and they all took off like a shot, with the dog catcher and his net close behind.

The four dogs ran in zigzags to try to avoid being caught by the net, which seemed to be everywhere at once. Jeremy, T.P, and Owl were dashing far from the vicinity of the dogcatcher's net, but Dexter and Iggy were lagging too far behind.

"Iggs, Dexter!" T.P yelled over his shoulder. "Catch up!"

"I-I'm trying," Dexter yelled between gasps for air. Glancing to his left, the black puppy saw Iggy's little feet going a hundred miles per hour, but she was still falling behind.

 Suddenly, a dark shadow fell over the younger pup and she was scooped up in the dogcatcher's net.

"YIP!" The cream and black puppy let out a sharp yelp as she was lifted into the air as the dogcatcher began to walk back to his truck. The man unlatched the hook on the wired door's side, opened it, and tossed Iggy inside. The young dog tumbled to the back and landed upside down. The puppy's frightful olive-green eyes popped open and she witnessed the wire door being slammed shut. Oh, no! she thought. I gotta get outta here! Iggy scrambled to her feet and rammed her front paws against the door. It isn't movin'! Just then, the small puppy was thrown from her position by a rumbling that echoed throughout the entire van. Instantly knowing what was going on, Iggy ran back and threw her paws against the door again and again, but to no avail.

"Hold on, Iggs! We're commin'!" T.P's voice yelled over the roar of the engine. The young mutt leaped onto the narrow, wooden ledge on the van's rear. His foot slipped out from under him a bit, but he quickly regained his balance.

T.P nudged the metal hook on the door upward with his nose, but it didn’t move out of its holder.

“Almost...”WOAH!”

The small puppy was thrown from the truck as it jerked forward, leaving T.P in its dust. Standing up, T.P shook the dust out of his fur as the other members surrounded him. Dexter ran a few steps after the vehicle, his big green eyes watering.

“IGGY!!!”, he yelled at the top of his lungs. Knowing that he yelling wouldn’t bring his friend back, Dexter drooped his head and stubby tail. “Iggs...”

“What were ya doin’, T.P!? You could’ve got killed!” Owl’s fur was ruffled again as she yelled at the second youngest puppy, who glared daggers at her. “What was I doin’? I was tryin’ to save Iggs, that’s what I was doin’! Where were you!?”

There was a low muffled, growling sound as Owl bared her teeth, eyes ablaze. Suddenly, she jumped on T.P’s back, sinking her pointed teeth deep into the sensitive skin on the back of his neck.

Letting out a sharp bark of rage, the tan dog whirled his head around and managed to scrap Owl across her left eye and finally got her to fall off. The small dog wore a triumphant grin until her saw the blood running from right below Owl’s eyebrow; then his smile dropped and his entire expression turned into surprise.

“Owl...”

Looking up at T.P, Owl squinted her left eye open, but winced at the pain. “Damn you,” was all the brown mongrel could manage. T.P and Dexter’s ears perked up abruptly at her words. None of the gang had ever cursed or been cursed out before, but Owl had just broken that streak. Rising on wobbly legs, Owl jumped at T.P again, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and slung him into a group of trash cans, all of them were knocked over like pins and T.P was the accurate bowling ball.

Snorting, Owl gritted her teeth and began trotting off down the alleyway at a slow pace. Dexter trotted up behind her. “Owl, where’re ya goin’?” His voice was wobbly and cracked a bit. When she didn’t answer, Dexter ran around and cut her off. “Why can’t we all just get a-!” A low, dangerous growl erupted from the older dog’s troat causing Dexter’s eyes to go wide as he quickly leap out of her way. He watched helplessly as the brown dog’s long tail disappeared around the corner leading to the next street. She was already gone when he ran to go check.

“Owl...not you, too...” The black puppy’s ears drooped to the point to where they were practically touching the ground.

“C’mon,” a gruff, stern voice sliced through the eerie silence, and Dexter turned his head behind him to see T.P staring at him with those spooky cat eyes which were darker then usual. “Let’s go, Dex. If we’re gonna rescue Iggy, we’re gonna need backup.” 

