The Flawed Dog

Ditka and Cleopatra were beautiful and famous show dogs. Their owners, the Johnson's, were the best breeders in Chicago. All the rich and famous people in the city wanted to buy their dogs. They especially wanted puppies from Ditka and Cleopatra, but Ditka and Cleopatra were too busy to have puppies. They traveled city to city. They won dog shows wherever they went.

"When will Ditka and Cleopatra have puppies?" everyone asked.

"I don't know," replied Mrs. Johnson. "They're too busy now. You'll just have to wait."

So, everyone waited and waited and waited. The Pritzkers waited. Oprah waited. Even the Chicago Bears waited.

Then one day, Ditka and Cleopatra finally had puppies. Twenty of them! They all sold very quickly, except for one. Her name was Katie.

Katie looked like a champion show dog in every wayÐ'...well, almost. She had an under bite, for this alone, she would never win a contest. She was also a little smaller than the other dogs. But most important, she lacked the calm and confidence of a champion. She jumped and whined and panted whenever she got excited, whenever she was in the presence of people. And this made people nervous.

As the weeks went by, Katie watched her brothers and sisters leave, one by one, for a real home. Whenever people came to see her, she would immediately jump up to greet them. She clawed at her cage. She wagged her tail. She whirred with excitement.

"Could this be the day?" she wondered.

Katie loved people. She loved to jump on them. She loved to get in their laps. And most of all, she loved to give them kisses.

"Too wild!" said one couple, when Katie knocked over their little boy.

"Too much trouble!" said another.

"Not a show dog," said another.

"Looks more like a boxer or a bulldog. Not an Am Staff," said another.

As each family left, she would stand at the door of her cage. "Where are you going?" she asked in her dog language. "Are you coming back?"

None of them came back. The longer this went on, the harder she tried to please people, but this only made her wilder.

"Tomorrow you will have a new home," said Mrs. Johnson, before she turned out the light and went to bed.

"Yeah, right," muttered the sarcastic response from the muscular, short-haired puppy in the cage next to her. "She means the pound."

"What's the pound?" asked Katie.

"It's where all the mutts end up," replied her neighbor.

"What are mutts?" she asked.

"Dogs with flaws," he answered coldly.

"But I'm a purebred!" she said.

"You don't look like one. You don't act like oneÐ'...the way you jump around and knock things over. These people buy dog collars more expensive than you. You think they're going to trust you in a house with a lot of nice stuff?" he replied.

The next day Katie woke up to the sound of Mrs. Johnson. She was putting up a new price tag on her cage. $1,000, $750, $500, and $350. Katie knew she wouldn't be happy to see the next people to visit her. Her parents, Ditka and Cleopatra, were the best dogs in the country. She was on sale. But, still no one had bought her. Surely she was going to the pound.

Morning passed into afternoon.

Afternoon passed into evening.

Katie heard the doorbell. She panted with nervousness. She knew it was the people from the pound. She heard Mrs. Johnson's voice and the voices of the people she was talking to.

"We got your name through Dog World," said a man's voice. "We asked them for a list of breeders for American Staffordshire Terriers."

"We really want one, but we didn't realize they were so expensive," added a woman.

"So, you're not looking for a show dog?" asked Mrs. Johnson.

"No. Just a nice family dog, one we can afford," replied the man.

Katie couldn't understand what they were saying, but the voices sounded pleasant. They didn't sound mean and cold as she imagined people from