In the book Ghost Dog Secrets, by Peg Kehret, sixth grader Rusty is on his way to school and spots a dog tied to a tree, completely unprotected, during a huge sleet storm. He returns the next day and realizes that the dog has no water and no food. This poor dog was a striking German Shepard and was obviously being seriously abused. Rusty resolves to help him.
Rusty shows up every day to feed and care for the dog. He calls Animal Control and is told that without proof of abuse, which he must collect, they cannot interfere. He starts to collect evidence by taking pictures and that is when he realizes there is a GHOST DOG! Apparently, a man named Myers - who Rusty called Mean Man - owned the property and the abused dog. The Ghost Dog turned out to be a Collie that Myers had also abused. The Ghost Dog kept appearing to help Rusty save this dog from the same fate.
Rusty got help from his best friend Andrew and together they stole and hid the dog in their fort. They named the dog Ra because it was the first initial of their names. Rusty really tried to hide Ra from his mother because he knew that she “didn’t want a dog.” But, Rusty’s mom found out.
This turned out to be a good thing because when his mom saw why Rusty had taken the dog, she decided to help Ra, too. The Animal Control lady, Heidi Kellogg, agreed that Myers was abusing Ra and she was helping them become his official foster parents. Everything was going fine until Mean Man started harassing and threatening them to get his dog back.
