Based on Hey, Arnold! characters created by Craig Bartlett. Author claims no copyright.

Sam, a friendly black lab, had stayed with the Shortman family for a few days while his owner Olga was off at a school principal conference in Seattle. He had given Arnold, Helga, Phil and Amber some affectionate slobbers and excuses to walk over to the neighborhood park for some frisbee fetch.

Olga had adopted Sam from the pound a few months ago. With her son Donny gone away to college a dog was an empty nest coping mechanism.

Amber Shortman was in tears after Olga had returned from the conference and picked up Sam. "I want Sam back, daddy!," she lamented. "I know hon he's great isn't he?," said Arnold to Amber as they stood in the living room. "You'll get to see him at Aunt Olga's house before you know it." "But I want to see him here!," Amber shot back.

Helga walked in the door with Phil. She had just picked him up from a play date with Gerald Jr. at the Johanssens. "Ok what's going on here?," she immediately asked as she saw her daughter visibly upset. Phil, not as confrontational as his sister, went off to his room. Then Helga intervened: "Sam lives with Aunt Olga and we can take you there soon. But we just can't drop everything to take you there right now. You don't want to get lost trying to find your way there do you? I won't let you! Just like I did when I had to walk to preschool."

That was how Helga handled it if and when her kids threw fits. Fighting fire with fire. She gave the tough love while Arnold was the softer, seemingly more patient one. Pure good cop bad cop parenting.

"You know football head, your four-year-old daughter does have a point. Why don't we have our own pets?"

That night when the kids were abed Helga and Arnold sat on the living room couch to discuss the aftermath of their dog sitting experience.

Despite not having pets in their household the Shortmans had exposure to them elsewhere.

Miles and Stella had a pig, tortoise and monitor lizard. The pig, named Diego, was adopted when their previous one Abner passed away. Liz the lizard was a gift from their daughter-in-law Helga, who had one growing up. The tortoise was named Lockjaw, after the sea turtle Arnold and his grandmother (Miles' mother), had rescued from torturous conditions at the Hillwood Aquarium. Having these three somewhat exotic creatures reminded them of their time in the San Lorenzo jungle and entertained their grandkids.

Harold and 'Big Patty' Berman had two cats that were sometimes seen at their butcher shop that the Shortmans encountered when visiting.

Then there was Olga's recent dog adoption.

"I guess I never thought about that," said Arnold. "Well neither of us had traditional pets like dogs or cats growing up. Unless you count the cats that followed Abner and hung out with him at Sunset Arms. I had no idea where they came from. You had that monitor lizard that ate the parrot that had escaped from your place to mine. Before he could read your poem in Mr. Simmons' class."

"Oh I forgot about that, said Helga, "one of those times the big secret almost got out. And yeah I mean criminy. Bob and Miriam couldn't even take care of me half of the time. They couldn't be trusted with dogs or cats."

"Anyways," Arnold went on, "Yeah well it's a fair point. It's worth looking into. The kids should have their own pets. It can teach them responsibility."

Outside a pet shop next to a grocery store Arnold spotted a meet and greet of retired racing greyhounds. They were there every other Saturday. So two weeks later he brought Helga and the kids to see them. A brindle-colored hound caught their attention the most. Soon after they adopted the greyhound, naming him Mickey. Not after the mouse but Mickey Kaline, the baseball legend whose last home run Arnold had caught and that ran a day camp Phil attended.

Mickey spent his first two days with the Shortmans jn typical greyhound mode, sleeping on the couch for much of the time. Then when Arnold and the kids were about to take him for a walk, he ran away when he saw the leash. Amber and Phil were both alarmed.

"Nice goin' football head," said Helga, "you get us a dog and he ditches us. "We'll find him," Arnold assured her.

It was deja vu for Arnold. When he was nine, his pet pig Abner had escaped the boarding house. For their newly adopted dog, he enlisted Phil and Amber to help him post lost dog signs all around Hillwood with Mickey's picture, just as he had done for Abner.

Mickey had ventured all the way to the outskirts of town to the motor speedway. It reminded him of the racetracks in Mexico he had been rescued from. With his tongue down as he panted, he spotted one of the pictures Arnold had posted, on a newsstand in front of the speedway entrance. Immediately Mickey was reminded that he didn't want to go back to the races. Then he ran like the wind back to the Shortmans.

Just as Arnold, Helga and the kids were getting out of the car to for a pit stop at home in their latest round of searching for Mickey, they spotted him running straight towards them.

Phil and Amber affectionately rubbed his belly while sitting on the doorstep.

"Told ya we would find him," said Arnold, winking at his wife, "same thing happened with Abner."

"We underestimated how fast he is," said Helga.