The Sausage Dog of Doom! by Michael Broad

Yappy to See You
    Running towards the exit with their hands pressed over their ears, the visitors to the Pooch Pound couldn’t leave fast enough. They passed Poppy, who was spinning in
circles and snapping at her tail, Butch, who was howling, growling and frothing at the mouth, and Rocket, who was barking at the top of his lungs. But as the family fled the kennels and the warden
closed the door behind them, only one dog could still be heard above the din.

    barked the mini dachshund in the fourth kennel as he raced around on his tiny legs. Oscar was only small, but his voice was so loud
and high-pitched that it bounced off the bare brick walls and rattled the metal bars.

    ‘That’s the fifth family he’s seen off today!’ yelled Poppy, ceasing her tail-chasing and folding her ears down to block out some of the noise. ‘He’ll never
be rehomed if he keeps this up!’
    ‘He’s hardly stopped yapping since he arrived this morning!’ yelled Butch, wiping the drool from his mouth and pulling his blanket over his head to muffle the sound. ‘If
he carries on, that sausage dog will put me off sausages for life!’

    ‘Really?’ gasped Poppy, knowing how much the bulldog loved food, and sausages in particular.
    ‘No, probably not,’ Butch admitted.
    As the racket continued, the two dogs looked helplessly at Rocket, knowing he was the only one who could silence the dachshund. The big brown mutt nodded for his kennel mates to cover their
ears, then he leaned forward and took a long, deep breath.

    Rocket boomed.
    The volume of the blast snapped the sausage dog out of his yapping frenzy, but he was only silent for a few seconds before he turned towards the other dogs and started wagging his tail
enthusiastically.
    ‘That last family will be taking me home for sure!’ yapped Oscar. ‘Did you see how quickly they rushed out of here to tell the warden they want me?’
    ‘We saw them running,’ Poppy said, frowning.
    ‘They were definitely in a hurry,’ Butch added uncertainly.
    ‘I don’t think they’ll be coming back again, Oscar,’ Rocket added kindly. ‘We told you when you arrived that the people who come to the Pooch Pound usually go for
the quieter dogs.’

    gasped Oscar, yapping three times at the thought of it. ‘And I’m quite small and low down, so they probably wouldn’t see me if I didn’t get their
attention.’

    said Rocket.
    ‘You three always make a racket when the families arrive,’ said Oscar, eyeing them suspiciously. ‘Maybe you don’t want them to notice me so they’ll pick one of you
instead.’
    ‘We wouldn’t do that,’ said Rocket.
    ‘We can’t let anyone take us home,’ said Poppy. ‘Not yet, anyway.’
    ‘That’s why we go bonkers when the visitors come,’ said Butch.
    ‘Why should I believe you?’ said Oscar, remembering his last home with sadness. ‘All dogs want a family who will love them and look after them even if they yap when
they’re left alone all day. I don’t see what makes you three so different.’

    said Rocket.

    yapped Oscar.

    yapped Oscar, and because he wasn’t getting any answers he continued to yap, yap, yap in the background while the three dogs decided on the best course of action.
    ‘It’s the only way he’ll trust us,’ explained Rocket, tilting his head at the sound of the warden’s squeaky new boots as he locked up the Pooch Pound for the night.
‘And if he makes a racket when we leave, someone might investigate and find us three missing.’
    Poppy and Butch nodded in agreement and began clearing away chew toys and bowls, before bunching up their blankets and taking a seat in the centre of their kennels.

    ‘YAP?’ yapped the dachshund, wondering what was going on.
    ‘Move into the middle of your kennel,Oscar,’ said Rocket, turning away to swipe his collar, which made its spikes light up around his neck. ‘This is Rocket calling the Dogstar ,’ he said. ‘Come in, Dogstar .’
    ‘Hello, Captain,’ said the