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     Oodles of Poodles of Dark Corner is an uplifting story of challenges, making the right decisions, and succeeding through adversity. Helmutt is a white standard poodle born to Eddy and Daisy along with five other sisters and brothers. For some reason friction arises between Helmutt and his father Eddy to the point where everything Helmutt does, he does to prove he is worthy of his father’s respect. The problem is that it’s never enough.

     Come join Helmutt and his animal friends through heroic adventures and find out how simple animals manage to achieve what humans cannot.

Chapter 1

Helmutt stretched his neck as far as it would go and yawned, letting out a howl that sounded like “Ma-ma.” Streams of light filtered through a slit in the blue and white check café curtains, spotlighting Helmutt’s little body. He shuddered, raised himself to a sitting position, and looked around to make sure his remaining four sisters and brothers were in sight.

Reassured that all was well, he stood up on all fours and gave himself a full-body shake from head to puffy tail. Somehow, it wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be the same again. His brother Hunter had been adopted by a family just the day before. Helmutt could still see his brother pacing the back seat of the van until the rear window slid down. Hunter’s head suddenly appeared, and he looked back and barked twice, “Good-bye.” He then disappeared from sight. A single tear fell from Helmutt’s right eye as he turned to go back into the house. They took Hunter and not him. He was so sure he’d be the first to go, but they didn’t want him. Today someone else was coming, someone very important. This would be his day. It would have to be or he would not be able to look his father in the face. “So they didn’t take Mutt,” said Eddy, trotting around the barn, head arched, paws high-stepping. “He thought he’d be the first to go—bit of an inflated ego, I’d say.”

“Now, Pa, he’s just a pup, and it’s good to think well of yourself,” said Daisy, whispering so that no one else could hear. “Please go easy on him; he was so disappointed, although I can’t imagine why he’d want to leave Austin.”

 “I don’t believe in spoiling my children. The rest of them have turned out just fine.

Chapter 4

The porch door slammed, and Austin grabbed his flashlight and plaid jacket. Paul followed on Austin’s heels. Mutt got the signal: time to hunt for a missing person.

“Come on, Mutt. We’ve got a small boy who’s gone missing. Another chance to show these nonbelievers what you’re made of,” said Austin, patting Mutt on the head. “The last two times they thought you got lucky. This time, you’ll prove them wrong.” Austin opened the passenger door to the truck, and Mutt jumped in. Austin only let him ride in the passenger seat when they were going to search and rescue. “We’re on a mission.” Paul jumped into the back seat. Every muscle in Mutt’s body quivered. He loved the excitement of the hunt. He especially loved when he found the missing person. Retrieving small animals when the men went hunting was okay, but this was different. Everyone felt the energy. Mutt, now two years old, had been training at the local police academy, with two other dogs, both bloodhounds. Cletus and Jethro were his friends and they worked well together.

Mutt remembered when he started the class and the two hounds had laughed at him. Well, they weren’t laughing anymore, because he had found the last two missing people.

“Dad, who are we looking for?” asked Paul.

Austin threw the truck in gear and spoke over his shoulder, “Benji Dillon.”

“Oh no,” said Paul. “Hurry.”
“I’m going as fast as I’m allowed.”
“You think Mutt can find him?”
“He’ll give it his best shot. We’ve trained for this, and you know how well he’s done in the past,” said Austin.
“It’s just that I never knew the other people, and they were grown-ups,” said Paul.
“We can only do so much. The rest is in a higher being’s hands,” said Austin.

Chapter 10

A splatter of rain hit the plane; another drop in altitude followed as the rain pelted the plane unmercifully, lightning flashing all about.

“Control tower to Yankee four-one-niner. You’re off course. Is there a problem?”
“Yankee four-one-niner to tower. We are experiencing turbulent weather and have had a number of problems, but think we have them under control.”
“Keep us advised…”
The radio went dead.
Unable to contain his anger, “What now?” asked Logan.
“Seems we’ve lost contact,” said Serge.

I’ll have to have a word with the company when I get back as to who has been servicing this craft,” said Logan. “There’s no excuse for this. Ordinarily, I would have checked it out myself, but we didn’t have time.” Serge held fast to the throttle. He was now depending upon the GPS to guide them back on course. The plane dipped to the left and then took another nosedive, this one lasting even longer. A loud noise from the rear of the plane startled Logan. As soon as the plane leveled, he said, “That noise needs to be checked out.” “Let me,” said Austin as he patted Logan on the shoulder. “If I find anything, I’ll let you know.” “All right,” said Logan, “but be careful as you make your way back.”

Chapter 13

Mutt turned to the group. “Hummer’s right. We need a plan.” The group huddled together to think.  Mutt wondered to himself where Hummer had learned to speak so well.

Sarge shouldered his way through the crowd. “How about we surround the house, and Rebel and I’ll burst through the windows, and then you guys can follow us, and we’ll like overtake them before they know what hit ‘em.” Sarge took in a long breath to replace the one he had just used up. He sat waiting for applause. Everyone remained silent.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Fred. “Are you sure you want to go through the windows? You might get hurt.”

“Are you kidding? I love bustin’ through windows. Do it all the time,” said Sarge as he strutted around, chest extended.

“Well, let’s figure out who’s going in and in what order,” said Mutt.
Fred butted in. “I’ll go in the window next, after Sarge and Rebel have paved the way for us. A ball of white fur will catch them by surprise after the black and apricot fur balls.”

“I don’t think you should take that chance, Fred. The dog show’s in a month. The Bushnells will lose a lot if you get hurt,” said Mutt. “I’ll go first. I have nothing to lose.”

“Someone, make a decision,” said one of the ten poodles from the rear. “Time’s awastin’.”
“Then it’s settled,” said Mutt deciding to let the rescue poodles go first. “Sarge and Rebel will go first, followed by Fred and me. Next, Bogie and Silvo. Let’s form two separate lines. You know what you have to do.”