The Sausage Dog of Doom! (2 page)

OSCAR
New recruit (a yappy mini dachshund)

THE CATS

LADY FLUFFKINS
Evil empress of the entire galaxy (well, almost)

BALDY
Cowardly minion of Lady Fluffkins

THE FELINE FORCES
Every breed of cat across the galaxy!

1. Yappy to See You

Yappy to See You

Running towards the exit with their hands pressed over their ears, the visitors to the Pooch Pound couldn’t leave fast enough. They passed Poppy, who was spinning in
circles and snapping at her tail, Butch, who was howling, growling and frothing at the mouth, and Rocket, who was barking at the top of his lungs. But as the family fled the kennels and the warden
closed the door behind them, only one dog could still be heard above the din.

barked the mini dachshund in the fourth kennel as he raced around on his tiny legs. Oscar was only small, but his voice was so loud
and high-pitched that it bounced off the bare brick walls and rattled the metal bars.

‘That’s the fifth family he’s seen off today!’ yelled Poppy, ceasing her tail-chasing and folding her ears down to block out some of the noise. ‘He’ll never
be rehomed if he keeps this up!’

‘He’s hardly stopped yapping since he arrived this morning!’ yelled Butch, wiping the drool from his mouth and pulling his blanket over his head to muffle the sound. ‘If
he carries on, that sausage dog will put me off sausages for life!’

‘Really?’ gasped Poppy, knowing how much the bulldog loved food, and sausages in particular.

‘No, probably not,’ Butch admitted.

As the racket continued, the two dogs looked helplessly at Rocket, knowing he was the only one who could silence the dachshund. The big brown mutt nodded for his kennel mates to cover their
ears, then he leaned forward and took a long, deep breath.