Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Jack The Happy Dog
Jack The Happy Dog
Jack The Happy Dog
Copyright © 2015.All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. No part of this book or
this book as a whole may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or means without
written permission from the publisher.
Table of Contents
Paperback Edition
Jack the Happy Dog
Samantha and the Skunk
Shadow
The Mystery Guest
Thanksgiving at the Pet Hotel
Funny Jokes
Find the Differences #1
Find the Differences #2
Maze #1
Maze #2
Maze #3
Maze #4
Solutions
You Will Also Enjoy…
About the Author
Paperback Edition
Jack was a happy little puppy who lived with his owner, Valerie, in a big old
house built on acres and acres of land. Jack loved living in the country, and
he loved Valerie, who ran her own pet hotel and boarding business.
People paid Valerie to take care of their pets while they were gone on
vacation. That meant that Jack was constantly making new friends with the
animals who stayed at the pet hotel.
Some puppies might have been jealous having an owner who spent so much
of her time with other animals, but not Jack. He was always in a cheerful
mood, and he was as friendly and welcoming to the other pets as Valerie
was herself. Besides, Jack knew deep down that he would always be
Valerie’s very favorite dog!
One morning, Jack woke up to hear the sound of tires crunching on gravel,
followed by the low murmur of people talking, followed by the shrill whine of
a small puppy. Pricking up his ears, Jack stood up in his doggy bed. He knew
what those sounds meant: another pet hotel guest had arrived!
Excitedly, Jack jumped out of bed and ran to the front door. A cool, early-
autumn breeze blew through the screen, and sure enough, Jack spotted
Valerie down at the end of the driveway, talking with a pair of pet owners.
The owners seemed worried about leaving their puppy behind, but Valerie
was smiling confidently and doing her best to reassure them. Jack grinned a
puppy grin. Valerie always looked confident, he thought.
She wasn’t a fancy dresser. Her clothes of choice were jeans and a comfy
flannel shirt. She didn’t bother with jewelry or makeup like some ladies, and
she wore her long, dark hair pulled back from her face in a simple ponytail.
But to Jack, Valerie was the most beautiful person in the world.
Jack frowned to himself. That poor puppy seemed pretty unhappy. There
must be a way Jack could cheer him up!
Jack watched Valerie head past the front porch into the backyard, where the
pet hotel was set up inside an old restored barn. A few minutes later, Valerie
came back into the house to get Jack ready for his morning walk.
She knelt down and let him lick her face as she clipped his leash to his
collar. “Morning, boy,” Valerie said. “All ready to go out?”
Jack yipped eagerly, and Valerie smiled. “All right, then. But try not to be
too hyper. We’ve got a new guest, and I don’t think he’s very happy about
staying here yet. I thought we’d take him on the walk with us.”
Before long, Jack, Valerie, and the gray-spotted puppy, Ash, were
meandering along the gravel back road. It was a beautiful, crisp day, and
the leaves on the trees were just starting to turn colors.
But poor Ash didn’t seem to be enjoying himself at all. Determined to make
him feel better, Jack moved closer to the new dog. Then he asked, in the
universal language of animals, “What’s wrong, Ash? Why are you so sad?”
That was all it took for Ash’s dark eyes to well up with tears. “My-my owners
left me,” he sniffled. “I knew it was too good to be true when they adopted
me last month! I should’ve known they would abandon me! Valerie seems
nice, but I want my old owners back. And besides, who’s to say Valerie won’t
abandon me, either?”
To Ash’s surprise, Jack burst out laughing. “I’m afraid you’re confused about
all this, Ash,” he said. “You see, Valerie isn’t your new owner. She runs a pet
hotel. She’s keeping you here just until your real owners get back from
vacation. Trust me, I’ve lived with her since I was tiny. Animals’ owners
always come back and pick up their pets at the hotel.”
Ash’s eyes cleared, and he actually began to smile. “This is just a hotel?” he
breathed in relief. “Why didn’t anybody say so? I’m going to see Doug and
Rachel again! Oh, what wonderful news!”
