Jack Read Free

ran to the door. “OOOOooooOOOO!” he howled along with the sound from downstairs.
    “Oh, no!” Lizzie threw back the covers and jumped out of bed. Those sounds had to be Jack howling and banging on his crate. “You stay here, Buddy.” Lizzie put on her bathrobe and shuffled into her slippers, then headed down the dark stairs. Lizzie had heard puppies whimper and cry before, but this was something else. Why was the puppy making so much noise in the middle of the night?
    By the time Lizzie turned on the kitchen light, Jack had stopped howling and banging. He sat in his crate, looking sadly back at Lizzie. He blinked his big brown eyes.
    “Awww.” Lizzie sat down on the floor next to the crate and opened the door. Jack ran right out. He squirmed onto her lap and licked her chin.
    I hate it in there! I’m bored and lonely!
    “Poor little guy.” Lizzie patted Jack. His fur was so short and his little body was so muscular! He wasn’t like any of the pudgy puppies she had taken care of before. Lizzie noticed that the two puppy toys Charles had left in the crate were shredded into little pieces. Oops. Oh, well. You had to expect that puppy toys wouldn’t last forever. She started to pick up the furry shreds.
    “I guess our new friend doesn’t like his crate.” Dad stood in the kitchen doorway, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He must have heard all thenoise, too. Mom, Charles, and the Bean could sleep through a parade
and
fireworks, but Lizzie and Dad were light sleepers and woke up easily.
    “I guess not. Maybe he’s just too excited about being in a new place.” Lizzie stuffed the shredded toys into her bathrobe pocket. She patted Jack some more as he snorted and snuffled happily.
    “I suppose.” Dad looked tired. “Well, let’s try to get him settled again, and see how he does.”
    Lizzie used a biscuit to tempt Jack back into the crate. She patted him and talked to him in a soft, low voice until he looked sleepy and relaxed. “Okay, little Jackie. You sleep well now,” she said as she and Dad turned off the light and tiptoed away.
    Back upstairs, Lizzie had just drifted off to sleep when the banging started all over again.
Bang! Bang!
Lizzie put her pillow over her head to block out the sound.
    “OOOOooooOOOOOoooo!” Jack began to howl.
    “OooOOOOOooooOOOOO!” Buddy howled back.
    Lizzie sighed and took the pillow off her head. She got out of bed, put her robe and slippers back on, and went downstairs. “What’s the matter, Jack?” The puppy sat in his cage, holding up one paw. He looked extra cute and extra sad. “Awww, poor thing.”
    “Maybe he’s just doing it to get attention.” Dad had come downstairs again, too.
    Lizzie nodded. “Remember Pugsley?” she asked. “He needed attention. And when he got it, he was a much better puppy.” She let Jack out of his crate and patted him for a long time.
    Dad sat down on the floor and patted Jack, too. “But we can’t stay up with him all night,” he said after a while. “Jack seems happier now. Let’s try putting him back to bed in his crate.”
    This time, they had barely made it to the bottom of the stairs before the howling began. “OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
    Lizzie and Dad looked at each other and shrugged. Then they turned around and wentback. Lizzie checked out the kitchen. The garbage was under the sink, safe behind the cabinet doors. The counters were high. There was no food on the table. “He can’t really get into any trouble in here,” she said. “What if we just use the baby gate to keep him in the kitchen? Maybe he’ll be happier if he’s not locked in the crate.”
    “That sounds like an excellent idea.” Dad set up the baby gate, and Lizzie opened the door of the crate and left it open so that Jack could still use the soft sheet inside for a bed if he wanted. Jack watched them leave the kitchen, but he did not howl. They made it all the way upstairs. Still no howling! Dad looked at Lizzie and smiled. “I