eachother. The two dogs fell in a heap on the grass. The ball fell down on top of Dashes head and then rolled towards Noodles. The young Shar Pei reached out his front paw and rested it on top of the ball.

"Got it," He whimpered on pain. Dash sighed and put his face flat down on the grass, so he could hide his unhappy look.

                                                                                          ***

"Okay, So you're good at fetching and being cute, but noone can beat me at digging," Dash said as he led Noodles and the gang to the park. Dash and Noodles both had a bone in their mouths and were ready to see who could bury their bone the fastest. Tangerine nidged Noodles.

"He's not wrong. Dash is the fastest digger in town," she explained.

"Not for long,"Noodles spat, narrowing his eyes. Dash growled and got in his best digging position.

"Okay guys, on three," Bandit announced sitting in front of the two dogs who were standing side by side ready to bury their bones.

"One..."

Dash bared his teeth at Noodles who growled in respone.

"Two..."

Dash stared down at the grass ready to dig with all his might.

"Three!"

Dash started scraping at the ground with his paws after about ten seconds he'd dug a 30 centimetre deep hole. It still wasn't enough to bury his bone, so he dug for about another minute and then he dropped his bone in the hole. He quickly covered up the hole with the dirt and stood back to admire his work. But he'd been so focused on burying the bone that he didn't notice that Noodles was already sitting on top of a pile of freshly turned soil. Dash's mouth dropped open.

"Nice try, old timer. I finished like ten seconds before you," Noodles bragged. Dash looked at his friends, they all had their mouthes open, too. "Let's try something harder," Noodles said.

                                                                                           ***

"Let's see who can do the best tricks," Noodles said. "And to be fair, you can go first," The young Shar Pei gestured for Dash to go to Leon and do some tricks. Leon was sitting at the kitchen table eating some toast and marmalade. Dash padded over to leon and started rolling over and jumping up and down on his hind legs.

"Shoo, Dash, can't you see I'm eating," Leon groaned. He pushed Dash away with his foot. Noodles shoved past Dash and started staring up at Leon with big round eyes.

"Why didn't I think of that," Dash whispered to the gang.

"Maybe because if you did, Leon'd stick that knife in one of 'em," Coco joked. Travis growled at Coco as if to say 'Watch your mouth'.    

"Awww," Leon cooed. He broke of some of his toast and tossed it to Noodles. Noodles jumped up and caught the toast in his mouth. "Good boy," Leon congratulated and he patted Noodles on the head.

                                                                                            ***

"Well, I guess this is the end of the line," Dash sighed.

"Where are you going. We still have one more contest," Noodles reminded Dash.

"But you'll win anyway!" Dash pointed out.

"I know, I just wanna thrash you at something else. Now lemme think... uh...I know,  chasing cats. There's two siamese cats living about a block away. We'll go cahse em. Whoever chases their cat back inside the house first wins," Noodles decided. Dash sighed before replying:

"Sure, whatever."

Dash Noodles and the Junkyard juniors went down Snob Hill and crossed the street to the next block. Sure enought Si and Am the siamese cats were sunbathing in Aunt Sarahs front yard. Bandit, Travis, Tangerine and Coco hid behindthe fence while Dash and Noodles leapt into the yard, barking. Si and Am leapt up, mewing loudly as they were chased around the garden. Dash chased Am around in circles while Noodles was doing pretty good chasing Si towards the cat flap in the front door. Si practically flew through the flap, while Dash chased Am right towards the yard fence. At the last moment, Am made a swift left turn, leaving Dash to crash into the fence. Am hissed at Dash before following Si through the cat flap.

"Now you can go," Noodles said. He jumped back over the fence, leaving Dash laying flat out of the grass.

                                                                                         ***

Dash walked into the junkyard with Bandit and the others. Dash started looking for somewhere to sleep. He managed to find an old rug and he dragged it round the back of the gangs junk pile. Dash lay on the rug and tried to go to sleep. The moon was already in the sky Bandit decided to sleep beside Dash, while the others went back to their own homes. Coco went over to Bobo and Lolas tent, there was no movement so Coco guessed that they were both alseep. Tangerine went to her tipped over garbage can and Travis left to go to the old abandoned playhouse in the park, which was well hidden with all the ivy that had grown over it. About five or six hours later, everyone in the junkyard was sound asleep. Until... "DASH!"

Dash woke up with a start. He nudged Bandit and the young doberman/duchsund woke up, too. Coco and Tangerien crept out of their homes, too. They walked over to where Bandit and Dash were standing. Suddenly, they all saw movement near the enterance and then a light shining into the junkyard. The gang could just about make up Leon with a flashlight. He shone the flashlight over to where the gang was standing and then he ran over to them. He scooped Dash up in his arms and patted the remaining three members of the gang on their heads. "Thanks for finding Dash, guys," He said. Nobody knew what to say. Leon left the junkyard with Dash in his arms. Bandit, Coco and Tangerine followed them back to their house without Leon and Dash noticing.. Dash and Leon had both seemed to have gone to bed. So the gang decided to sleep where they were.Bandit curled up with Coco on his back and Tangerine beside him. They all fell asleep pretty fast.

                                                                                           ***

Tangerine was the first of the gang to wake up. She yawned and started nudging Bandit. Bandit soon woke up and as he got up, he tipped Coco off his back, forgetting he was still there. "Hey, next time could you just say 'Wake up' instead of snapping my back," Coco groaned, which made Tangerine giggle. Bandit walked towards the doggie door and squeezed through it, with Tangerine and Coco behind him. They found Dash asleep on the floor underneath the kitchen table.

"Mornin' guys, he said. Dash had light grey bags under his eyes, so the gang knew that he hadn't slept well at all. Dash got up and stretched. He must have forgotten that he was under the table because he hit his head on the bottom of it.

"Did ya find out why they took you home?" Coco asked.

"Nah," Dash replied. "It's really strange.

"Why don't you guys stick around. We might find out later," Dash offered. Bandit nodded his head in reply. Just at that moment Leon came down with his wife and his two kids. Leon and th ekids sat down at the table while Leons wife started frying eggs in a pan.

Dash didn't feel like begging for food, so he went into the living room and lay down on the rug and started discussing his next escape with the gang. But then