And with that, Ash began to run and jump joyfully, tugging at the end of his
leash. Jack joined him, and soon the two puppies were having a wonderful
time of it.
Valerie smiled and shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it, Jack,” she
said affectionately. “You’re just such a happy dog. You can’t help but make
others happy too!”
Take a large, SQUARE sheet of paper and fold it in half, corner to corner, to
create a triangle.
Along the folded side of the paper, turn down each of the corners of the
triangle to create two smaller triangles around a pointed “face.”
Finally, fold the center point of the face under the paper to create a square
chin.
Now, use crayons or markers to give your dog eyes, a nose, a mouth, and
spots.
Bow-wow-wow!
Samantha and the Skunk
“Jack, I’d like you to meet Samantha,” Valerie said. She was holding the
leash of a sparkly-eyed puppy with a light-brown coat and a dark-brown spot
encircling one eye.
Jack yipped happily and licked Samantha’s face. Samantha returned the
favor. Jack was glad to see that the new pet hotel guest wasn’t fussy or
afraid, like some of the animal guests could be. Samantha seemed just as
happy as Jack himself. Jack was sure she was going to be a wonderful
playmate!
As soon as the two dogs had finished their lunch, Valerie turned them out
into the big backyard to play.
“Wow!” gasped Samantha. “You guys have a lot of land! I wish my backyard
was this big!”
Samantha glanced around. “Are there any other pets staying at the hotel
right now?” she wanted to know.
“Just a very antisocial Siamese cat,” Jack replied with a laugh. “Valerie says
she’s an old cat who’s set in her ways, so she wants me to leave her alone.”
“Yes,” agreed Jack. “But that doesn’t affect our fun! Come on, let’s go
explore!”
The two dogs ran as fast as they could to the outer reaches of Valerie’s
property. They didn’t stop until they came to the edge of the woods.
“My gosh,” panted Samantha, “the yard’s even bigger than I thought!”
Jack nodded proudly. “Are you ready to race back to the house?” he asked.
But, through the trees, Samantha had just spotted something that captured
her interest. “Look, Jack!” she whispered. “Isn’t it cute? I bet we’d have a
fun time playing with that!”
When Jack saw what Samantha was staring at, his eyes widened in alarm.
“No, Samantha!” he started to say.
But it was too late. Samantha had already darted into the woods after the
skunk she had seen. Delightedly, she took its fluffy black-and-white tail in
her mouth.
Samantha was so surprised, she let go of the skunk, who darted away.
“Ewww!” she cried.
Jack ran over to join her. “I tried to tell you,” he said regretfully. “Skunks do
that.”
“But why?” protested Samantha. “I wasn’t trying to hurt it; I was only trying
to play!”
“The skunk didn’t know that,” Jack explained. Then he made a face. “You
sure do smell disgusting! Let’s get you back to Valerie. She’ll give you a
bath.”
Back at the pet hotel, Valerie wasted no time plunking Samantha into a
soapy bath loaded with special doggy shampoo that was guaranteed to wash
away the skunk smell.
Samantha giggled wildly. “Hey, this is fun!” she realized, splashing Jack
back.
Valerie laughed, too. “Oh, you guys,” she said fondly as she smiled at the
playful puppies.
Shadow
“Meow, meow.”
Jack opened his eyes. It was very early in the morning, and Valerie’s house
and the pet hotel were still dark. Jack lay still in his doggy bed and listened
closely.
Jack’s heart jumped at the thought. Slowly, he climbed out of his doggy bed
and wandered out onto the screened back porch. There he stopped and
waited.
“Who are you?” Jack asked carefully. He knew that some cats were afraid of
dogs, and he wanted this cat to know that he would never hurt him or her.
There was a long stretch of silence. Then, to Jack’s amazement, a little gray
kitten appeared in the shadows at the bottom of the back porch steps!
“You promise you won’t hurt me?” she asked in a tiny voice.
Jack edged closer to the porch door. He wished it wasn’t locked so he could
see the kitten better. “I promise,” he said seriously.
