"Dudley Dachshund And The Canine And Cat Crime Watch"

"Oh boy! It's a beautiful day for the first meeting of the Canine Crime Watch." Grinned Dudley Dachshund.

Dudley heads up the neighborhood crime watch along with all his friends. There had been some crimes in the area recently and everyone was getting tired of putting up with it. All the dogs in the neighborhood got together and decided they would do the job the people couldn't. They would stop this nonsense quickly...they thought.

"Okay Guys, Listen up. Order! Order! Dudley yelled.

"As you know this is the first meeting of the Canine Crime Watch. We want to do our best to stop all the phooey that has been going on lately." Dudley stated. "We all are getting blamed for things we didn't do and it's time we put a stop to it. There has been a stray in the neighborhood knocking over trash cans, terrorizing everyone's cats, trying to catch wild birds and stealing food right out of our bowls."

As Dudley had said the stray was doing it all and the family pets were getting the blame for it. It seemed every day some pet's master shook his finger in his pet's face scolding him for something he didn't do. How humiliating...enough's enough!

"Okay Guys, roll call!" Dudley hollered.

This was a rowdy bunch and each one had a mind of his own. It took a dog like Dudley to head up a group like this. His owner is a retired army sergeant so Dudley grew up learning about discipline and how to use it. When the crowd settled down Dudley began roll call.

"Barney Beagle?"

"Here!" Barney yelled as he scratched a flea.

"Chico Chihuahua?"

"Present, Senor." Said Chico as loudly as his squeaky voice would let him.

"Pierre Poodle?"

"I am here, Monsieur Dachshund." He answered in his French accent.

"Sam Shepherd?"

"Here!" Sam hollered. He was used to roll call from his police dog days.

"Ronnie Rottweiler?"

"Here!" Ronnie yelled as the crowd got quiet.

The crowd always got quiet when Ronnie spoke. His breed of dog commands respect from their peers.

"Okay, everyone is here." Dudley yelled so the guys in the back could hear.

"Our first order of business is to organize a schedule of patrols in the neighborhood." Dudley stated. "Who wants to volunteer for the first patrol, ever, of the Canine Crime Watch?"

"Come on, let's see a show of paws out there, guys, somebody has to be first." He told them.

"Okay Sam, you and Ronnie will take the first patrol starting tonight. Sam, you will patrol the north and east sides of town. Ronnie, you will patrol the south and west...any questions?" He asked.

"Okay then, look for anything suspicious." He ordered them. "You know, toppled trash cans, strange noises...whatever."

"Next order of business is whether or not we should allow cats in the crime watch. Personally, I don't think they can do the job but it's not for me to decide alone." He commented. "Anyone else have anything to say about it?"

"Chico, you have the floor." Dudley told him.

"Thank you, Senor Dudley." Chico shyly said.

"I will speak in English, I know you all don't understand Spanish." He commented.

"As you all know, my master has a cat as well as myself. His name is Simon Siamese and he wanted me to speak on his and the other cat's behalf. They want to do something to help stop all this too. It seems they are getting blamed for things as well as the dogs."

"Like what, Chico?" Dudley asked. "Bye the way...your English is getting much better." He told him.

"Thank you, Senor." He said as his face turned red from embarrassment.

"Senor Simon says the cats are being blamed for terrorizing Senora Smith's wild birds." He stated. "He swears they aren't the ones doing it, I believe him, Senor."

"Okay Chico, sit down. We'll take a vote...all in favor of letting the cats join the crime watch raise his paw." Dudley ordered.

"One, two, three, four...well, it looks like I've been out voted already. Cats will be allowed to the next meeting of the Canine...well, I guess we'll have to call it the Canine and Cats Crime Watch now." Dudley mumbled under his breath.

It was no secret, everyone knew it. Dudley had no use for cats. He had a couple of bad experiences involving cats in his younger days. He assumed all cats were as menacing as those. No sir....he had no use for cats.

"Chico, tell Simon and his friends the meetings are the first Saturday of every month. I don't believe it...cats in the club. What's next...raccoons?" He was mumbling as he turned to see if there was any other business.

"That's it then...the first meeting of the Canine...and Cats...Crime Watch is now over." He declared.

"Everyone is welcome to eat before they leave. We have a selection of dog biscuits, soup bones, kibbles and dry dog food...help yourselves. I guess next month we'll have to scatter kitty litter all over the floor!" He muttered.

Ronnie and Sam started their patrols about dusk. It was going to be a long night and they knew it. With everything that had been going on lately Sam wondered if two dogs would be enough on one shift.

"One dog will be enough when I'm on the job!" Ronnie roared.

"Let's get started...see ya in the morning, Sam." He grumbled.

Honestly, when that dog spoke it seemed like the ground shook. His voice alone is enough to scare you even if you never saw him.

Sam took off in one direction and Ronnie took off in the other. Sam had some training in his youth as a police dog so he remembered a few tactics he thought he would try first.

Yeah, those were the good old days, Sam thought. I probably would be still with the department if I hadn't messed up my hind leg chasing that criminal.

Sam was a fine example of a working police dog but when he was chasing a criminal he stumbled over a cinder block in the dark and twisted his leg. He still has a bit of a limp, not so much you would notice but enough to keep him from any future active duty.

He was a proud dog and he didn't like the idea much of the police department having to find him a good home. His master is a good man and, over the years, Sam learned how to be a pet instead of a police dog. It wasn't easy though, he was used to working for his keep.

I'll save myself a lot of leg work and hide under these bushes awhile, he thought. I can see everything happening on this corner but nobody can see me. In the department it was known as a stake out.

