Monty the Pound Pup

By Fiona Crotty-Smith

Monty is a pup in the pound who is looking for his forever home.

Everyday, people walk through a white door and look at all of the dogs in their cages. They are there to choose a dog and give it a forever home.

However, no matter how lovely and friendly Monty is being, he can't find one for himself.
Follow Monty's journey as he tries his hardest

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publicious Book Publishing
• Release date: Oct 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9780994176417

Book preview

Chapter 1

Monty was the most beautiful pup you could ever meet, but for some reason or another he was at the pound.

The pound was a cold and scary place for pups. There were lots of dogs at the pound and it was always very noisy. It wasn’t the most comfortable place either. The floor was hard cement and apart from one small rug, there was nowhere soft to curl up. And for the older dogs, there was nowhere for them to run around when they had a lot of energy.

Monty was only young, but he had been at the pound for most of his short life. This was a mystery, as it had become apparent that he was such a lovely and friendly boy. Monty loved other dogs, but he especially loved people. However, people were often scared of him because of the way he looked. This was because Monty looked more like his father, who was a purebred Staffordshire Bull Terrier. And, just like his father, Monty had a big triangular shaped head and small round eyes. He also had a broad, solid chest, which made him look fierce, but he was actually very gentle and loving.

People would often call Monty ugly, which of course wasn’t true. Monty was handsome in his own way. He had black spots all over his short, white coat and a distinguished black patch over his right eye and ear. He would often be called Spotty or Patch, because of the markings on his coat, but he liked the name Monty much more.

When Monty first arrived at the pound, he was put in a big cage with lots of other pups. But now that he was three months old, he was moved to a smaller cage in a different section of the pound. In this section, there were rows and rows of cages with a dog in each one. And on each cage hung a clipboard with a description of the dog that was in it. It explained their personality and temperament and what type of family they would suit.

When Monty was put into his new, much smaller cage, he was incredibly nervous. He didn’t know why he was there or why he had been moved. Monty sat there shivering with fear as he didn’t know what to expect. To help take his mind off things, he started to look at all of the dogs in the other cages. There were so many of them. There were short ones, tall ones, young ones and old ones. Some had short fur and some had long fur. And they all had different coloured coats. Monty noticed that most of the dogs, like him, were mixed/ cross breeds. This is what Monty was known as because his parents were different breeds. Monty remembered how his father was the Bull Terrier and his mother was an Australian Cattle Dog. And because Monty looked more like his father, he was known as a Bull Terrier cross.

As Monty sat in his cage, his mind drifted off to his mother and his many brothers and sisters. His memories were starting to fade, but he fondly recalled playing with them for hours until they all fell asleep snuggled up to each other.

They had lived in a shed and Monty remembered a tall, young man coming to the shed every day to check on them. His mother was very fond of the tall young man and she called him her caretaker. The caretaker would tell Monty’s mother that she was a beautiful dog. Monty liked the young man, but he wanted his very own caretaker. He just didn’t know how to get one.

Chapter 2

Monty knew from a young age that he and his brothers and sisters would one day be separated and taken to live with different families. At first, this had worried him because he wanted them to stay together. But, even though his mother was sad to see them go, she had a dream that each one of her pups would go to kind and loving homes. This had made Monty feel better, but now that he was at the pound, he wasn’t so sure that this would happen for him.

Monty was deep in thought when he saw a man with short, blond hair walk past his cage. He had seen him before, but only briefly. The man had come into the puppy section a couple of times to look at the pups, but he didn’t stay for long. Monty watched the blond man turn a corner, and then he was gone. Monty couldn’t see him anymore, so he turned his attention back to the other dogs. He thought he would try and talk to one of them. He looked across to a cage that was opposite his. There was an older, female dog in there. She was a Rottweiler cross. She was sitting there quietly, even though a lot of the other dogs were barking. Monty wagged his tail.

I’m Monty, he told her.

But before he could ask her what her name was, he heard a huge commotion. Monty was startled.

It’s okay, said the Rottweiler cross, a dog further down has just been taken out of his cage and everyone is excited for him.

Why? asked Monty.

Well, she said, he is going to be adopted.

What does that mean? Monty asked, intrigued.

He listened intently as the Rottweiler spoke of kind and caring people coming to the pound. She explained how every day people would walk through a white door and look at all of the dogs. The Rottweiler turned her head towards the white door. Monty followed her gaze. He could see it easily from his cage.

The Rottweiler told him how sometimes people would choose a dog that they liked. And when they had chosen one, they would go to the front counter and ‘adopt’ that dog. This is what the people at the pound called it, she said. She explained how it meant giving a dog, or a puppy, a second chance of finding a family that loved them. The people would then take their adopted