Free The Last Dog on Earth by Daniel Ehrenhaft Page A

and rewarded her—so
obviously
she would think of him as her master.
    Of course, it would never occur to Robert that any creature could possibly consider Logan a master.
Robert
was the master. The All-Knowing Dictator of Everything. Period, infinity, until the end of time.
    * * *
    “We have to get rid of that dog,” Robert said one morning.
    Logan stopped chewing. He glanced down at Jack. She was sitting beside his chair, looking up at him with her bright eyes. Then he turned to Mom, who was concentrating very hard on buttering her toast. He put down his spoon and swallowed, his thoughts racing. Was this something about that dog disease?
    “Why?” he asked finally.
    “Because you aren't training her right,” Robert said. He glowered at Logan across the kitchen table. “I found bite marks in my tennis racket. Now I'm going to have to get a new one. You know how much a brand-new tennis racket costs?”
    Logan stared back at him, feeling a weird rush of both anger and relief. So this
wasn't
about the dog disease. He pushed aside his bowl. “Where did you leave the tennis racket?” he asked.
    “What does that have to do with anything?” Robert asked.
    “You just have to be careful, that's all,” Logan said. “If you leave things lying around, Jack will probably find them and chew on them. All puppies chew on things.”
    “Otis doesn't,” Robert said.
    Logan shot another quick glance at Mom. She was still hiding behind her toast. Typical. Well, maybe Logan would apply some of his dog-training techniques with Robert. He could ignore the guy. If he ignored Robert's stupid behavior, maybe Robert would stop acting like an idiot all the time. Anything was worth a shot.
    “Otis isn't a puppy,” Logan said. He stood and rinsed his cereal bowl. “Jack's still less than a year old. I've gotten her some chew toys, but she doesn't really like them.”
    “So how come she doesn't ruin
your
stuff ?” Robert asked.
    “She does,” Mom said. “Jack chewed up Logan's nice shoes.”
    Logan turned to Jack. She was still eyeing everyone's food.
Can you believe that?
he asked Jack silently.
Mom actually stuck up for me! Somebody should call that woman news reporter, pronto, because this is a great moment in history, far more important than any dumb disease; it is a milestone, and will probably never be repeated in our lifetimes.
    “Logan hates formal occasions,” Robert said. “He probably gave Jack those shoes on purpose so she could ruin them.”
    Mom didn't answer. Today, for whatever reason, she appeared to be fed up with Robert's stupidity as well.
    “Why is she so bad?” Robert demanded. “Huh, Logan? Why?”
    “Because she's a puppy,” Logan said. “She's only been with us six days. Not even. Six days this afternoon. She's bound to misbehave every now and then.”
    All of a sudden Jack hopped up on Logan's chair and started sniffing the table.
    “No!” Robert shouted. His face turned red. “No! Get off ! Bad girl! No—”
    “Down,” Logan commanded. His tone was calm and firm.
    Jack turned at the sound of his voice. She jumped off the chair and trotted over to him.
    “Good girl,” Logan said. He patted her head and pulled the LMSCG from his back pocket. With his free hand he fished a few bacon bits from his front pocket and fed them to her. He squeezed the trigger as she licked his fingers:
Brrriiing!
    Robert shook his head. “This is exactly what I'm talking about,” he said. “The jumping up on chairs, the—”
    “What?” Mom cried. She slammed down her butter knife with a clatter. “Logan got the dog to
stop
jumping on the chair! Isn't that what you wanted? What's your problem, Robert?
I
think Logan'sdoing a good job with the dog. And I'd appreciate it if you started leaving him alone.”
    Robert and Logan both gaped at her for a moment.
    “My property is being destroyed,” Robert said stiffly.
    Jack barked at him.
    “Your tennis racket is
our
property,” Mom said. “We're a family,