Scout (2 page)

“Hello?” Lizzie heard Meg say. “Mrs. Goodman?”

Lizzie knew that it was a very good thing that Scout had a wonderful home just waiting for her. Still, she couldn’t help feeling a little bit sad that she would have to say good-bye to this very special puppy so soon.

But Lizzie couldn’t stay sad for long. Just then Buddy ran past her, dragging a rope tug toy that was almost bigger than he was. Scout galloped behind him, trying to catch up with Buddy — and also trying to bite the other end of the rope. Doing two things at once was a bit too much for the little pup, and Lizzie laughed as Scout tumbled over her own feet. Casey brought up the rear, looking like the mature and dignified dog she was. That
is, until she grabbed the toy and swung it away, teasing the younger pups by stealing their prize.

Lizzie and Charles and their parents could not stop laughing as they watched the three dogs playing. It was quite a sight. Scout was the smallest. She looked like a miniature Casey, only fluffier and with those flopped-over ears. Buddy was bigger, about up to Casey’s shoulder. He had grown since the Petersons had adopted him, but he was still a roly-poly puppy who liked to chase his tail and still sometimes — not often, but sometimes! — made messes in the house.

And Casey? She was such a beautiful dog. Lizzie loved her alert, sharp-nosed face and her huge, soft brown eyes. Her coat was thick and shiny, a mix of brown, tan, and black. When Casey stood still with her head held high, she looked noble and elegant, like a hero. But then she would wag her long, feathery tail, give a doggy grin, and beg for a cookie like any regular dog.

Right now, Casey was trotting along the fence
with the rope toy in her mouth. Both puppies were tearing after her. “She’s playing keep-away!” Charles pointed and laughed. “She won’t let them get the toy, no matter how hard they try!”

Lizzie was laughing, too. But then she saw Casey lurch and stumble. When she regained her balance and started to walk again, she was limping a little. “Oh, no!” Lizzie ran over to Casey. “Are you okay?” She put her arms around the dog.

“She’s fine,” Meg said, snapping her cell phone shut and coming over to join Lizzie. She felt Casey’s front leg. “You’re okay, sweetie, right?” She turned to Lizzie. “She just has an old shoulder injury that acts up sometimes. It’s no big deal.”

“So, are you taking Scout to the Goodmans?” Lizzie bit her lip.

“Well,” Meg said. “Actually, I’m not. It turns out they can’t take her. Mrs. Goodman just had a bad fall and broke her leg, and she’s going to be on crutches for quite a while. It’s just not a good time for them to have a puppy.” She sighed. “Oh,
well. I’ll call the Tanakas. They were second on my list.” She opened up her phone again, and Lizzie turned back to watch the dogs.

“Check out Buddy!” Charles said. “He really likes Scout. See how he’s chewing on her ear?”

“I think Buddy likes being a big brother,” Lizzie agreed. “And look at Casey. She
loves
Scout. They could almost be mother and daughter.” Lizzie looked up at her mom. “They’re not scary at all, right?”

“Not a bit,” said Mom. “Anyway, Meg tells me that German shepherds are rarely mean dogs, unless someone trains them to be nasty.”

“That’s right,” said Meg, snapping her phone shut again. “Most German shepherds are total pussycats.”

“So?” Lizzie asked. “Are the Tanakas excited about their new puppy?”

Meg rolled her eyes. “As a matter of fact, they are. But their new puppy is not named Scout, and
it’s not a German shepherd. They got tired of waiting, so they adopted a mixed-breed puppy from the shelter. They brought Scamp home yesterday.”

“Oh, dear,” said Mrs. Peterson.

“That’s good, though,” Lizzie said. “Those dogs at the shelter need homes, too.” She knew that because she volunteered one day a week at the local animal shelter, Caring Paws.

“You’re absolutely right,” said Meg. “Well, let’s hope that the
third
family on my list is ready for a pup.” She dialed another number and stood listening as the phone rang and rang. “Nobody’s home,” she said. “But there’s a message on their answering machine.” She held up a finger as she listened. Then she hung up, sighing. “They’re away on vacation — for a whole month!” Meg shook her head. “I don’t believe this.”

