Madison’s New Buddy

Madison’s Plan

For the next visit to the shelter, Madison has decided on a new plan. Perhaps reading isn’t the key to getting through to Buddy at all. Jasmine, Sofia, and Keiko take their seats next to their dogs while Madison waits for Mrs. Wallace to take her back to see Buddy. Keiko dives right in reading a book of silly poems. Madison is in awe of Keiko’s reading—she never stumbles, or has to slow down to sound something out. Will Madison ever read as well as Keiko?

Mrs. Wallace leads Madison to the back, and Madison asks Mrs. Wallace if she can take Buddy to the playroom. Mrs. Wallace is hesitant. She thinks Buddy really would prefer the comfort of his cage right now. Madison promises that Buddy will get comfortable with her, but she thinks he needs a little play time first.

Finally, Mrs. Wallace consents. Buddy hasn’t shown any aggression since arriving, so it’ll be okay for them to have a few minutes playing together. But, Madison can’t forget her project is to read to the dog.

Mrs. Wallace helps Madison get Buddy out of his cage and into the play room. June stays in the play room with Madison just in case. The first thing Buddy does is run to the corner of the room and cower, his ears and tail sagging. Madison coos to him that he doesn’t need to be afraid of her.

Madison unzips her backpack and pulls out a lime-green tennis ball. She tosses it to Buddy, who lifts his head to watch it spinning across the floor. Madison picks up the ball and rolls it toward him, but it seems to make him more nervous. Shrugging, Madison reaches into her bag and pulls out a bone specially made for young dogs. Maybe Buddy’s teeth are bothering him. But Buddy’s reaction to the bone is the same as the ball.

Madison turns to June and asks if it’s okay to feed him a few T-R-E-A-T-S. June agrees that it’s okay, just not to give him too many. Madison pulls out a baggie filled with chicken-flavored dog treats. She plops a few into her palm and holds her hand out to Buddy. He sniffs, but turns away. Every time she inches closer, he shrinks farther back.

Madison creeps closer and closer to Buddy, and drops a treat on the floor. Then, she steps a few paces back and drops another. She continues until there’s a trail of treats along the floor leading straight to Madison. Buddy sniffs at the piece closest to him. He seems suspicious, but eventually gobbles the treat. Slowly, Buddy makes his way across the floor, eating treat after treat. With each bite, he looks a little less scared.

Soon, he’s standing right next to Madison, looking up at her. Madison holds up her hand with one more treat in it. Watching her cautiously, Buddy sniffs the treat in Madison’s palm, grabs it, and brings it back across the room to eat it. Madison is beaming. She has finally started to gain Buddy’s trust.

When it’s time for Madison to reconvene with the rest of her classmates, she cheerfully exclaims that Buddy finally let her get closer to him. Sofia is impressed. Buddy was so shy before. Madison explained she didn’t actually read to him at all, but he’s beginning to think of Madison as a friend.

Mrs. Wallace agrees that is progress. They’d had some people interested in Buddy, but when they see how fearful he is, they change their minds. Jasmine nervously asks what happens if Buddy isn’t adopted. Will they need to put Buddy to sleep?

Mrs. Wallace shakes her head. Her shelter is a no-kill shelter, meaning Buddy can live at the shelter as long as he needs to. Jasmine sighs in relief. But Mrs. Wallace explains that living at the shelter isn’t the same as having a loving, forever home. Madison thinks about her new home with Mom, Leo, and Pepper, and she vows she’s going to do whatever she can to help him.