The kitten sighed. “Okay, then,” she replied in a trembly voice. “But I don’t
know if there’s anything you can do to help me.”
The small gray kitten climbed the porch steps and leaned close to the door,
so that now, she and Jack were nose to nose through the screen. “I-I’m
homeless,” the small cat stammered after a moment.
At first, Jack didn’t know what to say. Then he asked, “You mean you’re
lost?”
The kitten shook her head. “No,” she replied. “I don’t have a home at all. My
mother’s owners dumped me and my brothers and sisters in the forest soon
after we were born. They wanted to keep my mother, but they didn’t even
want to bother finding homes for her kittens. We were left to fend for
ourselves.”
Jack gasped. How could anybody be so awful?
“Anyway,” the kitten continued, “I’m not sure what happened to the rest of
my family, but I just kept wandering through the forest until I ended up
here.” Her speech ended in a sad squeak. “I wish there were somebody who
could help me.”
Jack was starting to get a wonderful idea. But he couldn’t make any
promises just yet, so he didn’t tell the kitten what he was thinking. Instead,
he said, “Why don’t you sleep under the porch tonight? In the morning, you
can meet my owner, Valerie. She lives here and runs a pet hotel. She’s
awesome!”
The little kitten seemed to perk up. “I’d like that,” she returned slowly. “Are
you sure Valerie won’t mind?”
“Positive,” smiled Jack. Then he added, “But before you go, I just realized I
forgot to ask your name? I’m Jack.”
The gray kitten hung her head. “I don’t have a name,” she mumbled. “No
one ever bothered to give me one.”
Now Jack felt terrible for asking. “Oh,” he answered quietly. “Well, I’ll see
you later, okay? Have a good sleep.” Jack wandered back to his doggy bed,
but for some reason, he couldn’t settle down. He tossed and turned for the
rest of the night.
Valerie was up at the break of dawn, like always, and just as Jack knew she
would, she discovered the little kitten sleeping beneath the back porch. Jack
was right at her side as Valerie gently coaxed the kitten from hiding with
some tuna fish on a plate.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Valerie sighed as the hungry little cat gobbled it up.
“You’re homeless, aren’t you?”
Valerie sat still, thinking for a moment. Then her eyes brightened. “You
know what?” she announced, gently patting the kitten’s head, “you don’t
have to be homeless any longer! How would you like to live right here at the
pet hotel with Jack and me?”
The kitten purred happily, licking Valerie’s hand in delight, and Jack barked
for joy, running in delighted circles around his owner and his new kitty
sister.
Valerie beamed. “Looks like I made the right decision,” she said. “Now
there’s just one more left to make. You, little kitty, need a name!”
She studied the kitten for a moment, and then she asked, “How about
Shadow? You’re the color of one, after all.”
Jack thought Shadow was a perfect name! It reminded him of the way he
had met the kitten, in the shadows of the night. He turned to his new friend
to see if she liked the name, as well.
Valerie laughed, and Jack jumped up to lick her face, his way of saying
thank you. Shadow was here to stay!
The Mystery Guest
The phone rang so loudly, right next to Jack’s ear, that Jack nearly jumped a
mile.
Valerie laughed. “Calm down, boy, it’s just a phone call.” She picked up the
phone and held it between her ear and her shoulder as she headed out the
back porch door and down the steps to the old, remodeled barn where her
pet hotel was located.
There was a pause, and then Valerie laughed again. “Absolutely. It’s not
every day we get a guest like that at the pet hotel.” She said a few more
things before hanging up the phone, but Jack stopped listening.
He had heard enough to make him very curious, and now he rushed off to
find Shadow, the gray kitten who lived with him and Valerie.
“Shadow, guess what?” cried Jack, bounding under the back porch, where
Shadow liked to play. “We’re going to have a very unusual guest at the pet
hotel!”
“What kind of guest?” Shadow asked curiously. She batted her squeaky
mouse from paw to paw.
Jack stopped and thought. “Well,” he admitted, “I don’t really know. Valerie
was on the phone, and I only heard one side of the conversation. But I’m
sure she was talking to a pet owner. She told whoever it was that we don’t
often get guests like that at the pet hotel.”
