Puppy Paws

Joining the Pack

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"I am Carazo, leader of the pack, born wild," declares Carazo. He proudly waves his long black tail. "This is my family."
The little red dog named Larry comes over to me.
"Hi. I'm Larry. The one who saved your Mother."
"Thanks," I say, a bit overwhelmed.
One by one the dogs step forward and introduce themselves.
"Hello! My name's Skitter!" exclaims a small wiry coated brown dog.
"I'm Amber," says a beautiful golden coated dog, a little smaller than Mama.
"Rogo," a huge light brown dog with pointy ears grunts. Then he nuzzles me playfully.
"Alice!" squeals a puppy with a striking black coat.
"You may call me Mama, but the others call me Lady Rosa," says Mama.
"I'm Paws!" I say proudly, holding up one of my giant paws for the pack to see.
"Wow!" yips Skitter.
"Now that we have all introduced ourselves, why don't we show Paws the world of free dogs?" Carazo barks happily. The rest of my new family howls a joyful song, and then Mama leads them up the hole in the den. Each dog jumps onto Rogo's back, and then disappears outside. Finally it's just me and him. I jump up and then leap out of the cozy warm den into the unknown, outside.
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Huge snowy trees and fallen logs surrounded a hole in the roots of a tree that is bigger than all the rest.
"Wow!" I exclaim. So this is where the den is. The clearing where I slept m first night is nowhere to be seen. Carazo must have carried me a long way!
"This is our home, Paws," says Amber softly. "Of course, it's still being improved. You know, separate chambers and everything."
"And a play room!" squeals Alice. I squeal back. Suddenly Alice gets down on her front paws with her bottom swinging in the air, tail high. I glance around, confused. The rest of the pack is looking at me expectantly. After a minute, Mama comes over to me and whispers in my ear.
"She wants to play. It's sort of a rite of passage. If Alice likes you, you can stay."
What? A puppy decides whether or not you stay?
"Um..." I whimper. I decide to play it safe and mimic what Alice does. I get down.
Then Alice pounces.
I have no idea how to do this. Alice is all over me, nipping my ears, snapping at my legs. I tentatively reach out and bite her tail. She whirls around from gnawing on my back leg.
"Yeah!" she yips.
After that it's a lot, I mean a lot, of fun!
We jump all over each other, wrestling to the ground and springing back up again. Snow flies everywhere. When I catch glimpses of the pack, they are watching in amusement. Finally Alice ends the play session with a yank on my neck. I crunch through the the trampled snow back to Mama.
"Good job, Paws." says Rogo.
I breathe heavily.
Mama laughs a soothing laugh that fills the woods.
Alice goes over to Carazo and says something. I can't hear it. My only thoughts at this moment are that I can't be leaving. Mama is here.
Then Carazo comes over to where we are.
"Paws, you are now part of the pack," he announces.