Fizz and the Dog Academy Rescue: Fizz 2

by Lesley Gibbes

  ‘Chew toys!’ cried Fizz, jumping up and down. ‘Come on, let’s check the chew toys in the boarding rooms while everyone’s at the tracks.’

  Fizz and Remi tiptoed down the hall and inspected the chew toys, room by room.

  ‘None of the bite marks match, not even close,’ said Remi, her tail drooping.

  ‘But we haven’t checked Amadeus’s room yet,’ said Fizz. ‘Can you see his chew toy?’

  Remi searched furiously. ‘There’s nothing here,’ she said, rummaging through Amadeus’s basket. ‘He hasn’t got one. We need more clues or we won’t solve the mystery. And we have to pass our undercover training.’

  ‘And pass the regular police dog instruction too,’ said Fizz. ‘Let’s meet up after search training today.’

  Fizz and Remi left the boarding house and made their way to the academy’s bushland reserve. Sergeant Stern was waiting in a clearing with a large canvas bag.

  ‘This afternoon, you’re going to learn how to track by scent. A police dog must have a keen sense of smell and be able to follow a scent trail. I have hidden items of clothing in the bush for you to find. You will each sniff an item of clothing and find its missing pair by scent. There’s a five-minute time limit for you to find your item and bring it back.’

  Sergeant Stern placed a shoe, sock or glove in front of every dog to sniff.

  Fizz sniffed a shoe. His nose tingled as the scent of stinky cheese filled his nostrils.

  ‘Get ready,’ said Sergeant Stern. ‘Go!’

  Fizz sniffed the ground until he found the right scent. Then he followed the scent trail off into the bush. The bush was rugged and dense and the trail wasn’t easy to follow.

  ‘Out of my way, Powder Puff,’ said Amadeus, bumping Fizz into a prickle bush. ‘You couldn’t find a liver treat in a pet shop.’

  Fizz scrambled to his feet. His shoulder stung with prickles, but Fizz wasn’t going to let Amadeus get the better of him. He took a deep sniff and found his scent trail.

  ‘Three minutes to go,’ called Sergeant Stern.

  The scent trail was getting stronger and Fizz knew he was close. His nose twitched. He had the cheesy smell, but he couldn’t see the shoe.

  ‘Two minutes,’ called Sergeant Stern.

  Fizz searched frantically, then he shook the fur from his eyes and looked up. The gym shoe was dangling from a tree. Fizz jumped for the shoe but it was out of his reach.

  Amadeus ran past with a glove in his mouth. ‘Even your girlfriend has found her sock, slow coach!’

  As he brushed past the tree, the shoelace dangled free. Fizz jumped and snapped at it.

  Got it! Quick as lightning, Fizz turned and ran.

  ‘Thirty seconds remaining,’ called Sergeant Stern.

  Fizz’s feet pounded over rocks and dirt. He heard the other dogs chanting.

  ‘Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…’

  He skidded into the clearing in front of Sergeant Stern just before he called, ‘Time’s up!’

  Fizz was panting hard.

  ‘I didn’t think you were going to make it. What happened?’ asked Remi.

  ‘Someone’s been moving the clothing. My shoe was up a tree. Did everyone make it back?’ asked Fizz.

  ‘No, Hunter didn’t make it,’ said Remi. ‘I think he could be in trouble. Come on, we’ve got to find him.’

  Fizz and Remi raced into the bush and picked up Hunter’s scent trail. Then a terrible yelp of pain echoed through the bush. Fizz and Remi ran to the sound.

  ‘Over here!’ cried Fizz.

  Hunter was lying in a patch of stinging nettles with a sock in his mouth. He was covered in painful bumps and welts.

  ‘Sergeant Stern would never have hidden the sock in a patch of stinging nettles,’ said Fizz. ‘Someone did this on purpose!’

  Fizz heard a rustle in the bushes. It was Sergeant Stern.

  ‘Hunter, you poor fellow, those stinging nettle welts look serious,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, but you’ll have to be going home.’

  Hunter dropped the sock from his mouth and howled in disappointment.

