A Puppy Called Disaster Read online

  The woman’s name was Deb. “I lost my puppy in the tornado,” Deb said. She tore the tissue apart with anxious fingers.

  “Oh, that’s terrible,” said Kitty. “I am sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you.” Deb shook her head. “I had seen this puppy in the shelter in the town where I used to live and couldn’t resist him, even though I was about to move here. Then I moved here just two days before the tornado. A new puppy and a new house would have been more than enough for me,” said Deb, gulping in air. “Then the tornado hit and the puppy disappeared. I didn’t know the first thing about where to look. I’ve stayed home, hoping against hope that he’d somehow find his way back there. But he was such a tiny little guy. I hadn’t even named him yet!”

  “That’s very sad,” Lolli said. She glanced at Janey. “Do you mind if I ask what kind of dog he was?”

  Janey had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wondered if there was such a thing as an anxiety vest for people. “Maybe Deb doesn’t want to talk about it,” she blurted out. “Maybe it’s too painful for her.”

  Kitty patted Deb’s hands. “We are here to listen, if you want to talk.”

  Deb’s eyes teared up, and she dabbed at them with the crumpled bits of tissue. “He wasn’t any particular breed,” she said. “But he looked like he had a lot of beagle in him.”

  There was a silent moment. Janey and Lolli and Adam and Zach and Kitty all looked at each other.

  “What is it?” Deb asked. “Did I say something wrong?”

  Then everyone started smiling and talking at once.

  “What’s going on?” asked Deb.

  “Deb, I think we have wonderful news for you,” Kitty said. She turned to Janey and put a gentle hand on her arm. “Janey, do you want to go and get someone from his crate?” she asked.

  “Not really,” Janey said. She looked at Deb, and then at her feet. “But I will.”

  Janey went into the dog room and took Dizzy out of his crate. The puppy licked her cheek, and she held him close. She could feel his little heart beating. “I guess this is goodbye,” she whispered. “I love you, Dizzy.” She gave Dizzy one more kiss on the top of his head. Then she went back into the Meet-and-Greet room.

  “It’s him!” Deb said to Kitty. “It’s you!” she said to the puppy, holding her hands out to take him from Janey. “I’ve been so worried,” she said. “I’d given up hope I’d ever see him again!”

  Kitty explained how Mr. Petersen had brought the puppy to the shelter the day after the tornado. She told Deb how the Pet Rescue Club had taken good care of the puppy. “But it was Janey who took special care of him,” Kitty said. “Almost as if he was her own.”

  Deb looked around at everyone one by one. “How can I ever thank you enough for saving my little lost puppy? Especially you, Janey. Thank you. Oh, Rover!” she cried, hugging the puppy.

  Rover? Zach mouthed.

  “Or do you look more like a Charlie?” Deb asked. She tipped her head and peered into the puppy’s bright, shining eyes. “Peanut?” She shrugged. “I still haven’t decided on the perfect name for my perfect puppy.” She tucked the little dog under her chin, closed her eyes, and smiled blissfully.

  Janey cleared her throat. “We’ve been calling him Dizzy, short for Disaster.”

  Deb’s eyes snapped open. “Disaster,” she said. “Disaster?” She held the little dog out in front of her and they rubbed noses. “Perfect,” she said. “Hello, Disaster. Hello, Dizzy.”

  Deb thanked the Pet Rescue Club again for saving her puppy and for giving him the perfect name. “You are all welcome to visit anytime. My house is just a few blocks from the school.” Before leaving the shelter, Deb even signed up with Adam for future dog walking and training sessions. Then Deb and Dizzy walked out the door.

  Janey watched them go. She held back her tears, and she really was happy for Deb and for Dizzy.

  “Cheer up, Janey,” said Zach, reaching into a glass box. “There’s this nice turtle nobody has come to claim . . . your dad wouldn’t be allergic to a cute, cuddly turtle, would he?”

  Even Janey had to laugh.

  The very next day, Lolli and Janey went to visit Dizzy at Deb’s house. And Lolli had an idea. “The Pet Rescue Club should do something before the next disaster strikes,” Lolli said. “Remember that emergency preparedness class the Red Cross gave the town? We should organize a class that’s all about pet care during an emergency!”

  “Prodigious!” said Janey. She held Dizzy and kissed his little nose. “And I think we have the perfect pet-preparedness mascot,” she said. “A puppy called Disaster!”

  Are You Ready?

  You can put together your own basic emergency kit for your pets. Keep your pets’ supplies in a sturdy container that can be easily carried, like a duffel bag or a trash bin with a lid. Your pet emergency preparedness kit should include:

  ✓ Current photos of you with your pet in case your pet gets lost.

  ✓ Your pet’s medications and medical records (stored in a waterproof container) and a first aid kit.

  ✓ Sturdy leashes, harnesses, and/or carriers to transport animals safely and ensure your pet can’t escape.

  ✓ Food, drinkable water, bowls, cat litter and pan, and manual can opener.

  ✓ Garbage bags to collect your pet’s waste.

  ✓ Information on feeding schedules, medical conditions, behavior problems, and the name and number of your vet.

  ✓ Pet bed or toys if easily transportable.

