my chest, proud of my new task without realizing it and Sam snickered. Give up on the idea, Small Fry! He sneered. No way a teeny

Chihuahua can be a police dog!

You only say that because you aren't special! I shot back. You're a common German shepherd!

Think again! I'm a German-doodle! He grinned evilly.

I have to admit, I have beat. But I didn't let Sam know that so I quickly turned my head as if something notable was outside.

Soon, we were at the police station. Tommy took us to some very clean and spacious pens. It felt good not to squish with some nippy Pomerainians.

After a few days, we started our training. First was Find The Gun. Guns were loud things that were bad.

Guns have a very bad smell to them.

"Toby, find the gun!" Tommy said. I raised my nose and took a deep, long sniff. There! A trail! I followed the trail of scent to a new person. He had a gun!

I dashed back to Tommy and led the way to the man with the gun. Bang! Bang! The gun barked twice in it's painfully loud way. I whimpered a little bit. It was loud!

Tommy looked at me and shook his head. "Toby, no!" He commanded sternly. I stopped whimpering at once.

My turn was over. After all the rest of the dogs, Lopsy the rottweiler, Growler the Great Dane, Sam, and Jack a golden-doodle.

Then, Tommy penned us up.

Chapter 2

"Toby! Sam! Lopsy! Growler! Jack!" Tommy called, waking up with a start. I popped up, ready to work. Let's go! I called fearlessly.

Tommy opened our pens and we ran out to the training yard. Tommy took a jar of something off a table and held it to our noses, one by one. It had an awful smell to it.

Someone covered my eyes and unintentionally, a growl slipped from my throat. The hands flew off my face and Tommy commanded, "Find!"

Find what!? I asked, frustrated. "Find!" Tommy insisted. Maybe I was supposed to find the jar! I raised

my nose, searching the air for the awful scent. There! the awful scent waft through the air, hard to miss.

I noticed the rest of the dogs were gone! Though, Tommy again reminded me to Find so I didn't bother about them.

I dashed off, following the sickening scent. There! I spotted the jar, ruffly buried in some dirt near a tree. Here! Here! I barked. Tommy came running over. "Good dog!" He praised and scratched my ear.

Then, he took me to a corral and put me in with the other dogs. He took out Sam and left.

The other dogs begged me to tell what to do or what happened but I felt a certain secrecy to the matter, so I

didn't tell.

Sam came back and his head hung low. I failed. He whispered. I actually felt bad for him. Sorry, Sam, I said, sympathetically. He bared his teeth at me, startling me backwards. I don't need your sympathy! He growled.

Unfortunately for Sam, Tommy saw it all. "Hey, Sam! Quit that or your out!" He called. Sam retreated to a corner, mad as a mad dog.

Sorry, similes aren't my thing. Or metaphors. Whatever.

I still felt bad for Sam but I knew he wouldn't appreciate any comfort I offered him. That was just it.

Tommy penned us all up. "How are they?" Penny asked. She was a nice woman who I didn't know what she did. "Good," Tommy said. "All but Sam. He's slightly too vicious." "Hmm," Penny said, thoughtfully. "Well, maybe he'll calm down. Come on, Tommy, let's go get some food."

Chapter 3

A noise woke me up. In the darkness, I heard something creep. I sniffed, searching for anything different. A new human. He smelled strongly of a food humans called pizza. He didn't seem at all bad. Maybe he was a training person here!

So I fell back asleep. In the morning, Tommy woke us again. "Lopsy! Growler! Jack! Sam! Toby!" Tommy called. He opened our pens, Lopsy, me, Jack, Growler, then Sam last.

"Sam!" He cried. "He's missing!" Tommy dashed out the door and soon, he and Penny burst back in. "Sam is literally missing!" Tommy cried again, showing Penny