  As Sergeant Stern carried Hunter off to the vet clinic, Fizz looked at the sock on the ground. His skin prickled. ‘Remi, I’ve found a clue! Look there’s a hair.’

  ‘Midnight black? Amadeus?’ asked Remi.

  ‘No,’ said Fizz, puzzled. ‘It’s orange.’

  ‘Orange?’ said Remi at breakfast the next morning. ‘How can the hair be orange? No trainee police dog has orange hair. Maybe Amadeus planted it there to throw us off the scent.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Fizz, staring into the distance. ‘But one thing’s for sure, we’ve got to solve this mystery before anyone else gets hurt.’

  Sergeant Stern appeared at the dining hall door. ‘Finish your breakfast and meet me in the quadrangle for training. We’re going to start the day with a game I like to call Guess That Scent.’

  Sergeant Stern had arranged four small boxes on a low table.

  ‘The aim of the game is to guess what’s in the box by using your sense of smell. Remi, you may go first,’ said Sergeant Stern.

  Remi trotted forward and smelt the first box.

  ‘Chocolate,’ she said.

  ‘Very good, Remi,’ said Sergeant Stern. ‘Now the other boxes?’

  ‘Peanut butter, sunscreen and…soap?’ said Remi.

  ‘Close, the last box was talcum powder,’ said Sergeant Stern, putting out four new boxes. ‘Your turn, Amadeus.’

  Amadeus strutted up to the table. ‘Watch and learn, Powder Puff,’ he growled in Fizz’s ear. ‘Too easy. That’s bubble gum, fertilizer, broccoli and basil – actually, purple basil, Sergeant Stern.’

  ‘Excellent, Amadeus. Molly, your turn.’

  Molly was a Golden Retriever with a good nose for food. ‘Baked beans, cinnamon, strawberry, and…’ Molly sniffed the last box. Her eyes bulged and her nose turned red. She shook her head violently and sneezed.

  Sergeant Stern opened the fourth box. ‘Crushed chilli pepper!’ he cried in disbelief. Sergeant Stern fetched a cold cloth and wiped Molly’s nose.

  Fizz checked out the box. Stinging red-hot chilli peppers.

  ‘Fizz, take Molly to the vet clinic. The chilli peppers have burnt her nose. The rest of you can practise your attack skills in the recreation hall.’

  Fizz walked Molly to the vet clinic, where Ms Jabb examined her nose.

  ‘Is she going home?’ asked Shamus, who was playing with a pink squeaky toy.

  ‘Yes, Shamus, and will you please put that toy away. I can’t think with all that squeaking!’

  Sergeant Stern arrived to check on Molly. Ms Jabb was putting burn cream on her nose.

  ‘Perhaps it’s time to get a guard dog, Sergeant Stern,’ suggested Ms Jabb. She had a brochure with a picture of a fierce red Ridgeback on the front.

  ‘Guard dogs for hire,’ read Sergeant Stern.

  Fizz recognised the dog. It was Razor! The perfect job for him, thought Fizz.

  ‘I don’t think that will be necessary,’ said Sergeant Stern.

  ‘Six dogs sent home and six dogs from the waiting list called in to replace them. You’ll be calling Shamus next, heaven forbid,’ said Ms Jabb.

  Shamus made a loud slurping noise as he chewed a treat.

  ‘Shamus, will you stop eating all my treats!’ said Ms Jabb. ‘You’ve already lost three front teeth. Too many biscuits are not a good thing. Here Fizz, take the treat box and share it with the other trainee dogs. I’m sure they’re in need of a pick-me-up about now.’

  Ms Jabb looked at Sergeant Stern.

  ‘I’m very worried about the safety of my Shamus and the other dogs.’

  ‘I know. But I have every confidence our trainee undercover police dogs will get to the bottom of the matter,’ said Sergeant Stern, giving Fizz a look as he left.

  Fizz gulped. He had no new clues and he wasn’t any closer to solving the mystery.

  That night, Fizz dreamt about Wesley cho
king on fried liver and Apollo crashing from the balance beam. He heard again Hunter’s agonised howl, and the irritating squeak, squeak, squeak of Lucinda’s chew toy. He tossed and turned in his basket as the smell of dog treats filled his nose, and Ms Jabb said over and over, ‘You’ll be calling Shamus next!’

