Ziggy (5 page)

DON’T MISS THE
NEXT PUPPY PLACE
ADVENTURE!

Here’s a peek at
BELLA!

Lizzie knelt down to take a closer look at the puppy in the shoebox. Ms. Dobbins had set up a lamp over her box to keep her warm. In its golden glow, the puppy stretched and squirmed in her sleep. She opened her tiny mouth and yawned a pink puppy yawn. She was so young she didn’t even have teeth yet! Lizzie felt her heart flip over. The puppy was only a few inches long, and mostly
white with orangey-red spots like freckles. One ear was the same orangey-red color and the other was white. Her nose was pink, and her tiny paws were, too. Her ears were just little flaps, about the size of Lizzie’s pinkie fingernail.

Now the puppy opened her mouth and made a little mewing noise, almost like a kitten. “Oh!” said Lizzie. The puppy looked up at her with milky blue eyes that did not quite seem to focus on her face. “Wow, her eyes are barely open.” She wanted to reach out a finger and stroke the puppy, but she was afraid she might hurt her. “How old is she?”

“Just about four weeks,” said Ms. Dobbins. “She’s on her own and will need to be fed from a bottle.”

Lizzie looked down at the puppy. She didn’t look much like the cocker spaniels on her “Dog Breeds of the World” poster, with their long, fringed ears and adorable faces. She looked more like a hamster. A sick hamster. “The poor little thing!”

“I know,” said Ms. Dobbins. “When my friend called to ask for help, I agreed to take her. How could I say no? She drove the puppy up, and showed me how to mix the formula to feed her with.” She showed Lizzie a baby bottle full of white liquid. “It’s made with goat’s milk and raw eggs,” she said. “And some other stuff. Puppies this age have to eat every three or four hours. Maybe even more often in this case, since she is not growing as fast as she should be.”

“She does seem really small,” said Lizzie. She gazed down at the puppy, feeling a strange mixture of love and fear. This small, squirmy thing was so helpless!

Baxter
Bear
Buddy
Chewy and Chica
Cody
Flash
Goldie
Honey
Jack
Lucky
Maggie and Max
Muttley
Noodle
Patches
Princess
Pugsley
Rascal
Scout
Shadow
Snowball
Sweetie

Ellen Miles likes to write about the different personalities of dogs. She is the author of more than 30 books, including the Puppy Place and Taylor-Made Tales series as well as
The Pied Piper
and other Scholastic Classics. Ellen loves to be outdoors every day, walking, biking, skiing, or swimming, depending on the season. She also loves to read, cook, explore her beautiful state, and hang out with friends and family. She lives in Vermont.

If you love animals, be sure to read all the adorable stories in the Puppy Place series!

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Copyright © 2010 by Ellen Miles.
Cover art by Tim O’Brien
Original cover design by Steve Scott

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, LITTLE APPLE, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. Lexile is a registered trademark of MetaMetrics, Inc.

First printing, November 2010

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eISBN: 978-0-545-32464-9