Once upon a time there lived a little dog named Teddy. Teddy was a very lively dog. When Teddy was no longer a baby, his mom set him free into the woods to go off and find a forever home. He wandered all around the city searching for a home. Every day when Teddy wandered, he got sadder and sadder. He really wanted a family just like all of the other dogs that he passed.
Teddy slept under porches, and cars, and awnings all over town. He looked in windows and saw lots of other dogs cuddled up on the couch with moms and dads who loved them. Some dogs even had other dogs to play with. Teddy sat down on the sidewalk and began to cry. He was never going to have a family before he grew up. Then, the clouds swarmed over the sky and it started raining. Teddy looked up and saw how sad the sky was too. He walked slowly down to the market to find shelter for the night. When he was walking through the neighborhood Teddy took a really long time looking at all of the families envisioning what he thought he would want his family to be like. He decided he wanted a big family with lots of people to play with. He could take his humans to the park and they could throw him sticks. He could run around the yard with his humans and even sleep in their bed at night. Thinking about all the fun he could have with a human family made Teddy even more sad. He went to sleep and dreamed of families all through the night.
When the sun rose, Teddy sat outside of Walmart and looked at all of the people coming into the store. Sometimes people would stop and pet him, and every time that they did he would put on his biggest puppy dog eyes and hope they would come back for him, but every time he would never see those humans again.
Teddy followed this cycle every day, over and over. He knew after time he was growing. No one wants old dogs he would never have a family. He was so sad that again, he started to cry. When it was October, the air was getting colder. Teddy was supposed to have a family by now. He would be so cold and lonely all winter long if he didn’t hurry. By Halloween, Teddy had no hope left of finding a family. His fur was no longer long and beautiful, and it had lost its shine. He was growing thinner and older as the weeks went on and nobody was going to adopt him.
One day, a man dressed in all black came up to him with a large circular ring. Teddy took off through the parking lot and was making a dash across town. He knew what the man meant and Teddy was not going to the pound. He ran and ran until he was weak and exhausted. He laid down in the parking lot under a car. He hadn’t heard the man’s footsteps so he started to peek out from underneath the car and before he knew it, there was a shopping car rolling right for him. He closed his eyes and ducked further beneath the car.  He tried not to cry but could not help but let out a little puppy cry. Then he saw knees, and two hands outstretched beneath the car.
“Come here, puppy. Come here.”
This could not be the man who was chasing him, the voice was high pitched and kind. He crawled slowly to the woman’s hands and she picked him up off the ground. The next few hours were a whirlwind for Teddy. He was bathed for the first time in his life, he was fed a really delightful meal and took a nap in a pile of blankets.
Early in the afternoon, Teddy was awoken by a hustling and bustling he had never heard. Children were rambunctiously screaming through the house, and all of a sudden, a shriek.
“A PUPPY!!!!!”
The girls were after Teddy and he was off through the house. His mind was racing because of so much uncharted territory, every room was closed in and there were no good hiding places. Finally, he was trapped. The girls captured him and ran through the house, his ears bouncing up and down. This continued for quite awhile but Teddy realized, these are the little family members and they are trying to play with him. Days went by and he was still in the home. Every day there was the same delightful meals in the morning and at night. He got to stay inside except for occasionally, and the kids were not scary anymore. He even got to sleep in a bed with his humans. Teddy was living a really nice life with the family and couldn’t be more grateful. After some days,  he was back in the woman’s car. He started shaking with nerves. They drove into town and went into a big wooden building. A woman in a white coat greeted them and grabbed the puppy. Teddy began to cry, he didn’t want to lose his family. He cried louder and louder hoping the woman would grab him. The woman in the coat took him into a room and poked him all over, sometimes sharp and sometimes soft. She looked at his teeth and his ears and his paws. After being locked in the room with the woman, she picked him up and took him back out. His human was still there! She scooped him up and put him back in the car. She took him home! Teddy had found his family.