particular place in the team and they seem to know exactly what to do. How do you suppose they know all that?
I don’t know! Then with an upward jerk of her head Anna said the most amazing thing: But I’m going to figure it out and someday I’m going to be a lead dog.
I stared at Anna in disbelief. A lead dog? You can’t be serious! That’s the hardest, most dangerous job of all. You have to know what you’re doing and you have to stay ahead of the entire team so you don’t get run over. I could never do that.
Oh, Sojo, you’re such a fraidy-cat, teased Anna.
Am not.
Are too.
I felt very sad that day. I remember thinking maybe Anna was right. Maybe I was a fraidy-cat. I kept trying to think of something I could do that wasn’t so hard or so scary. That’s when I remembered the day Pam’s friend Joyce came visiting. I remembered how she said I was beautiful enough to be a show dog.
I’ve got to find out what that means because that’s what I’m going to be someday. I’m going to be a show dog!
Chapter Three
One bright sunny afternoon Pam walked up to our doghouse with three harnesses in her hand. She leaned forward, put her hands on her knees, and said in a chipper voice, “Guess what? You puppies are twelve weeks old and it’s time to start sled dog school.”
Anna wagged her tail, Roald ran inside our house and hid behind Mom, and I nearly fainted.
Pam said, “The first thing you have to learn is how to get into a harness. Which one of you is brave enough to go first?”
Anna leaped toward Pam.
No, Anna, don’t go. This is puppy abuse! I shouted.
Anna paid no attention to me as Pam helped her slip into the little harness. Anna jumped up and down and ran around in circles, showing off. She made it look fun so I decided I’d give it a try.
Pam took hold of my collar and slipped the harness over my head. Watch the ears! She gently eased both my front legs through the loops. The harness was red and, against my black coat, I must admit I looked rather stunning. For once Roald came out of the doghouse when Pam called him, and when he got his harness on, the three of us ran all over the dog lot showing off for the big dogs and feeling quite proud of ourselves.
I ran over to my dad. Dad! Look at me.
You look beautiful, Sojo.
I know.
Dad shook his head and laughed.
Mom, don’t I look beautiful?
Yes, dear, you look quite lovely, said my mom. But don’t chew on your harness. Pam won’t like that.
Soon it was nap time so Pam took our harnesses off and gave each of us our first taste of every sled dog’s favorite treat—liver! Ummm-um.
Back in our doghouse Anna asked in a sleepy voice, Do you still think that was puppy abuse?
No. At first I thought Pam was going to make us pull a sled but all we had to do was try on a harness. I was worried for nothing, I said yawning.
Even I wasn’t scared after awhile, said Roald.
It was a happy day and I smiled as I drifted off to sleep thinking about liver treats and dog harnesses.
The very next day Pam was in one of her rare happy moods and did something fun. “Today we start lesson number two. It’s a real drag,” she said with a laugh.
She put my harness on me and then took a length of string with a stick tied to it and tied the string to the end of my harness. It made a great game and I ran in circles chasing the stick until I got so dizzy I fell over.
Pam laughed and laughed. Then she helped me get up and said, “Sojo, you’re never going to be a sled dog if all you do is run in circles.”
It doesn’t matter because I’m not going to be a sled dog. I’m going to be a show dog.
As we got bigger so did the sticks until we were dragging around small pieces of firewood. Even though we were getting older, we still weren’t chained up yet. So when we got tired of running in circles, we went back to exploring our world while dragging pieces of firewood with us.
Pam was always building something. One day we could hear her working over by the side of her house where we couldn’t see what she was up to. We were going to go investigate but all that pounding and buzzing was so loud, we decided to do something else. We had never gone down the dogsled trail so we figured we would investigate to see where it led. There were lots of good smells to check out as we poked along. After awhile Roald turned around and went back home but Anna and I kept going. We came out on a really wide, flat trail that smelled weird and was covered with packed snow. While we were standing there trying to decide what the smell was, we heard a low rumble in the distance.
Anna, what is that?
I don’t know.
The rumble grew louder. I had just turned my head in the direction of the noise when all of a sudden this huge, boxy-looking monster came around a curve. It had a giant, flat nose that covered its entire face and it was heading straight for us!
It yelled at us—BEEP! BEEP!
Anna, quick! Run for your life!
I turned around to run but my feet got tangled in my line and I fell over.
Anna, help me! The monster’s going to get me. Helllp!
Anna tugged at my line with her teeth but she couldn’t untangle me. She curled her lips back and snarled at the monster as it roared toward us.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEP!
Anna barked fearlessly and lunged at the monster, “Woof! Woof! … WOOOOF!!”
Frightened by Anna’s bared teeth, the monster swerved, just missing me as it disappeared down the trail.
Sojo, are you all right? Anna asked.
Yes, but I thought that was the end, I said trembling. I’m glad you were here to save me.
Just then Pam came running down our sled trail. When she saw me lying there tangled in my line, she dropped to her knees beside me. When she realized that I wasn’t hurt, she scooped me up in her arms and carried me off the big trail.
“Sojo, I’m so sorry. I should have been watching you puppies better. This road is really dangerous. I’m so sorry…. I’m so sorry,” said Pam. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she untangled my feet and then she hugged me so tightly