“Guests like what?” Shadow pressed, forgetting about her toy for the
moment and following Jack out from under the porch and into the bright fall
sunshine.
“That’s what I don’t know, silly!” Jack replied. “But I don’t think we’ll have to
wait too long to find out. Pet owners usually leave their pets here over the
weekend, and its Friday now.”
Shadow smiled. “You’re right. But how about we try to guess in the
meantime?” she suggested. “Let’s see…what sort of dog or cat would be
unusual around here? You should know, Jack. You’ve lived with Valerie
longer than I have.”
Jack tilted his head to the side, contemplating this. “Well…I don’t think we’ve
ever had a Saint Bernard stay here,” he mused.
“But would Valerie sound really surprised about that?” Shadow wanted to
know.
“Good point,” replied Jack. “It must be something more unique.” Then his
eyes lit up. “Hey...I know! Maybe it’s a Chihuahua. That’s a kind of dog you
don’t see every day!”
“What makes you think it’s a dog?” asked Shadow. “The guest could be a
cat, couldn’t it?”
“Could be,” Jack agreed. “But we’ve had lots of different types of cats stay
here. What kind of cat—”
“I’ve never seen a Sphynx,” Jack told her. “How do you know about them?”
Right at that moment, a strange-looking van lumbered into the gravel drive
that ran alongside Valerie’s well-kept old farmhouse. Jack wasted no time
running to meet it, and Shadow scampered along behind him.
As the van rolled to a stop, Jack and Shadow were able to get a really good
look at it. It was quite unlike any vehicle they had ever seen before. Its
sides were painted bright blue, with pictures of snakes, lizards, and turtles
all over them. What kind of dog or cat could be in there?
Valerie heard the van, too, and walked over from the pet hotel to meet it.
“Hi,” she said, greeting the driver with a friendly handshake. “I’m Valerie,
and these are my pets, Jack and Shadow.”
The driver was a man with a long, curly brown beard. “I’m Tom,” he replied,
smiling. “Nice place you’ve got here. I’m glad to see that. I’m trusting you to
take very good care of Ribbit.”
As they watched, Tom opened up the back of the van and removed a glass
tank filled with colorful pebbles and a fake pond. There, resting on top of a
large, smooth rock was the fattest, greenest frog Jack and Shadow had ever
seen!
Ribbit peered through the glass of his terrarium and made a happy noise in
the back of his throat. “Hello, you two!” he croaked.
They turned to each other with a giggle. Some “Sphynx” Ribbit had turned
out to be! No wonder Valerie had acted so surprised on the phone. Who
would ever have guessed that the pet hotel’s newest guest would be a frog?
Thanksgiving at the Pet Hotel
Jack knew something was different the moment he woke up one bright, cold
November morning. Valerie had gotten up even earlier than usual, and a
delicious food aroma was wafting from the kitchen of the farmhouse.
Jack loved anything and everything to do with food! Leaping from his doggy
bed, he ran into the kitchen, jumping up on Valerie to kiss her good
morning.
Valerie patted the top of his furry head and laughed. “Good morning, Jack,”
she said. “I put your food and water bowls outside today because there’s
going to be a lot going on in here. Shadow’s already outside eating.”
Valerie took Jack out back, and sure enough, the gray kitten Shadow was
already eating her breakfast in the bright sunlight of the chilly day.
Jack watched Valerie go back into the house. Then he bounded over to
Shadow. “What’s going on here?” he asked in confusion. “Why do we have to
eat outside?”
Shadow shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “All I can say is, it’s a good
thing we’ve got thick fur coats to keep us warm. It’s cold out here!”
The two animals finished their breakfasts. Then they wandered around the
side of the farmhouse, pausing beneath the kitchen windows to try to figure
out what in the world Valerie was up to.
If possible, the kitchen smelled even more delicious now. Jack recognized
the aromas of meat and potatoes, but there were some other smells he
couldn’t identify quite as easily. Some were sweet, while others were savory.