For a moment, they all just stood and watched the dogs play in the yard. “I wish I could take
Scout myself,” Meg said. “She is
such
a little cutie. And smart, too. I bet you could train that dog to do anything.”

“So, why don’t you adopt her?” Lizzie thought Meg would be the
perfect
person for Scout.

“I’d love to, but I can’t.” Meg shook her head sadly. “Casey and I have to travel all over the place at a moment’s notice. That’s how it is when you’re a search-and-rescue team. So there’s no way I can be responsible for a puppy.”

“So what are you going to do with Scout?” Charles asked.

Lizzie noticed that he had a certain gleam in his eye. That meant he was thinking the same thing she was. Avoiding her mom’s eyes, she asked Meg, “Won’t Scout need a foster home?”

“She sure will,” Meg said. “I’d love to find her a permanent home with someone who could train her for search and rescue, but that could take some time. Meanwhile, she’ll need a loving temporary home.”

Lizzie and Charles turned to Mom at the same time. “Mom?” Lizzie asked. They knew she was the one who would need convincing. Dad loved dogs — the more the merrier. “Please?” This time, Charles and Lizzie spoke at the same time.

Mom was looking at the dogs. Casey had curled up for a nap, and both puppies had sacked out beside her. Scout was tucked into the curve of Casey’s belly, and Buddy had his chin resting on Scout’s leg. All three dogs looked peaceful and happy.

“Well,” Mom said, “it does seem as if Buddy enjoys having a friend. Maybe Scout would help him burn off some energy.”

“Yesss!” Charles threw a fist into the air.

“All
right!”
yelled Lizzie.

“Yay!” The Bean squealed with delight. He probably didn’t even know what was making Charles and Lizzie so happy, but he knew it was time to celebrate.

Lizzie turned to Meg. “We’ll help you find Scout a forever home,” she promised.

“Hold on there.” Mom put her hands on her hips. “I haven’t said yes yet.”

But Lizzie and Charles and the Bean didn’t even hear her. They had run down into the yard to tell Scout the good news. She was going to be their foster puppy!

“Look! Meg and Casey are already here!” Charles pointed to the bright blue van in the school parking lot. It was Friday morning, and he and Lizzie had just arrived at school.

“Cool!” Lizzie said. “I can’t wait to see Casey in action.”

“I wonder if the policeman is coming, too,” said Sammy, Charles’s best friend. The three of them — Lizzie, Charles, and Sammy — had walked to school together, the way they always did.

“He is,” said someone behind them. Lizzie turned to see Daphne Drake, the most popular girl in fourth grade. “Know how I know?” she asked. “’Cause Officer Frost is my uncle, that’s how.”

Officer Frost. That must be the policeman friend
Meg had talked about. Lizzie saw Charles and Sammy rolling their eyes at each other. She knew what that meant. They thought Daphne was a show-off.

Lizzie agreed. But she couldn’t help showing off a little, too. “Really?” she asked. “I guess he knows our friend Meg, then. She has a really great search-and-rescue dog named Casey. And we’re fostering a puppy for her. Scout. That’s the puppy’s name.”

Daphne shrugged. “Is Meg a police officer?” she asked.

“Well, no,” said Lizzie. “She’s a firefighter.”

“My uncle James has five medals,” Daphne boasted. “For brave stuff he did. And his dog, Thor, has two.”

Lizzie could top that. “Meg’s dog, Casey, was named the dog hero of the year last year!” she said. Lizzie had seen Casey’s certificate down at the fire station.

“Hmph,” was all Daphne had to say to that.

Lizzie saw her best friend, Maria, getting off
the bus. “Gotta go! See ya,” Lizzie said to Charles, Sammy, and Daphne. Then she ran over to talk to Maria.

“Hey, how’s Scout?” Maria asked. She loved dogs nearly as much as Lizzie did. And she knew all about dogs that helped people. Maria’s mother, who was blind, had a guide dog — a beautiful yellow Labrador retriever named Simba.

