Dawn and the Disappearing Dogs (M#7)

Original Publication Date: 1993

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

Dawn gets a weekend pet-sitting job at the Mancusis' and their Great Dane goes missing (flashbacks of Buddy Barrett, anyone?). Understandably, Dawn feels awful, just as anyone would. Then MORE dogs start disappearing, including the Thomas-Brewers' Shannon the Bernese Mountain Dog. The BSC is on the case!

Dawn and the others manage to track down a car Dawn had seen circling before the dog was stolen, and they turn the evidence over to the police, who seem dismissive. Dawn, thinking she should be informed of every step of a an on-going investigation, checks up the lead, but is told not to worry, the car belongs to a rich man, Karl Tate. Dawn doesn't trust the police officer's assessment, maybe because of the cavalier attitude of discussing this with a minor...Eventually, the find that the new pet shop has been working with Tate (who was actually in financial trouble) to steal pets to fill special orders. While at a softball game, Dawn sees one of the stolen dogs in a field, and the theft ring unravels from there. To his credit, the formerly abrupt-though-way-to-free-with-information police officer is quick to acknowledge Dawn's persistence. The dogs are safe! (no softball pun intended)


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Twix, Three Musketeers

Dawn's a vegetarian because she doesn't like the taste of red meat, not because she feels sorry for the cow. Yeah, I'll remember that when you start berating people for eating cow carcasses, Dawn.

The Krashers softball team forms from combining players of the Bashers and Krushers to play a softball team in a nearby town (Stoneybrook wins).


Their Families:

A point that's been brought up before:it's often noted that it's a good thing Kristy lives in a mansion, because when (and only when) Karen and Andrew are over, her family has ten people and OhMyGoshHowCouldTheyAllFitOtherwise. But Mallory's family has ten people also, full-time! Kristy's has more pets, especially since Sarge the cat disappeared, but still...


The Club:

The Mancusis have added an iguana to their menagerie. Jessi's experiences pet-sitting for them are accurately recalled in this book.

The Mancusis' Great Dane, Cheryl, understand what the spelled-out "W-A-L-K" means, like my dog did! She would get so excited, my dad switched to saying he was going to take Shadow out for a Chinese cooking utensil (wok). Eventually, Shadow learned that, too.


SMS: nothing new


PSA Time:

If you take guinea pigs or other rodents out of their cages for any reason, watch them to be sure they don't go chewing on wires. Electricity+tiny things+potential for animals being stuck in tight place=not good. To prove this point, my eight-and-a-half-month wide-awake-at-11:30 daughter is trying to get the laptop's power cord. (She won't fall asleep no matter what, so I'm resigned to having her play in bed in hopes that she'll wear herself out and drift off. Any typos are her fault.)


Misc:

Nothing can ever be "most unique." It's either one of a kind or it isn't. It's like being most first place in a race.

Dawn admits she can't remember the difference between macaws and other large, colorful birds, but I do! Macaws have no feathers around their eyes. For example, on a scarlet macaw (the red ones with the rainbow tails) the white patches around their eyes are skin, not white feathers. Thank you, Rachel T. at Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah, WA.

I think it's funny how the BSC almost acts like ONLY five-year-olds can be silly, Trust me, twenty-seven-year-olds have their ridiculous moments, too.

So, if the thieves were stealing purebred dogs to sell, do you think they faked the paperwork, too? They'd pretty much have to, to prove the dogs were pedigreed, right? I wonder how difficult that would be in 1993.

Done. Almost half past midnight...the baby finally fell asleep ten minutes ago, tired out from playing with a stuffed Stegosaurus.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 4

Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2

Summers after 8th grade: 3

BSC Fights: 8

SMS Staff and Faculty: 32

Students (other than the BSC): 96; 63 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 12 unspecified

Clients: 29

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 65 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Devil Dogs, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, Goobers, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milk Duds, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)

Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)