Nala and Smokey : Teamwork

Two dogs named Nala and Smokey were going on a walk with their human.

Nala was leading. She always led. But Smokey was tired of following Nala, so she decided to follow a scent she did not recognize.

Following the interesting smell, Smokey found a bush. It was hard and bristly. Then in the corner of her eye, she saw the bush move! Slowly, Smokey moved towards the bristly bush to investigate.

Nala was ahead of Smokey, and she thought she was leading everybody. But she turned around to see everyone had stopped! Nala barked to let her human know it was time to keep moving.

When the human didn’t follow her, Nala barked at Smokey. “What’s the hold up?”

Smokey stopped investigating. “Oh, Nothing.” She wanted to keep her secret to herself.

But the bush moved again! And Smokey charged under it, crawling on her belly as fast as she could, just like a baby.

Nala ran to the bristly bush. “What did you find?”

Smokey barked out an answer. “I don’t know. It is small, fuzzy and has long ears.”

“Oh, that sounds like a rabbit! They are fun to chase.” Nala liked to chase anything that moved, especially the evil squirrel that teased her all the time at home.

But Smokey said, “I don’t think it wants me to chase it. It looks scared.”
She looked at the shaking bunny. “What’s wrong little rabbit?”

The little rabbit whimpered very sadly. Smokey backed away so it wouldn’t be so scared.

The little rabbit darted out of the bush! Running so fast that Smokey wanted to chase it so bad. But the rabbit was small, just like Smokey, and she knew it was scared. And Smokey didn’t want to make the little rabbit more scared.

The little rabbit stopped running in the middle of a neighbor’s yard and rested. Its tiny heart was beating so fast that its furry feet shook.

“My,” Nala said, “that rabbit is small! It must be a baby rabbit. But where is its mother? Maybe the baby is lost.”

Smokey asked, “How can we find its mother?”

“Silly,” said Nala, “with our noses, of course.”

“Good idea,” said Smokey. “I’ll ask our human for help.”

Smokey looked up at her human and barked. But he just smiled at her. Then Smokey got up on her hind legs and waved her forepaws as fast as she could. But now the human just looked confused. Smokey’s human thought she was begging, so he patted Smokey’s head.

”I think our human wants to find the little rabbit’s mommy,” said Smokey, “but it’s hard to tell. Humans aren’t so bright.”

Nala caught a scent, and yelped, “This way!”

“Wait,” said Smokey, “What about the baby?”

“You stand on one side of the bunny, and I’ll stand on the other.” Nala answered. “Then we can herd the little rabbit home to its mommy.”

“Good idea!” Nala was so smart, Smokey thought. I wouldn’t know what to do with out her.

So Nala and Smokey made their way to the mother’s nest with the baby rabbit, all by following Nala’s nose. But then, Nala heard a familiar chirping noise.

Oh no, thought Smokey, it’s the evil squirrel! Nala can never resist chasing him.

The squirrel was clinging to the side of a tree, watching Nala and twitching his tail. He threw an acorn at the dog, just to get on her nerves.

Nala snarled and ran to the squirrel’s tree. She started barking for the evil squirrel to go away, and trying to jump up to get it.

But the scared little baby rabbit took this chance to run into another neighbor’s backyard.

“Oh no!” said Smokey, and she chased the rabbit.

But just when Smokey thought she had lost site of the little rabbit for good, she saw its mother in her nest, with the baby rabbit and its brothers and sisters hugging each other.

“Oh please don’t chase us,” the mother rabbit said to Smokey. “My baby was lost and just came home.”

Smokey said, “Oh, I won’t chase you, my sister and I were just trying to get your baby to go home. My sister would be here, but she is busy with the evil squirrel!”

The mother rabbit was happy. “Oh, thank you! However did you get my baby home? She’s too young to know animal speak.”

“Oh,” Smokey said, “with teamwork.”

“Okay girls, it’s time to go in,” called Smokey and Nala’s human.

Nala stopped barking and walked slowly to follow her human. Smokey walked by her side and went in to rest from their exciting day.