“And a whole lot more!” added Jack. “Is today some special sort of day?”
From their spot beneath the window, Jack and Shadow could hear Valerie
walking back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room. They heard
the loud clank of plates and silverware, which was quite unusual, because
Valerie typically cooked for herself and ate off of paper plates.
A third vehicle, a pick-up truck, parked alongside Valerie’s front yard just
then.
Shadow’s eyes went wide. “That’s a lot of guests!” she cried. “Why are they
arriving all at once?”
But the guests turned out to be a different sort of guests than either of the
pets had expected. They weren’t guests for the pet hotel; they were guests
for Valerie! Dressed nicely and bearing plates of food, they clustered on the
front lawn and rang the doorbell.
Happily, Valerie hurried to meet them and welcomed them all inside.
“Valerie’s having a party!” Jack realized. Then he stared down at his feet.
“And we have to stay outside.”
Shadow thought for a moment. “Maybe we should visit the pet hotel guests,”
she suggested. “That might cheer us up.”
So the dog and the cat made their way toward the remodeled barn where
Valerie’s pet hotel was located. There, inside the cages, were three guests: a
big, friendly mutt; a fluffy border collie; and a fat, lazy cat with thick orange
fur. Jack and Shadow talked and laughed with them for a while.
Then Jack mentioned Valerie’s party. “I wish we were all invited,” he sighed.
“Especially the food part,” smiled the border collie, her eyes shining.
Just then, as if their wish had been granted, Valerie appeared in the
doorway of the pet hotel, carrying a covered tray. One by one, she opened
the cages and placed a special meal inside each one. Last of all, she gave
Jack and Shadow special meals of their own. Shadow was delighted that his
meal included bits of turkey and potatoes, and dab of tangy cranberry sauce.
“Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!” Valerie sang out happily. “I hope you all
have fun out here while I’m inside, celebrating with my own friends and
family.”
As soon as Valerie left, all the animals gleefully dug into their feasts. But
they still had one big question that none of them could answer.
“Did I hear you ask what Thanksgiving is?” a high-pitched voice piped from
just outside the barn.
The dogs and cats all turned in surprise to see a chipmunk standing there,
munching on an acorn. “I’m Chipper,” he said, “and I happened to catch a
bit of your conversation as I was walking by. I’ll tell you all about
Thanksgiving.”
Jack grinned at Shadow, and she grinned back. Jack was sure they were
both thinking the exact same thing: They had each other, they had Valerie,
and they had a wonderful home, food, shelter, and new friends arriving all
the time to stay at the pet hotel. It was a very happy Thanksgiving indeed!
Just for Fun Activity
Magazines or catalogues
Scissors
Construction paper (assorted colors)
Crayons or markers
Empty shoe box
Glue
Start by cutting out pictures of pets you like from old magazines or catalogs.
Next, glue the index cards around the inside of an empty shoebox.
Use the bottom of the shoe box to create a central eating or playing area
using drawings or pictures. If you have small plastic animals, this would be
the perfect space for them.
A: Slush puppies!
A: On scratch paper!
A: Santa Claws!
Q: What’s a dog’s favorite hobby?
A: Collecting fleas!
A: Catnip!
A: A bull dog!
A: RUFF!
Q: Which game did the cat want to play with the mouse?
A: Catch!
Q: Which dog can tell time?
A: A watchdog!
A: A good jumpurr!
A: In a cat-a-logue!
A: A catastrophe!
Q: What kind of dog is a human’s best friend?
A: A palmatian!
A: A paws!
A: A tennis ball!
A: A spelling bee!
Find the Differences #1
Find the Differences #2
Maze #1
Can you find your way through the maze?
Maze #2
Can you find your way through the maze?
Maze #3
Can you find your way through the maze?
Maze #4
Can you find your way through the maze?
Solutions
You Will Also Enjoy…
Uncle Amon began his career with a vision. It was to influence and create a
positive change in the world through children’s books by sharing fun and
inspiring stories.
“I always shoot for the moon. And if I miss? I’ll land in the stars.” -Uncle
Amon