Dexter’s spirits raised slightly as he began trotting after T.P. He looked up at the darkening skies overhead; they seemed to reflect how his friends felt.

Averting his gaze to the tawny mutt in a few feet in front of him, Dexter realized how far he’d fallen behind and how T.P was paying no attention to him whatsoever; Dexter ran to catch up to T.P just as lightning erupted from the ominous clouds above.

 "C'mon, c'mon..."

Cleverly hidden between the thick branches of some shrubs, a young brown and white puppy of a stocky breed crouched down deeper into the hedges as he looked across the street at the beautiful pink-painted, two story house surrounded by a white picket fence. There was a veranda shading the back porch of the house which exited into a large yard. Though the puppy was never too fond of the houses on Snob Hill, compared to him, those houses weren’t nearly as comfy looking than his barrel back at home, and did his best to avoid them at all cost. There was only one reason why he was drawn to this house: A young, robust, and quit charming Cocker Spaniel puppy. It had taken only one look from the girl dog for the brown one to fall completely head over tail for her; but when she invited him to crawl under the gate to join her in her play, the stray had only hung his head and turned his back on her. As he left, he swore he could feel the sadness in the white-collared pup’s eyes; he heard her mother call out for her, “Danelle! Its supper time. Come in.”

 She has such a pretty name...Aw! What was I thinking? he scolded himself as he walked home that night, I'm a stray, she's a House Pet; there's no way she'd fall for a guy like me...

Obviously, that thought had been whipped out of his head because, once again, the brown dog was staring impatiently at the two story house, waiting for the Cocker Spaniel puppy to come out.

Suddenly, as if on cue, three puppies came bursting through the little doggy-door on the back porch; the first two were females and resembled Cocker Spaniels, one had a red collar, the other a blue; the last puppy was a male and resembled the Tramp, every Street Dogs' hero. The stocky dog immediately recognized them as the Tramp's, and a lucky girl Spaniel named Lady's, kids. The three puppies began running around the yard and then the two girls jumped their brother, sitting on top of him to keep him from getting up. As the puppies continued to sit on their brother, the brown dog across the street stood up and started wagging his curly tail. Then he realized that neither of the female dogs were his crush, who wore a white collar, and he sat down, hanging his head and dropped his tail.

“Perfect,” he mumbled to himself, “Danelle's not here...Ah, Bruce, what were ya thinking? She’s not gonna fall for your type.-“

Suddenly, the doggy-door opened and the white collared Cocker Spaniel pup raced out, yelled, causing her siblings to look up, then body slammed all three of them. Bruce recognized the voice and immediately stood up, wagging his tail fiercely. Danelle was pushed off by her sisters and they began chasing her around the yard while the little gray male snuck out of the way and went to start digging up the flower bed.

Bruce smiled as he watched Danelle dodge her sisters and win several short games of tag; her sisters were obviously getting really tired of her jumping on their backs and causing them to run around in circles. The young dog laid down quietly in the shrubs and watched with wanting eyes as all four puppies continued their game.

They all look like they're having fun, he thought to himself. But that girl...A small smile spread across the puppy's face at the thought of the white-collard puppy. She's beautiful...

The doggy-door opened again and a larger version of the girls came out. This Spaniel wore a beautiful turquoise collar with a yellow diamond shaped tag on it. “Annette, Danille, Colette! Its getting dark out, time to come inside.”

The brown dog's small triangular ears perked up when a warm, female voice cut through his thoughts. Looking through the branches, he saw the beautiful Cocker Spaniel standing on the back porch, and the young dog could see exactly where the girl pups got their looks from.

The three girl puppies looked at each other and Danelle said, “I’ll race you guys!” The white-collared puppy took her running stance. “No you won’t,” the blue-collared one responded, crouching low like her sister. “Well, you’re both gonna loose to me! Bye!” Both girls looked up in time to see the red-collared sister bounding off toward the porch.

“No fair, Collet!” Annette called out. “C’mon, Danelle, let’s get her!”

With that, both sisters ran after the first, barking and yipping as they ran into the house past their mother.

“Scamp! You, too,” the mother dog said to her son, who sighed heavily and walked in the door