In the few minutes he was there he saw Mr. Brown walking his Pomeranian named Prissy. She wasn't asked to join the crime watch. I guess nobody thought a female would be much help in catching the culprit responsible for the neighborhood damage.

Sam had known some female dogs on the force who were well worth their kibbles, of course they had been properly trained.

Well, I don't see much action around here, I'd best be moving along. I've got a lot of area to cover before dawn, he thought.

Meanwhile across town, Ronnie was patrolling his territory. His tactics weren't quite as subtle as Sam's. He paraded around in full sight of everyone, asking every animal he met if they had seen any funny business going on.

"Hey you, come here...now!" Ronnie bellowed at a small mixed breed dog.

He wasn't trying to be mean, it was just his way. He talked to everyone that way. He was a mean looking animal but really he was one of the good guys.

"You seen anybody around here tonight that don't belong?" He rumbled.

The little dog fell over on his side quaking from fear but he managed to get out the words...

"No, uh...no sir, I haven't." He said trembling.

"Well, tell everyone you know I don't put up with monkey business on my beat...got it!" He wailed.

"Yes, oh my...yes sir." The little dog whined.

Ronnie walked on down the street...well not walked exactly. It was kind of a cross between a waddle and a walk. He was a big dog and when he walked he took up a lot of room.

Let me think now...if I was a stray where would I be right now, he thought to himself. I think I'll mosey on down to the dump and see what's shaking down there.

Ronnie sniffed all through the dump. He came across some field mice who had made their home in an old tin can.

"Hey, anybody home in there?" He bellowed.

"Please, you just shook our home off the log it was sitting on. Would you keep your voice down, my kids are asleep?" Said Mama Mouse, not the least bit intimidated by Ronnie.

"Oh excuse me, Madam. I was wondering if you might have seen or heard anything unusual going on lately." Whispered Ronnie as quietly as he knew how.

"Look around you big hound. This is a dump we live in...everything around here is unusual." She muttered.

"Uh...yes Mama Mouse, I see what you mean. I'm sorry I bothered you." The big dog apologized.

Gee...she was sca...scary! He thought as he walked away from the mama mouse.

Ronnie decided there wasn't anything going on at the dump so he headed for another part of town.

He and Sam scoured the small town as best they could but nothing seemed out of place this night. They had agreed earlier to meet at the same spot they started as soon as the sun came up.

"We looked everywhere, we didn't see any stray, what now?" He asked Dudley.

"Barney and Chico are going out tonight, maybe they will have better luck." Dudley told the guys. "At least I hope so, I want to get this matter straightened out as soon as possible."

That evening Barney and Chico went out to patrol the area as Dudley had said. Barney didn't seem to mind so much but, I have to tell you, Chico was not thrilled about it.

"Maybe we should stick together tonight, Senor Barney." Chico said with his squeaky voice.

"It would take forever to search everywhere if we did that, Chico. Why don't you want to go out by yourself?" Barney asked.

"I am a little embarrassed, Senor Barney, but I am a small handful of a dog and I am afraid." Chico said sounding pitiful. "If I find the stray who is doing these things I will be too scared to do anything about it." He told Barney.

"Okay Chico. If you see him you can tell Dudley...he will know what to do." Barney said. "You'll be okay, I'll see you at dawn."

Now, Barney wasn't exactly brave himself but he was a hunting dog so he thought he might have a better chance of finding the scent of the notorious stray.

Barney never had the opportunity to actually use his nose for hunting since he was a house pet but he figured it was in the blood, something he could do naturally.

Barney couldn't have seen anything that night, he never looked up. His big ears dragged in the streets all night because his nose was on the ground sniffing.

Across town was little Chico. He wasn't having much luck either. He stayed hid most of the night. He was even scared of the Tomcats who roamed around at night. After hiding from two other cats he decided to get his nerve up and ask the next one if he saw anything unusual.

"Pssst, Senor...Senor Kitty." He whispered. "Can you tell me if you have seen any stray dogs in the neighborhood tonight, please?"

"Well now, what have we got here?" The old Tomcat asked. "I guess you're a dog...are you a dog?" The cat questioned as he looked Chico up and down.

"Si Senor, I am a dog...I am just a small dog." He answered.

"Well, as a rule, we Tomcats don't go looking for dogs... if you get my drift." He told Chico. "But, as it turns out, I did see a stray knocking over some trash cans on Elm Street. Why would a snip of a dog like you want to know about a stray? They could be dangerous you know."

Chico told the Tomcat about the new Canine and Cat Crime Watch.

He also told him, since cats were voted in, he was welcome to join too, if he wished to. As it turned out the old cat knew Simon Siamese so he figured it wouldn't hurt to check into this crime watch thing.

"Simon and I go way back." He started telling Chico. "I guess if he is feline enough to join, so will I." Chico slipped around town the rest of the night looking for the stray the Tomcat told him about. Bye the time he reached Elm Street, no stray was around. Which was fine with Chico because he didn't want to be the one to find him anyway.

He hurriedly ran back to the position he and Barney started from. When he saw Barney he started stammering about the conversation he had with the Tomcat.

"Here now, here now." Barney said trying to calm Chico down. "Take a deep breath and start all over again."

"I think I know where he is, Senor Barney. We must tell Senor Dudley about this." He worried.

"Calm down, Chico. We will tell Dudley about this later. Go home and get some sleep. That stray has been terrorizing this long, a few more hous won't make any difference." He assured Chico.

~Next Page~