Helper Hounds: Robot Helps Max and Lily Deal with Bullies
throw me one of the bright yellow tennis balls from my basket I would go get it But I never choose those balls It takes a long time a lot of chomping and barking and slobber to get a tennis ball this good Samuel threw the ball I ran to get it So I dropped the ball at Samuel’s feet and sat just waiting for the next throw I could do this all day But before he could throw it Samuel’s phone buzzed A Helper Hounds Alert Samuel grabbed his phone He frowned and plopped onto our old green sofa Oh no Samuel said I munched up my ball and crawled onto the 3
sofa next to him He scratched my head Two kids Max and Lily are being bullied Samuel said I hate when kids are mean to each other Samuel used to be a teacher He’d seen a lot of kids getting bullied Samuel scrolled down on his phone One kid tells Max he’s skinny and that he could snap him in two Another girl makes fun of Lily because Max and Lily don’t live with their mom right now Terrible I barked my agreement Samuel held my snout in his hands and kissed my nose He walked to the hallway where my official red Helper Hounds vest and leash hung on hooks My stubby tail wagged Can you help these two learn to stop their bullies Samuel said My tail wagged so hard my butt shook the sofa cushion I jumped off 4
I could help I knew all about dealing with bullies Two reasons 1 I’m a Rottweiler That means I’m big and loud Some people think I’m a bully But it also means that I was born and bred to protect My great-great-great-great-great grandparents protected sheep from bully bears and mountain lions in Germany Today I protect Ms Chen and Samuel from the bully brown trucks I’m always on alert for bullies 2 My foster dad and trainer Paul was a bully Well he was a bully Now Paul is the nicest guy ever But once upon a time Paul did some really bad bully things and ended up in prison That’s where I met him For real I’ll tell you all about how we both got there Let me go back to the beginning 5
CHAPTER 2 I don’t remember much before the morning of the raid My brothers sisters and I climbed over one another to get closer to our mom Mama Petunia Not that we were ever far away All seven of us dogs lived in a tiny wire cage at Flowerbrook Kennels It might sound nice but it wasn’t The people at Flowerbrook Kennels kept dogs in cages We ate peed pooped and slept all in the same place At least the puppies got to leave The mom dogs never did They spent their whole lives in cages having puppies and then caring for us The mom dogs never played or put their paws 6
