Chapter Text

Henry was a lovable Dachshund. Sure, he got into a lot of trouble, but his owners still loved him.  Why would they not, since he licked them and would fetch things for them?   He was curious as to why they were so lazy that when they threw something, they always expected him to be the one to go get it.  Why couldn't they get what they had tossed away?   Humans were strange!

His owners, Nate and Sarah, had had a baby recently.  That left him receiving less attention.  This made him upset.  He attempted to regain their attentions by chewing Nate's shoes, nice dress shoes too, ruining the cord to Sarah's cellphone, pooping on the couch, and peeing on the welcome mat in front of the door.  All of these certainly got his owners's attention, but not the kind of attention that he was hoping for. 

He was locked in his pen twice and sentenced to be outside in the fenced yard.  He'd tried to dig his way under the fence, so that he could explore East Greenville, but Nate had caught him before he could squeeze through and had.filked the hole back up.  

At least the baby, Everleigh, gave him attention.  However, she didn't do much, just sat there.  She often cried a lot too.  At least she held still so that he could lick her face. 

"You know, Henry's unhappy," Nate remarked to Sarah one morning. 

"Yes, I've noticed.  But what can we do about it?" she asked.

"He wants more attention."

"We have a baby to attend to."

"I know. But maybe he needs a friend."

"Yes, I suppose that he does.  You think we can afford a new dog?"

"I think so.  It may mean not going out to eat as much the next two to three months, but we can certainly afford a new dog."

"What kind should we get?"

"Another Dachshund, of course."

"How about we get one from that new animal rescue shelter on eighth street?"

"Great idea."

The two picked up a Dachshund, one that was a puppy and half Henry's age.  His name was Toby.   When they brought Toby home, Henry stared at him.  Yes, he'd been hoping for a new dog, but he'd been hoping for a girl, for obvious reasons.  What would this dog be like?  Would he steal away the affections of the family?  Would they be friends or enemies?  One thing was for sure, his life would never be the same.