Chapter 1

Chad sniffed cautiously and dug his paws through some more trash. After spending so many weeks doing hunting training with Trusty, Chad was itching to get home. But first, he needed to find food. He sniffed again, this time searching for some trace of food.

He jerked his head away from the metal trash can. He had definitley heard someone nearby. He could've sworn seeing a bright flash of sunlight blaze by out of the corner of his eye, but when he whirled around, he saw none. He shrugged, figuring he was imagining things. But as he sniffed for more food, the scent of another dog caught his nostrils. Female.

Chad looked around. Finally he saw a bright golden dog tipping the neighbor's trash cans and then going through their wreckage for food as well. Chad strained his ears to hear what she was saying to herself.

"...dumb Mazie. Getting her foot sprained. Making me do all the food foraging. She was supposed to find food not play in dangerous junkyards with cute males! What's so special about love anyway?"

Mazie? Who is that? Chad shrugged and went back to trash digging. This dog wasn't his problem. He had a belly to feed! But as he did some more pawing through unwanted human items, his paws began to burn with an urge to go over to the gold female and see if she needed any help feeding herself.

Chad figured she would want to be alone. She was a stray and he was a stranger. Strays tended to be hostile when you don't know how nice another stray is.

Finally, Chad found a large bone with a few bits of meat still clinging on to it desperately. He scooped it up in his jaws and walked over to the female. He tried to appear confident with a head held high and tail standing tall and straight (or as tall as a scruffy stubb can be). On the inside, he was panicking!

Chad had met up and flirted with other females before, but somehow, this...just seemed different. He couldn't tell why. She was just another stray female, right? Wrong. The way the half moon shone on her gold fur and made it silver, the way her paws worked delicately, but productively, even the way she hummed a simple little song was beautiful. It was all just...wow. Chad stopped in awe.

Chad shook his head. He started walking again. Keep it proud, keep it cool. Keep it proud, keep it cool. Keep it proud, keep it cool, he chanted to himself. After all, it was only a really pretty female. He's done this before. All he needed to do was offer her the bone and be on his way. 

Chad had to cross the street to reach her. As he did, he heard an old car coming his way. He noticed the all to familiar words on the side. 'Dog catcher.'

"Oh no," Chad whispered. He dropped to bone and fleed Snob Hill. He could hear the rattling old car begin to pursue. For a brief moment, he forgot about the gold female, who hadn't seen anyone or anything coming...

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Lily angrily clawed at a banana peel. She was upset her sister, Mazie, had been careless enough to get her paw sprained at the junkyard. Their mother had deliberately told them to avoid that place, but no. Mazie always had to be the one to stand out. Who was this 'friend' that made her want to go there anyway?

Either way, since it was Mazie's turn to find the family some food and got her paw sprained, Lily would have to do it instead.

Lily worked delicately and carefully with her paws to dig up something edible. She found a large rag and pawed at it to make drag it to her side. She could use that to carry the food better. Sometimes I feel like the only brains of this family, Lily thought. Well, besides mother of course.   

Lily thought she saw something behind her. Across the street was another dog doing the same thing she was. Lily shrugged, figuring he hadn't even noticed her. Then she realized it was a half-moon tonight. So much moonlight tended to make her fur glow brightly. He must've seen her run right by the house!

Lily shrugged again and turned back to foraging. He doesn't seem to care. So why should I worry about it?

Lily started to hum an old tune to get her spirits up. It was the tune to her favorite song. It was something her whole family loved because it was her mother's favorite to sing. She called it 'He's a Tramp.'

Lily dug through. No luck. She moved to the trash can next to this one and tipped it over with her nose. Immediately, she noticed some food fall out. Excited, she pawed at all the edible remains and scooted them onto her rag. She bent her head to make a secure fold when she heard something again.

By the time Lily's head had turned around, she saw a light brown dog running up the street. She was confused until she heard the familiar, but eerie (if you're a dog) rattle of an old car. Lily gasped. Dog Catcher!