  ✓ The ASPCA recommends using a rescue alert sticker to let people know that pets are inside your home. Make sure it is visible to rescue workers, and that it includes the types and number of pets in your household, as well as your veterinarian’s phone number. If you evacuate with your pets, write“EVACUATED” across the sticker, if you can, so rescue workers don’t waste valuable time looking for them.

  REMEMBER!

  If it’s not safe for you, it’s not safe for your pets!

  A Real Disaster

  Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana on August 29, 2005. It became one of the deadliest storms to ever hit the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people and their pets were affected. Animal rescue groups, including the ASPCA, rushed to the scene as soon as they could to help save lives and reunite people with pets.

  After the storm, it became apparent that the needs of pets should be part of disaster planning. Acts were passed in Congress that added pets to federal guidelines. According to the ASPCA, these laws not only save lives, but they elevate the issue of animal safety to its rightful place among other natural disaster priorities.

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  Have you read the other PET RESCUE CLUB Chapter Books?

  In case you missed it, here are some pages from, Book #2: No Time for Hallie.

  Bird Alert

  “Good kitty, Mulberry.” Janey Whitfield patted the fat orange tabby cat that had just jumped onto the sofa beside her. She giggled as he rubbed his face on her arm. “Your whiskers tickle! Aw, but that’s okay—you love me, don’t you?”

  “He’s just hoping you’ll give him more food,” Zach Goldman said with a laugh.

  Mulberry was Zach’s family’s cat. Janey was at Zach’s house, along with their friends Lolli Simpson and Adam Santos. Today was the first official meeting of the Pet Rescue Club—the group the four of them had decided to form after helping to rescue a neglected dog.

  The meeting had started half an hour earlier. Zach’s dad had brought out some snacks, and the four kids were supposed to be discussing how to organize their new group. But, they’d been too busy eating and playing with Mulberry to do much discussing so far.

  Lolli selected a piece of cheese off the tray on the coffee table. “Did you add the stuff about the Pet Rescue Club to the blog?” she asked Janey.

  “Yes.” Janey pushed Mulberry away gently. Then she picked up her tablet computer and showed Lolli the screen.

  Janey’s blog had started as a
way for kids around their town to share photos of their pets. Janey loved animals, but she couldn’t have a pet of her own because her father was severely allergic to anything with fur or feathers. She’d thought that seeing pictures of lots of cute pets would be the next best thing to having her own.

  Now the blog had another purpose, too. The Pet Rescue Club was going to use it to find animals that needed their help. So far, Janey had written an update on the rescued dog and added a paragraph telling people to send in information on any animal that might need their help.

  “Okay,” Adam said. “So we put something on the blog. Now what?”

  Adam was a very practical person. He was so responsible that he already had a successful pet-sitting business, even though he was only nine. People all over town paid him to come to their houses to feed and walk their dogs while they were at work or on vacation.

  Janey didn’t answer Adam right away. Mulberry was kneading his front paws on her leg and purring. Janey rubbed the cat’s head and smiled.

  “I wish I could have a cat like Mulberry,” she said.

  “Yeah, Mulberry is great!” Lolli leaned over to pet the cat. Mulberry turned around and butted his head against her arm.

  Janey giggled. “And he’s so cute! Here, Mulberry—want a cracker?”

  “Don’t give him that,” Zach said quickly. “It’s onion flavored and cats shouldn’t eat onion—it’s bad for them.”

  “Really?” Janey wasn’t sure whether to believe him. Zach was always joking around and playing pranks on people. Still, she didn’t want to hurt Mulberry if Zach was being serious for once. She pulled the cracker away and glanced at Adam. “Is that true? Are onions bad for cats?”

  Adam shrugged. “Probably. I know dogs aren’t supposed to eat onions.”

  “Why are you asking him? Don’t you believe me?” Zach asked Janey. “My mom’s a vet, you know. She’s taught me lots of stuff like that.”

  Before Janey could answer, a pair of twelve-year-old boys raced into the room. They were identical twins. Both of them were tall and skinny with wavy dark hair and the same brown eyes as Zach. It was raining outside, and the boys’ sneakers left wet tracks on the floor.

  Janey knew the twins were two of Zach’s three older brothers. She couldn’t imagine living with that many boys!

  “Check it out,” one of the twins said, pointing at Janey. “Little Zachie has a girlfriend!”

  “No way—he has two girlfriends! Way to go, little bro!” the other boy exclaimed with a grin.

  “Shut up!” Zach scowled at them. “And go away. We’re trying to have a meeting here.”

  One of the twins stepped over and grabbed Mulberry off the sofa. “Yo, Mulberry,” he said, cuddling the cat. “Are these girls bothering you?”

  “Mulberry likes us,” Lolli said with a smile. “He’s like the mascot of the Pet Rescue Club.”

  “Okay.” The twin dropped Mulberry on the sofa again. The cat sat down and started washing his paw.

  “Grab the umbrella and let’s go,” the other twin said. “The guys are waiting for us outside.”

  One of the twins grabbed an umbrella off a hook by the back door. Then they raced back out of the room.

  “Sorry about that,” Zach muttered. “They are so annoying.”

