The Lead Dog

CHAPTER 1

"My only rule for you is to never ever go outside." my mom said.

"Why not?" one of my brothers asked.

"There are way too many dangerous things out there that could kill you."

"Like what?" my sister asked.

"Like the cold, and the lack of food, and cars, and not to mention wild animals."

"Ooh, I'm sooo scared!" I said sarcastically.

"Don't you dare even think about going outside." my mom said to me.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I lied. Later that day, I found a way outside. I looked around.

"Oh, yeah." I thought to myself, "The outside is really scary." I rolled my eyes and walked across the lawn. I jumped up on one of the benches so I could see my surroundings better.

"I wonder if there's anything interesting the forest." I thought. I jumped off the bench and headed into the forest. I looked at every tree I passed.

"This is so boring." I thought, "So far, the only wild animal I've seen is birds." Suddenly, I heard a twig snap. Thinking it was one of my siblings that had followed me, I said, "Show yourself!" A face popped out from behind a tree.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"Kavik." he said, "Kavik the wolf."

"You're a wolf?" I asked, "I didn't know that wolves looked so... dog-like."

"What do you mean?" Kavik asked, "Aren't you a wolf?"

"No." I said, "I'm a dog."

"Well, I never knew that dogs looked so wolf-like." Kavik said, "What's your name?"

"I don't have a name yet." I said, "I'll get named when I get a permanent home."

"What do you mean 'permanent home'?" he asked.

"When a human buys me, I'll go to their home and stay there for the rest of my life." I told him, "Right now, I live with my mom and siblings over there." I pointed my nose to my house.

"Well, I live waaay back there." Kavik said, pointing his nose in the opposite direction, "Up that hill."

"What are you doing way over here?" I asked.

"Exploring." he said, "My pack says I'm not allowed to, but I did anyway."

"Same here!" I said.

"Hey!" Kavik exclaimed, "Do you want to explore with me?"

"Sure! I'd LOVE to!"

"Okay! Follow me!" Kavik ran into the thicker part of the forest. I ran after him. I found it really hard to keep up with him with all the fallen trees in my way. At one point, I couldn't find a way around one of the large logs. Kavik turned around and went back for me.

"It takes some practice to jump over the logs." Kavik said, putting out a paw for me, "Even I sometimes have trouble with it."

"No, I got this." I said, refusing to take his paw. I backed up and Kavik stepped to the side. I ran as fast as I could forward and managed to jump on top of the log and then jump off.

"Impressive, young one, " Kavik said in a Yoda voice, "but can you keep up with all this?" Then he ran away dodging all the trees. I followed close on his heels. Once I caught up with him, I tackled him down.

"Gotcha!" I said, "You're it!" I turned around and ran away laughing.

"I'm gonna get you!" Kavik laughed, chasing after me. After we were too tired to run anymore, we went over to the lake and drank some water. Kavik sprayed water out of his mouth at me.

"Hey!" I laughed. I splashed water at him. Kavik frowned at me, soaking wet. Then we both busted out laughing. We played until it got dark.

"ARROOOOOOO!" I heard from up the hill.

"That would be my mom." Kavik said, "I have to go now."

"Can't I come with you?" I asked.

"Um..." Kavik said, "You should probably get back to your own family."

"Okay." I said, turning back toward my house.

"Wait!" Kavik said.

"What?" I asked.

"You can't tell anybody about this. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Promise?" Kavik asked.

"Promise." I said. Kavik started to walk toward his pack. "Wait!" I said, "Will I see you again tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Kavik said, "I'll meet you at the same place we met." Then we went our separate ways.

The next day, I tried to sneak out of the house, but my temporary person grabbed me before I could get out.

"NO!" I barked, "You need to let me outside!"

"No, puppy!" he said, "Stop squirming!" I squirmed even more and he put me in a crate with the rest of my siblings in a car. I whimpered and whined and howled.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I don't know." my sister replied, "What's wrong?" I was about to answer her, but I remembered Kavik telling me not to tell anybody.

"I'm just afraid of new places." I lied to her. We eventually made it to a weird building I've never seen before. Our temporary person grabbed our crate and carried us inside. It was very quiet and there were a couple other dogs and a... CAT! We all started barking at it.

"Get out of here, stupid cat!" we barked.

"...or I'll rip you to shreds!" I growled.

"I've got five husky puppies ready for their checkup!" our temporary person had to practically yell over the top of us.

"Okay," the person at the front desk said, "Mr. Lockwood. Just go through those doors." Our crate was carried to a small room and set on the floor. A woman opened our crate and I jumped over one of my brothers to get to the exit. The woman grabbed me.

"Looks like you'll go first." she said to me. She put me on a tall counter and looked at my teeth and then took a thermometer and shoved it up my... well, you know.

"YIPE!" I said.

"It's okay, puppy." the woman said cheerfully.

"Okay?!" I growled, "You just shoved a thermometer up my ***!" I was starting to hate this lady. After that, she grabbed a sharp needle.

"Wait. You're not going to shove that up my rear end are you???" I thought, sitting down. She gave me the shot in between my shoulders where my puppy skin was.

"Do you want your puppies' micro-chipped?" the woman asked Lockwood. I didn't know what that was, but I shook my head 'no'. I didn't want any more of this torture.

"Yes." he said. She put the microchip in the same spot she gave me a shot. It, surprisingly, didn't hurt too much.

"Okay." she said to me, "You're done."

"Thank goodness." I thought. She put me back in the crate.

"Who's next?" she asked. All my siblings pushed up against the back of the crate.

"Scaredy cats!" I barked at them. I pushed one of my brothers to the front. The woman grabbed him.

"I'm gonna get you for this." he mouthed. I stuck my tongue out at him. 

As soon as we got home, I ran outside and into the forest.

"Kavik!" I shouted. "I must have missed him." I thought.