Mindy Kim and the Birthday Puppy by Lyla Lee

Author:Lyla Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2020-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Monday I had to go back to school. Saying good-bye to Theodore was so hard! I gave him a big hug before Dad and I left the house.

“He’ll be fine, Mindy. Don’t worry,” said Dad. “You’ll be back home before you know it.”

When I started closing the bathroom door, Theodore lay down on the floor and stared up at me with sad eyes.

“I’ll be back soon, buddy,” I said. “I promise!”

The school day seemed really long, a thousand billion times longer than usual. I kept staring at the clock on the classroom wall.

During lunch, everyone who was at my birthday party asked me about my puppy.

“What did you name him?” Dill wanted to know.

“Theodore!”

“Theodore?” Dill asked. “Why did you name him that?”

I shrugged. “He looked like a Theodore! Kind of like Teddy Roosevelt.”

Everyone at my table giggled.

“Well, I think the name is perfect and cute,” Sally said. I could always count on her to have my back! “How is potty training going?”

I told my friends all about my weekend with Theodore.

“You should give him peanut butter when he’s a good boy!” said Dill. “Dogs love peanut butter!”

“But don’t give him chocolate. It’s poisonous.”

“Get a bell chain and hang it on the doorknob so he can ring the bell whenever he needs to go potty outside!”

Everyone had such good tips! But then some people had really silly suggestions like:

“Throw him in the water and it’ll teach him how to swim!”

“Wear a mask and run around while chasing him!”

The boys who suggested this laughed and high-fived each other.

Sally rolled her eyes. “Ugh,” she said. “Don’t listen to them. They’re just being silly.”

My friends who couldn’t make it to my party said they wanted to see what Theodore looked like. I promised I would bring pictures for our next “What’s New with You?” show-and-tell!

After school, Eunice picked me up and drove me back to my house. I was bouncing up and down in my seat during the entire car ride.

Eunice laughed. “I was like that when we first got Oliver, too! The first day away is always hard.”

Oliver the Maltese is Eunice’s dog. He and I are buddies, even though he only pays attention to me when I have food.

When we arrived, Theodore was so glad to see me that he peed on the floor!

“Gross!” Eunice exclaimed. “It’s okay. A lot of puppies do that. Hopefully, he’ll grow out of it.”

After we cleaned up the mess, we got Theodore’s leash so we could take him out for a walk. Eunice told me to pack some treats before we left.

“What do we need those for?” I asked.

Eunice smiled. “You’ll see.”

Theodore wasn’t good at walking with a leash yet. His little legs moved so fast that they became a blur. He tugged and tugged until he coughed because the collar was choking him.

“No, boy, slow down! You’re choking yourself!” I said. “Slow down!”

“Here, let me,” said Eunice. “The trick is to stop whenever he pulls and only keep going when he calms down. It

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