  ‘Wake up, Fizz! Wake up, it’s morning!’ said Remi. ‘Are you all right? You sounded like you were having a nightmare.’

  ‘I think I ate too many treats.’

  Fizz looked at the treat box beside his basket. His eyes traced around the curve of a bite mark.

  ‘That’s it!’ he said, jumping out of bed, tail wagging. ‘I know who did it! It’s been staring me in the face all night. This box is the missing clue!’

  Remi looked at the bite pattern on the box: a row of teeth, then a gap where teeth were missing, then more teeth marks. ‘They’re a perfect match to the bite marks on the balance beam! Is it Amadeus?’ asked Remi.

  ‘No!’ said Fizz. ‘Not Amadeus! It’s Shamus! He’s the saboteur!’

  Fizz paced up and down the room, putting the clues together. ‘Shamus spits when he talks because he has missing teeth. His bite pattern matches the bite marks on the balance beam. And the hair on the sock, Remi? Orange! Who has a patch of orange hair on the top of his head?

  ‘Shamus knew Wesley was allergic to liver,’ Fizz went on. ‘He would have heard that when Wesley had his vet check.’

  Remi bounced on tippy toes. ‘Shamus was always so pleased when someone was sent home!’

  ‘I bet his new pink squeaky toy is the one stolen from Lucinda! And yesterday,’ said Fizz, ‘I heard Ms Jabb say that it wouldn’t be long before Sergeant Stern called Shamus in as a replacement. That means Shamus is on the waiting list. Shamus wants dogs to be sent home so he can be called up!’

  Fizz raced to the door. ‘Come on, Remi, we’ve got to stop Shamus before he makes more trouble. We’ll check the large obstacle course first. That’s where we’ll be training this morning, and that’s where Shamus will be up to mischief!’

  Fizz and Remi ran out of the boarding house and headed for the obstacle course.

  ‘Can you hear that?’ said Fizz, his ears pricking.

  ‘Help! Pleassse help me!’

  ‘It’s Shamus!’ said Remi. ‘He’s in trouble.’ Fizz and Remi raced down the hill.

  Shamus was on the rope suspension bridge, with his back legs dangling over the mud pit below.

  ‘We’ve caught him red-handed,’ yelled Fizz. ‘He’s been tricked by his own sabotage. Look, he’s chewed though one of the ropes and now he’s tangled in it!’

  ‘Help,’ wailed Shamus. ‘The rope’s sssslipping!’

  ‘This is serious,’ said Remi.

  ‘We need help fast.’

  ‘Find Sergeant Stern and tell him what’s happened,’ said Fizz. ‘We’re going to need the rescue squad. Hurry!’

  Remi raced away at full speed.

  ‘The ropes are ssslipping!’ cried Shamus, dropping lower and lower over the mud pit. ‘I can’t ssswim, Fizz!’

  Quick as a flea, Fizz climbed the ramp to the top of the wooden tower and tiptoed across the suspension bridge. He grabbed the end of the broken rope and pulled with all his might. If he let go, Shamus would fall into the deep mud.

  Fizz held the rope with all his strength. Then he heard a wailing siren, and saw the rescue truck speeding down the hill towards him. Out jumped Sergeant Stern and Remi, followed by two rescue squad officers and a Labrador. The chocolate-brown Labrador was wearing a red vest that said ‘trainee rescue dog’ in fluorescent yellow letters. Benny!

  ‘Right, Benny, I want you up there helping Fizz to hold the rope. When I give you the signal, I want you to let Shamus drop safely onto the jump blanket. Have you got that?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ barked Benny.

  Remi, Sergeant Stern, and the two rescue officers stretched the jump blanket over the mud pit.

  ‘Ready, Fizz and Benny? Go!’

  Fizz and Benny let go together. Shamus slipped out of the ropes and plopped down onto the jump blanket. He crawled sheepishly over to Sergeant Stern.

