The enemy was in sight. All he had to do was sneak up behind him and pounce. d'Artagnan forced himself not to growl as he crouched down low, his butt in the air and pounced. Too bad the enemy took off just as he pounced and he growled at himself for not protecting Athos and took off after the enemy. His enemy was the squirrel. He barked as he chased the squirrel across the backyard; determine to catch the enemy before he hurt his master and had chased the squirrel out through a hole in the fence, which he somehow managed to run right under without a second thought and chased the squirrel down the sidewalk. He was now considered a police dog, even though he doesn't have a vest or badge like Athos, but his master and friends still say he's a police dog to them and a police dog never gives up the chase of the enemy.

Not paying attention to the people he passed, he snapped at the tail of the squirrel and almost had him. So close. He pushed himself a little harder and jumped but the squirrel had other plans and took off to the right and right up the nearby tree. The one place he couldn't go. He sat down and growled up the tree as the squirrel ran back and fourth and then further up the tree to the power lines before jumping on and taking off over the lines. Giving a bark he took off once more, crossing the street and still eyeing the squirrel. There was no way he was giving up. Turning corners, crossing streets, and even going through other people's front yards, he finally had to call a day because the squirrel had jumped into a tree by the woods and that was the squirrel's domain. He could not be able to follow the squirrel there. Giving a snort he turned around to go home when he suddenly realized this place didn't look familiar to him.

With a small wine, he started walking around, looking for anything that stood out to him but he doesn't remember any of this houses. Where was he? Did he really chase the squirrel this far? Trying not to panic, he continued to walk, hoping he would remember which direction he came from but nothing was coming to him. He was lost and he couldn't find his way home. Wait! He was still a dog. Dogs could find their way home from a different state so he could find his home from around the block…or two? Taking a bathroom break he looked around before sniffing his way back home. He knew dinnertime was right around the corner and Athos would be calling him in for dinner soon. He stopped walking and wined when he realized Athos would be sad that he was gone again and think the worst. Now with determination he started running back but then he felt his body lift right off the ground.

"Puppy!"

A small little girl was playing in her front yard when she saw the small puppy stop in front of her house. She didn't see a collar so that meant no one owned the puppy and decided she wanted a puppy of her very own. Walking over to the puppy before it took off, she picked it up and laughed. She carried the wiggly puppy back to her house and walked in, hoping her mom would let her keep it.

"Amanda, is that you?" her mom's voice asked from the kitchen.

"Hey mom, I found a puppy. Can I keep it?" Amanda walked into the kitchen and set the puppy on the floor, smiling up at her mother. "Please. It doesn't have a collar."

The mother looked down at the small black puppy that was now sitting and shaking in the middle of her kitchen floor and knelt down to her daughters level. "Sweetie, we don't know if this puppy belongs to someone."

"But you said people put collars on their dogs."

"The puppy might have lost it."

"But I want a puppy," Amanda said, close to tears. "Please, can we keep the puppy?"

The mother gave a sad sigh and lifted the puppy up. Well, the puppy was a boy. "How about this. Why don't we take this puppy to the vet and see if he's chipped. If the puppy is chipped we have to return it to his owner. If the puppy isn't chipped, we can keep him."

Amanda frowned but nodded. She picked the puppy up and followed her mother to the garage. She hoped the puppy wasn't chipped because she really wanted a puppy to play with. Climbing into her buster, she buckled herself in and just held the puppy close.

d'Artagnan sat in the little girls lap and looked up at her sad face. He could tell she was really sad and he never liked kids that were sad. He started to lick her face to help make her laugh and smiled when she started to laugh as he licked under chine and on her cheek. Listening as she laughed he felt her turn him over and gave him a belly rub. She was now making it hard to wanting to go back. He felt the car come to a stop and the mother unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, walking over to their side of the car to let them out.

The mother watched as her daughter pick the puppy up once more and walked into the vet, already knowing the answer they would be getting. "Hi Kirstin. We have a question for you."

"Sure."

"Amanda found this puppy and we were wondering if he's been chipped."

"Of course." Kirstin got up and grabbed the chip reader she had by her computer and walked around the counter. "Alright Amanda, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to wave this over the puppy's body and if I hear a beep, I had found a chip. If I don't then there is no chip."

Amanda watched as Kirstin waved the chip reader over the puppy and when it reached behind the neck, her heart sunk when she heard a beep. The puppy was chipped. The puppy belonged to someone. She heard Kirstin read off the information and said this Athos person lived five blocks away from them. With her head down, she picked the puppy up once more as her mother told her they should return the puppy to his owner. Tears were running down her face as she got in the car, as the car drove down the street, and as the car stopped in front of a small little house.

"Come on sweetie."

d'Artagnan let himself be picked up as the little girl wiped her eyes and walked up the walk towards the front door. He was trying not to get excited when he heard the doorbell from inside the house and the front door open a few seconds after. He saw Athos open the screen door, eyes wide with relief.

"I think this puppy belongs to you," Amanda said, trying to sound brave as she watched the older man kneel down and hold his arms out. She couldn't, however, hold back the tears when the puppy jumped from her arms and into his owner's arms.

"Oh d'Artagnan, I was worried you were taken again," Athos said. Opening the backdoor to see no d'Artagnan had him thinking the worst again.

"It seemed he had made his way to our house," the mother said, speaking up. "Amanda found him and brought him to me."

"Thank you so much," Athos said, not missing the tears on Amanda's face. He watched as they walked back to the car and took off. He looked down at d'Artagnan when the puppy wined a little and looked up at him. "Don't you look at me like that. You're the one that got out and lost."

A WEEK LATER

Amanda was playing with her dolls in her front yard, her mother sitting in a chair reading a book, when she looked up to see a cop car pull up in their driveway. She stood up when the cop got out of his car and recognized him as the man she returned the puppy too a week ago. She smiled when he opened the passenger door and the puppy jumped out of the car.

"Puppy!" she laughed when the puppy jumped at her and bark before jumping up to lick her face. She looked up at the cop and her eyes went wide when he had in his hand a puppy himself. "Is that for me?" she asked.

"It is," Athos said with a smile. "You see, you had brought back my dog to me, which means the world to me, and I couldn't help notice you were sad when you returned him."

"How did you find my house?"

"Little lady, I'm a police officer." Of course he wasn't going to tell her he had ran her mothers plates and called her a few days ago and asked for permission to give her daughter a puppy. "This little guy right here was a rescue puppy we found in an abandoned house a few weeks ago."

"Mom. Can I keep him?"

"I don't see why not."

Amanda gave a yell and practically crushed the puppy to her chest. She had finally gotten her puppy.