Every pet finds a family. Every family finds a pet, and they all live happily ever after, together. I’m here to tell you about how I found my family, and how they found me. Well... are you ready to hear it?


I’ll start as early as I can remember. It was a summer day, and it was so hot. I was only a little puppy, I don’t know how old, but I hardly knew the world. Life had been good so far; the little girl always played with me, my sister did too, and every day was a new adventure, life was so fun!

But, what I didn’t know was that hot day would not be a normal day of playing and sleeping. I was resting on the floor when I overheard the big humans talking.

“I’m sorry,” one of them said, “but you know we can’t take care of a bunch of puppies.”

The other human looked sad. “I know. But what will we do with them?”

“Maybe the vet can put them down. Or we can take them to the pound, or…”

I stopped listening to the people when the girl next to me gasped. She looked upset about something. I don’t know what, but I licked her hand to make her feel better.

Later, when it was dark everywhere and all the people slept, the little girl appeared by my bed.

There was some kind of strange water leaking out of her eyes. Now I know that she was crying, because she was very sad. I think she was unhappy with what the big humans had been talking about earlier.

She stroked my back and whispered, “They want to get rid of you, little puppy,” she sniffed. “But I don’t want you to get hurt.”

The girl gently picked up my sister and I, and carried us to the back door of her house. The door opened, and I remember the crisp, cold air of that summer night.

“Mindy!” A voice rang from down the hall. “Are you letting the puppies out? You know we were going to take them to the--”

The girl--Mindy, I think--pushed my sister and I out into the wide fields behind her house. “Run,” she whispered. “Run until you’re so far away, they’ll never find you, not in a million years. Because if you stay, they’ll take you somewhere bad. So run, little puppies.”

I wanted to stay, and comfort the girl, but the big humans came, and they looked scary and mad. So I ran, like she said to, and my sister followed me. We ran for a long time, and i think we got really far away. Then, we slept through the night, huddled together against the wind, buried underneath the tall, tall grass, and waited for the day to come.


I woke up from the bright light and hot sun on my face. I stood up, already panting, the grass becoming itchy and uncomfortable. My sister was panting, too, and we were both so hungry. But there was no girl to feed us scraps this morning. And so we wandered through the wide field, walking slowly through the long grass and dry dirt.

While we walked, I thought a lot about the girl. What was she trying to protect us from? Why did we have to leave?

My sister didn’t know why. But I don’t think she cared. I cared, because I liked the girl. I still wonder where she is now.

We walked for ages, only becoming hungrier. There was no turkey meat on the sidewalk, no stray meatballs in the dirt.

Sometimes, there was water in the gutter, and my sister and I lapped it up, savoring the murky, muddy liquid, because it was the only water we could find.

One day, we were taking a nap in the shade of a tall tree when a man knelt in the grass beside us. I was so hot and exhausted that I only heard some of what he was saying. Something about poor little puppies, a shelter, and a home. He gently picked up me in one arm and my sister in the other--we were so small, the man could easily carry us--and walked to his big blue car.

I guess I fell asleep in the car, because I woke up in a woman’s arms. She was walking through all these hallways. We came through a door into a room with a table in the center. I was placed in the middle of the table, and as soon as I turned around to look for my sister, I felt a strange poke, and everything went black.


I woke up again in a cage. The first thing I noticed was the pain near the lower part of my stomach. The second thing I noticed was the plastic thing around my face. No matter how I twisted, I couldn’t itch or lick the pain that was bothering me. And wow, did it hurt!

I noticed a third thing; that there were many more cages. In fact, I was in whole room full of cages, and each cage contained a barking, whining, or yipping dog. I padded to the front of my cage to look for my sister. I quickly saw her, sleeping in a cage a few feet away from mine. She also had a thing around her face.

I was worried for her, and a little for me, too. This new place was scary, and they hurt me somehow. I walked in circles around my cage, then soon fell asleep, despite the noise of all the other dogs.


“Kyle? Kenny? Kaleb?” I opened my eyes to see two humans standing right in front of my cage.

“What’s with the K’s?” one of them asked the other. What’s with the names?

“Each day, we choose a letter. That letter is the first letter of all the names we give the new animals on that day. Don’t you know anything?”

The human gave the other a mean look. “You know I’m new here. How about Kipper?” Then it dawned on me. They were coming up with a name for me.

“Oh, that’s a good one. Maybe Kismet for the girl?” Did they mean my sister?

“Ok. That’s weird, but ok,” The human nodded. “Kipper and Kismet it is. I’ll go write it down.” The human walked out the door.

The other person knelt in front of my cage. “Hey, Kipper,” Kipper. That’s my name now. “We’re gonna find you a home real soon, ok?” He reached through the cage and pet my head, then mumbled something about how he should’ve given me a bath before the surgery. I licked his fingers. I hope he knows that I meant to say thanks.


It had been a few days since I got my name, and already some humans had come and left, taking dogs with them. I didn’t think it would happen to me anytime soon when the woman who named me walked up to my sister’s cage, another lady following her.

I watched intently as they talked. Eventually, they turned to me. “This is her brother, Kipper. We found the two of them alone in a field.”

I stood as the lady bent down in front of my cage. She looked nice, and smelled nice, too. She pet me through the cage and around the thing that was still wrapped on my head.

“He has the cone from his surgery. If you adopt him, he’ll need to wear it for a few weeks before he can take it off, have a bath and get his fur cut.” Wait. A bath?

The other lady nodded. “He’s so cute, my kids will love him. Is there some kind of way I can reserve him and bring my family on the weekend?”

The two women talked for a bit, then got up and left the room. I could feel my tail wagging behind me. I love kids! I was so hopeful that the lady would take me home, and I eagerly awaited when she would come.

Only a day later, the lady was back! This time she brought a man, a girl and a little boy. The kids were glancing nervously at the big dogs and little dogs in cages around them. The lady pointed right at me, directing the girl’s and the boy’s stares to my long dirty fur and cone.

The lady pet me again, and spoke to her kids, “Isn’t he so cute?”

The girl nodded at her mom, and reached an arm out to pet me. In response, I licked her hand, and she giggled. The boy came over and began to pet me, too. They were so nice!

The lady turned to another lady behind her. “Can we take him to another room?”

“Of course,” the other lady said. She opened the door to my cage and led me and the new family to another room.

The parents and kids sat on the floor, and I trotted over to them. The kids were so much fun, and they were so good at petting! They let me lick them, which was great, because I love to lick people.

After a long, long time of playing, the man turned to his kids. “Do you want to bring him home with us?”

The two children didn’t hesitate to decide. “YEAH!”

And that was it. The parents had to do some legal-signing-papers-paying-money stuff, but the kids kept petting me. I was so excited!

“Ok, he’s yours!” The adoption lady smiled. “Would you like to write his name on the list of animals adopted this week?”

The girl nodded, and eagerly scribbled something on a big whiteboard. I can’t read, but I know it said Kipper.


And that is my story! I still live with them, my family, in their big house. I love them all so much, and I’m so happy they chose to take me home that day.

Sometimes, the family leaves, and I go to the neighbors’. And most days, the boy and girl go to “uggh school,” and the man goes to work, and the woman goes on errands.

Sometimes, they get mad at me, for throwing up on the sidewalk, or peeing in the house, or picking at the carpet until it comes out, or eating a bagel.

But, every time they leave, they come back. And every time they’re mad, they say sorry and give me a hug.
Because they love me, and I love them. Because they’re my family.