Dog Squad - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

CHRIS GRABENSTEIN is the New York Times bestselling author of the Mr. Lemoncello and the Welcome to Wonderland series, as well as the coauthor of many page-turners with James Patterson, including Katt Vs. Dogg and
the Max Einstein series, and of Shine! cowritten with Chris's wife J.J. Grabenstein. Chris lives in New York City. Visit Chris at ChrisGrabenstein.com and on Twitter at @CGrabenstein.

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1 

Nala, the world’s bravest and boldest border collie, bounded through the brambles.

“The river just jumped its banks, Duke,” she reported. “We need to herd it back to where it belongs!” 

“You can’t herd water!” said Scruffy, his wiry whiskers twitching. “That’s harder than herding cats!” 

“Well, we need to do something,” said the steely-eyed Duke. “Because the Wilkins farm is directly downstream!” 

“The Wilkins farm?” shrieked Scruffy. “Their new puppies will be swept away in the flood!” 

“Oh no they won’t,” said Duke. 

“Not on our watch!” added the noble Nala. 

“When trouble calls”--Duke arched his left eyebrow heroically--“it’s Dog Squad to the rescue!” 

Nala barked. 

Scruffy yapped. 

Duke took off running.

“Follow me!” he shouted over his shoulder. 

The three dogs raced alongside the swollen river. The music was very dramatic, with lots of DUN-DEE-DUN-DUN-DUNs. It was the kind of music that made a chase scene even more exciting. 

“There!” said Nala, focusing her laser-sharp eyes and pointing. “In the rapids! Six puppies!” 

“I’ve heard of giving dogs a bath,” cracked Scruffy, “but this is ridiculous.” 

“Dog Squad!” shouted a weeping mother dog on the far shore of the river. “Help! Save my children! They’re in trouble!” 

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” boomed Duke over the roar of the raging rapids. “No harm shall befall your pups. Not today. We’re the Dog Squad.” He gazed toward the horizon. Wind tousled his fur, just so. The sun glinted off his eyes. “And we’re going in after them!” 

“We are?” said Scruffy. “Those rapids look pretty, you know, rapid, Duke.” 

“That just means we’ll get downstream faster!” 

Duke leapt into the water. 

“Pawsome!” cried Nala as she jumped in behind Duke. 

Scruffy sighed. “Nothing’s too ruff for us!” He sprang off the rocky riverbank and belly-flopped into the churning stream below. 

Grunting hard and flexing every muscle he had to flex, Duke fought his way to the middle of the whitecapped water. Muddy waves crested, dragging along branches torn from trees upstream. 

“Help!” peeped an adorable puppy, bobbing up and down in the water. “Help!” 

“Hang on, son!” shouted Duke. “We’re coming.” 

“Duke!” cried Scruffy. “There’s only three of us but six of them. We can’t possibly save ’em all.” 

“Oh yes we can, Scruffy. We’re the Dog Squad.” 

“Saving puppies is what we do best!” added Nala. 

“But how?” gurgled Scruffy, spitting out a mouthful of dirty water. 

Duke could see all six puppies. Three were flailing. Two were frantically treading water. One was biting a stick like it was a chew toy. 

“Of course!” said Duke. “Bite onto a couple of those branches, gang. I’ll strip some bark off this log. We’ll lash together a raft and float these puppies home!”

2

Like dogs all across America, Fred was glued to his human’s TV, watching the new episode of Dog Squad that had just started streaming that night. 

Fred loved the heart-racing, tail-wagging adventures of Scruffy, Nala, and their fearless leader, Duke! 

All the dogs in the show were voiced by human actors, of course, because even though dogs could talk among themselves, they still hadn’t cracked the code for human speech. 

“Hop aboard, sport!” Duke called to the last puppy still furiously paddling in the swirling water alongside the raft Fred’s heroes had just lashed together. 

“My name’s Rocko, not Sport,” the puppy snapped back. 

Fred laughed. On-screen, Duke chuckled the way all heroes chuckle as he plucked Rocko out of the river. Then he gave the little guy an ear nuzzle that made the puppy giggle. 

Awwww, thought Fred. 

It was one of those cute awwww moments that Dog Squad always did right after its action scenes. Fred loved the awwww moments. And the action scenes. He loved EVERYTHING. The whole show. 

Fortunately, Fred’s owner, Big Tony Bomboloni, wasn’t home most Thursday nights, when fresh episodes came online. Big Tony wouldn’t want to watch Dog Squad, because Big Tony didn’t really like dogs. He’d only adopted Fred from the animal shelter because he thought that, with enough harsh training, Fred could become a guard dog--the super-aggressive kind that Big Tony could sell to the highest bidder. 

Big Tony was always trying to get rich quick. 

Just the other week, he bent all his refrigerator magnets and tried to sell them online as miracle medical bracelets to gullible senior citizens. 

Fred frowned thinking about it. 

If Big Tony was on Dog Squad, the good guys would catch him, lock him up, and throw away the key. It was too bad that justice wasn’t as swift or fair in real life as it was on Dog Squad. 

Truth was, Fred just wasn’t cut out to be a guard dog. He wanted to be part of a forever family, not a moneymaking scheme. A real family. Like he’d almost had with Susan. 

Fred sighed. Whenever he thought of Susan, he remembered long walks in the park, cozy cuddle time on the couch, and a bowl that was always filled with kibble. 

Susan had loved Fred. She even gave him his name. F-R-E-D. Wrote it on his collar in big, bold strokes. But then Susan fell in love with Mike, and Mike thought Fred was a mutt (he was). Mike didn’t want to be seen walking a mutt in New York City’s Central Park. 

If they were going to get married, Mike told Susan, Fred had to go. If Susan needed a dog, Mike said he would buy her a new one--a purebred from a trainer he knew about in Pennsylvania. Purebreds made much more fashionable canine companions. Susan agreed. Because she was more in love with Mike than she had been with Fred. 

Three weeks before their wedding, Susan took Fred to an animal shelter on East 110th Street, where she told a whole bunch of lies, including “My fiancé is allergic to him.” 

Fred blinked hard. Sometimes it was so sad to think about Susan. 

“Duke!” shouted Nala on the TV. Her eyes narrowed. She was focused on something rising up behind the raft. 

Oh no! Fred saw it, too. A towering wall of water. 

“The beaver dam upstream,” said Nala, somehow keeping her cool the way she always did. “It must’ve burst. Here comes a tsunami!” 

“Cowabunga, everybody!” Duke scooped up all the puppies, tucked three under each arm, and stood on his hind legs to ride the rickety raft like a surfboard on the crest of a thirty-foot wave. 

It was so cool! Fred wished he could do it too! He wished he could be like Duke! 

“When trouble calls,” Fred said in his best Duke voice, “it’s Dog Squad to the rescue!” 

He leapt up on the ratty sofa in Big Tony’s basement TV room as if it was the raging river. He pretended the cushions were puppies in need of rescuing. 

“Saving puppies is what we...