“Scout is
awesome
,” Lizzie reported. “She and Buddy do nothing but play, play, play all day long. If they’re not playing, they’re sleeping. Or eating, of course.” She laughed. “I think Scout has grown about two inches in just the last few days. She’s going to be a huge dog.”

“As big as Casey?” Maria had met Casey once when she and Lizzie were down at the fire station.

“Bigger,” Lizzie said. “She’ll be a great search-and-rescue dog if we can get her the right home.”

Just then, the bell rang and everybody headed inside.

Lizzie and Maria’s teacher, Mrs. Abeson, was
standing at the door of their classroom. “Don’t take off your coats, class,” she said. “We have an outdoor assembly first thing today.”

Everybody started talking at once. Mrs. Abeson folded her arms and waited patiently for silence. “We’re going to be meeting two very special dogs and their owners this morning,” she said. “I want you all to be on your best behavior.”

Lizzie raised her hand. “Mrs. Abeson?” she asked. “I know one of the dogs, Casey. She belongs to my dad’s friend Meg. Remember? The one who rescued Scout?”

Mrs. Abeson nodded. She and the class had heard a lot about Scout during the class’s morning meetings that week. “That’s great, Lizzie. I’m sure Meg is happy to be coming to your school.”

As soon as she was done taking attendance, Mrs. Abeson led Lizzie’s class out onto the playground, which was already full of kids. The other fourth-grade class and their teacher, Mr. Gabi, were there, plus all the second, third, and fifth graders
and
their
teachers. Lizzie had heard that the kindergartners and first graders weren’t invited, since they were kind of young and might be scared of the dogs.

Lizzie saw Charles over by the swing set with Sammy. She waved. He pointed toward home plate of the kickball field. There was Meg, holding Casey on a leash. Casey was watching all the kids with interest, grinning at the crowd. Lizzie waved at Meg, but she wasn’t sure if Meg saw her.

Next to Meg was a man in a police uniform. He looked very serious. He was holding the leash of another German shepherd. His
dog
looked serious, too.

There was a lot of noise on the playground, since everybody was excited about this special assembly. They’d never had an assembly on the playground before, as far as Lizzie could remember. But everybody finally quieted down when the principal, Mr. Schaeffer, walked out in front of the crowd and whistled.

Mr. Schaeffer had a special way of whistling where he stuck two fingers in his mouth. It was
loud.
Lizzie’s dad had tried to teach her how to do it, but so far she hadn’t gotten the trick of it.

“We have two — I mean,
four
— very special guests today.” Mr. Schaeffer looked excited. “I want to welcome Officer Frost and his dog, Thor, and Meg Parker and her dog, Casey. They’re going to tell — and show — you a little about how they work with their dogs. Please give them your full attention.” He turned to Meg. “Would you like to begin, Meg?”

“Sure!” Meg smiled — right at Lizzie! Then she asked, “How many of you have dogs?”

Lots of kids raised their hands.

“Great! I had a dog when I was your age, too. His name was Joey and we went everywhere together. He was a German shepherd, too. Just like Casey.” She leaned down and gave Casey a pat, and Casey wagged her tail. “Joey was a great pet, but Casey is more than just my pet. She’s
my partner. We work together to help people in trouble.”

Meg reached into a duffel bag by her side and pulled out a bright orange vest. “Casey wears this when she is on the job,” she explained.

Lizzie noticed that Casey sat up a little straighter when she saw the vest. Her ears perked up, and her eyes brightened.

Meg noticed, too. “Casey
loves
her work,” she explained. “She always gets excited when I put her vest on. I’m going to do it now, because we’re going to have a little demonstration. I’m going to ask my good friends Lizzie and Charles Peterson to help me out.”

Maria thumped Lizzie on the shoulder. “You’re famous!”

Lizzie grinned at her friend. Then she and Charles ran to home base, where Meg and Casey were standing.

“Before we start, let’s talk a little about how to act around dogs. Does anyone know the first rule about petting a dog you haven’t met before?” Meg asked.

Lizzie’s hand shot up. “Ask the owner first,” she said. “Some dogs don’t like strangers.”