  “They’re not so bad.” Lolli smiled. She got along with everybody—even obnoxious boys. “Anyway, what were we talking about?”

  “About how cats can’t eat onion,” Zach said. “They shouldn’t have chocolate, either. Did you know that?” He stared at Janey.

  She shrugged. “No. That’s interesting.”

  “Yeah,” Lolli agreed. “There’s lots to know about having a pet! When we first got Roscoe, I thought all he needed was a bowl of water and some dog food. But there’s a lot more to it than that!”

  Roscoe was the Simpsons’ big, lovable dog. Lolli and her parents had found him at the Third Street Animal Shelter a few years earlier. He was a mix of Labrador retriever, rottweiler, and who knew what else.

  “I have an idea,” Janey said. “You already said Mulberry was our club mascot. We should make Roscoe a mascot, too. We can post their pictures on the blog to make it official.”

  “Good idea,” Lolli said. “I have a cute picture of Roscoe we can use.”

  “We should take a picture of Mulberry riding on my skateboard,” Zach said. “That would be cool!”

  “Veto,” Janey replied.

  Zach frowned at her. “Can’t you just say no like a normal person?” he said. “Oh, wait, I forgot—you’re not normal.”

  Janey ignored him. “Veto” was her new favorite word. Janey liked finding interesting words and using them. Saying veto was her new way of saying no.

  “Hey Janey,” Adam spoke up. “I think I heard your tablet ping.”

  “Really?” Janey had dropped her tablet on the sofa. Now Mulberry was sitting on it. She pulled the tablet out from under the cat. “Sorry, Mulberry. That might be an animal who needs our help!”

  Lolli leaned over her shoulder. “What does it say?”

  “It’s not a posting on the blog,” Janey said. “It’s alerting me to a new e-mail.”

  She clicked into her e-mail account. The message was from a classmate named Leah. Janey read it quickly.

  Hi Janey,

  I heard you’re helping animals now. I need help! I just got home from my soccer practice and found out my pet canary is missing!

  Runaway Cat?

  “Oh, no!” Janey exclaimed, reading the e-mail again.

  “What’s wrong?” Adam asked.

  “The e-mail is from Leah,” Janey said. “She says her canary is missing!”

  “Leah has a canary?” Lolli said. “I didn’t know that.”

  “I didn’t either. But if it’s missing, we should try to help her find it,” Janey said. “Zach, may I use the phone?”

  “Sure, that’ll be five dollars, please,” Zach said.

  Janey ignored the joke. She rushed into the kitchen and grabbed the phone. Leah had put her number at the end of the e-mail.

  “Janey?” Leah said from the other end of the line. “I was hoping you’d call. I’m so worried about Sunny!”

  “What happened?” Janey asked.

  “I must have forgotten to latch his cage after I fed him this morning before school.” Leah sounded upset. “When I got home, the cage door was open and Sunny was nowhere in sight!”

  “Oh, no,” Janey exclaimed.

  “That’s not even the worst part,” Leah went on. “My bedroom window was open! What if he flew outside? I might never find him!”

  Janey glanced at Lolli, Adam, and Zach. They had followed her into the kitchen and were all listening to her half of the conversation.

  “Don’t worry, Leah,” Janey said. “The Pet Rescue Club is on it! We’ll be right over.”

  She hung up and told the others what Leah had said. “I don’t like the idea of keeping birds cooped up in cages,” Lolli said uncertainly. “Shouldn’t they be free to fly around?”

  “I don’t know,” Janey said. “But Leah sounded really worried.”

  “Then we should help her,” Lolli said.

  Here are all the other books in the

  PET RESCUE CLUB

  series!

  A New Home for Truman

  Janey can’t have a pet of her own because of her father’s allergies. Her love for animals is so strong, though, that it leads her and her friends to create the Pet Rescue Club to help animals in need, like Truman the dog!

  No Time for Hallie

  Can the Pet Rescue Club help a senior cat find a new home when her owners decide they no longer have the time or attention to give her?

  The Lonely Pony

  When Adam finds Lola, a neglected pony, the Pet Rescue Club is determined to find her a better home, despite the challenges of caring properly for a small horse.

  Too Big to Run

  Maxi runs with her owner who is training for a marathon, but all that runni
ng is not good for Maxi’s knees. When she winds up needing an operation, the Pet Rescue Club raises the money to pay for the surgery, and then gets Maxi a new job!

  Cover illustration by Steve James

  Published by Studio Fun International, Inc.

  44 South Broadway, White Plains, NY 10601 U.S.A. and

  Studio Fun International Limited, Bath, UK

  Illustration ©2016 Studio Fun International, Inc.

  Text ©2016 ASPCA®

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN 978-0-7944-3854-8 (eBook)

  Studio Fun Books is a trademark of Trusted Media Brands, Inc., a subsidiary of Trusted Media Brands, Inc.

  First Edition

  *The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA®) will receive a minimum guarantee from Studio Fun International, Inc. of $25,000 for the sale of ASPCA® products through December 2017.

  Comments? Questions? Call us at: 1-888-217-3346

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

  For more Studio Fun products and information, visit: studiofun.com.