  ‘You have a lot of explaining to do, Shamus. If Fizz and Remi hadn’t found you, you would still be dangling from the suspension bridge. Go straight to my office and wait for me. This time it’s your turn to go home!’

  Shamus trudged slowly up the hill, his tail between his legs.

  Sergeant Stern turned to Fizz and Remi.

  ‘Excellent job, you two. You solved the mystery and proved that you qualify to be undercover police dogs.’

  Remi did a circus backflip, and Fizz buzzed with pride.

  ‘Congratulations, Fizz!’ cried Benny, wagging his tail like a flag at the football. ‘You’re a real undercover police dog now!’

  Fizz, Remi, Amadeus and all the graduating police dogs had each received their official Police Dog Badge at the graduation ceremony. They were lined up waiting to find out who would be awarded Top Dog.

  Fizz could see Tom and his family sitting in the front row.

  ‘Every year the very best graduating dog is given the prestigious Top Dog Award,’ said Sergeant Stern. ‘However, this year, we have two winning dogs who will share the award.’

  Amadeus clenched his teeth. He had no intention of sharing his award.

  ‘Our Top Dogs this year are…’ announced Sergeant Stern, ‘Amadeus, for outstanding skills and superior physical strength…’

  Amadeus leapt onto the stage and gave a loud boastful victory howl. His father stood tall and proud.

  ‘And,’ continued Sergeant Stern, ‘for excellent detective work, quick thinking and bravery… Fizz!’

  Fizz stepped up and Sergeant Stern pinned the Top Dog Badge next to his Police Badge on the leather pouch around his neck.

  ‘Well done, Amadeus, and well done, Fizz,’ said Sergeant Stern. ‘I expect to see you both bright and early at the Sunnyvale City Police Station on Monday.’

  Amadeus glared down at Fizz.

  ‘Just keep out of my way and leave the real police work to me, Powder Puff!’ Then he swatted Fizz with his tail and left.

  Fizz’s family raced to congratulate him. Bella, Puff-Pup, Fluff-Pup and Crystal gave him a happy group hug.

  ‘Well done, son,’ said Fizz’s father. ‘You’ve made me so proud.’

  ‘You’ll always be my top dog, sugarplum!’ said Fizz’s mother.

  Tom knelt down beside Fizz. ‘Congratulations!’ he said, patting him firmly on the back. ‘I knew you could do it!’

  It was time for the visitors and graduating dogs to leave the academy. Fizz and Remi stood at the gate and said their goodbyes. A bus pulled up and several graduating dogs and their families boarded.

  ‘Aren’t you glad you’re an undercover police dog and not the dog advertising charcoal tablets for problem flatulence?’ asked Remi.

  Fizz looked at the dog in the photo on the side of the bus. It was Bruno!

  ‘What’s flatulence?’ asked Fizz.

  ‘Wind,’ said Remi.

  ‘What?’ asked Fizz.

  ‘Oh, don’t make me say it, Fizz. Farts! Charcoal tablets are for dogs who fart!’

  And Fizz and Remi roared with laughter.

  The story continues in Book 3

  FIZZ and the SHOW DOG JEWEL THIEF

  From the Author and the Illustrator

  When Lesley Gibbes discovered that her father-in-law’s childhood nickname was ‘Fizz’, she knew it was the perfect name for her fluffy undercover police dog. But it was her two naughty Jack Russell terriers, Porsche and Cosworth, who were the real inspiration for Fizz. Just like Fizz, they’re clever, brave and fast. And even though they are only the size of a tomcat, they both think they’re as big and as bold as a German Shepherd.

  When Stephen Michael King was a boy he liked to draw dogs: dogs scuba diving, driving cars, playing guitar or flying into outerspace . . . anything he could imagine a normal dog doing on any normal day. Now Stephen is married with two grow
n children, one parrot and three dogs, and he still finds himself drawing dogs: dogs in cars, on motorbikes, dressed in silly costumes and chasing robbers.

  Their picture book Scary Night, written by Lesley Gibbes and illustrated by Stephen Michael King, was named an Honour Book in the 2015 CBCA Book of the Year Awards for Early Childhood.