“Good,” Meg said, nodding. “Also, most dogs don’t really like to be hugged by someone they don’t know. So, if the owner says it’s okay, you can start off by letting the dog sniff your hand. If the dog doesn’t shy away, you can pat it gently.”

By now, Casey was pushing her head against Lizzie’s hand, begging for a pat. Lizzie and Charles scratched between Casey’s ears while Meg began to explain how Casey worked.

“Dogs have an excellent sense of smell,” Meg said. “In fact, it’s about ten thousand times better than ours! So a dog can smell a person even when they’re hidden or lost. If I ask Casey to find someone, she’ll start sniffing the air, trying to figure out where the person is. Then she’ll start to run, following the person’s smell. When she finds them, she’ll run right back to me and bark to let me know. Then she’ll lead me to the person.”

Meg turned to Lizzie. “I’m going to keep Casey from watching while you go hide behind that tree near the monkey bars, okay? Then Casey gets to play her favorite game, hide-and-seek. She
loves
to be ‘it.’ I’ll ask her to find you. All you have to do is stay still until she brings me back to you.”

“Got it,” Lizzie said. While Meg distracted Casey, Lizzie ran over to the tree and tucked herself behind it. After a moment, she heard Meg say, “Find Lizzie!”

In about two seconds, Casey was nosing at Lizzie’s hand again. Lizzie couldn’t help giggling.
“Good girl,” she whispered to Casey. Then Casey was off again, heading back to Meg. She barked excitedly to tell Meg she had found the lost person. In another minute, Meg and Casey had appeared at Lizzie’s side.

Meg gave Casey a dog biscuit and lots of pats while all the kids and teachers applauded. “Of course,” Meg told the excited crowd, “Casey’s jobs are usually a lot more complicated. Last month we searched the woods for seven hours before we found a little boy who was lost.”

After that, Meg showed some methods she had used to train Casey, starting with a game called “puppy runaways.” She had Charles pat Casey, then take off running toward the swing set. Casey bounded right after him, not letting him out of her sight. When she caught up, Charles gave her a biscuit. “That was how I taught Casey that it was a good thing to follow somebody,” Meg explained. “We started with a real person, and
after a while she started to learn how to follow a person’s
smell,
too — the way she did with Lizzie.”

Meg smiled at Lizzie and Charles. “Thanks for your help,” she said. Lizzie gave Casey one more pat before she and Charles headed back to their class groups.

“I have a great idea,” Lizzie whispered to Maria when she was standing next to her friend again.

But before Lizzie could say more, Meg turned to Officer Frost. “Your turn!”

“Okay,” said the policeman. “Hi, everybody!” He looked down at Thor, who was sitting alertly at his side. “Thor, can you wave hello?” Thor picked up his right front paw and waved. Everybody cheered.

“I wanted to add something to what Meg said about meeting dogs you don’t know,” said Officer Frost. “Another thing to remember is that some dogs don’t like it if you look right into their eyes. They think you are challenging them to fight with
you, since that’s one way that dogs challenge each other.” He asked Meg to demonstrate by looking right at Thor’s eyes.

Thor started to growl and bark! Lizzie suddenly understood why some people might be afraid of German shepherds — or of any big dog. But Officer Frost held Thor’s leash tightly. As soon as Meg stepped back and looked away, Thor stopped barking.

“Thor is my partner,” said Officer Frost. “Just like a human partner, he keeps me company, helps me prevent and solve crimes, and protects me if I’m in trouble.”

Lizzie could just imagine how Thor would act if someone tried to hurt Officer Frost! Yikes.

Officer Frost told a story about how Thor had caught a bad guy who was running away after robbing a store. Then he talked some more about how Thor rode around with him in his patrol car all day, and what a typical day was like for the two partners. “He’s my best friend,” said Officer
Frost, reaching down to pet Thor. “And Thor has some very good friends right here in the community. Don’t you, Thor? A class at the high school sponsors him. They spoil Thor rotten with treats and toys.”

When Lizzie heard that, her eyes lit up. Maria smiled. Lizzie knew her best friend could already tell what she was thinking. Lizzie was getting
another
great idea!