Lucky for her, the clumsy man was focused on the brown dog. But as Lily ran, she realized her home was the other way! She had to run behind the intimadating car. Summoning up her courage, Lily ran beside the dog catcher's car.

Lily tried to run back to the safety of her home, but the other dog's panicked barking made her confused. She was running too fast to see anything familiar. And even if she did, she suddenly remembered, her family was there! The dog catcher's attection had clearly switched to her since her bright golden fur was easier to see on such a dark night, therefore, easier to follow. If he followed her, he would find and catch her whole family! What's with the if? He's almost on my tail! Lily thought as she cast a worried glance over her shoulder.

Lily finally noticed she was approching the lake. Perfect! I can easily lose him there! Lily smiled triumphiantly as she swerved to the left and headed straight for the lake. All she had to do was make him think she fell into the water and sneak away while he switches back to chasing the brown dog. A simple plan right? Now if only plans always played out as expected....

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Chapter 2

Chad ran as fast as he knew how to. His thoughts wouldn't stop slowing him down. But he couldn't shake the fact that if he had only accepted Trusty's offer to stay a little longer, perhaps he wouldn't be in this mess!

There were many bushes seperating him from the gold-furred female he had seen earlier. It was hard for him to tell if it was him being chased or her. Just to be safe, Chad quickly came up with a way to outfox this dog catcher. Luckily, it was the clumsy one that couldn't even catch a housedog.

Chad made a sharp turn to the left and dashed towards a lake. If he could make the dog catcher think he fell in the water, he would give up, go away, and Chad was home-free!

Chad was about to actually run right into the water. Fortunately, he was able to skid to a halt before falling into the lake. This lake was in a large hole, like it was water inside a huge bowl. He was about to slide carefully into the bowl when he heard a scream.

Chad looked to see the gold-furred female again. Her forepaws were scratched and clawing at the dirt and grass on the outside of the bowl. Her hind claws scraped the insides of the bowl-like earth. She was hanging on for dear life and her eyes were the size of trash can lids.

Chad cocked his head. Surely she could swim? What was so scary?

Chad looked into the water. Now was his chance to fool the human. He just had to jump in...swim when the dog catcher can't see him...run back...Chad tried to play out his plan in his head but he kept getting distracted by the gold female that was desperately trying to avoid falling into the calm water.

"Help! Please! Don't let me fall!" she begged.

Chad paused. His heart was beating a mile a minute. If he helped her, he risked the dog catcher getting him. But if he let her fall...well Chad just couldn't watch her drown! Obviously, she couldn't swim.

At the last minute, Chad's concience made him dive to the left and sink his teeth into her scruff. He pulled as her forepaws gave way. The she-dog scrambled to get a firm hold on land, but it just wouldn't go her way.

"I gotcha," Chad tried to assure her. The female struggled some more.

"Go! He's almost here; he'll catch you!" she squealed.

"I can't leave you!" Chad protested. "You'll fall!"

Poor Lily. As Chad argued, he let go of her scruff. Lily fell from his paws and slid down the bowl at an unstoppable speed. The rocks that were hidden in the dirt scraped her back and sides. She screamed. Not because of the cuts she was recieving, but out of terror of the water.

Chad's ears drooped. "Oh no," he whispered. He had let her fall! And now the dog catcher was about to get him!

Chad jumped. He didn't know what else he could do. It was a short jump that let him slide down after the female. He tried not to wince as the same rocks scratched his legs and belly. As he neared the water, he stopped himself with a hind paw and jumped into the water.  

It was a little overwhelming when the water swarmed into his nose. He shook his head. That was not the key issue at the moment!

Chad looked at the surface of the water. He struggled to keep himself hidden under the waves. He could vaguely see the figure of a human with a large net stand over the edge of the bowl. It made a noise and turned and left. Chad sighed with relief, but as he did, his precious air left him in little bubbles. Chad struggled and then swam to