How It All Goes Down
- The truck stops at a house in the middle of the desert.
- One of the men who captured the dogs is named Bobby, and this place appears to be an unofficial doggy rescue sanctuary.
- Bobby doesn't think it's a good idea to add more dogs; some sort of official has told them they already have too many.
- The woman who runs the place—our narrator calls her Senora—doesn't think three more could possibly hurt.
- And how about a fourth? Senora sends a man named Carlos to try and find Sister, who got away.
- Bobby leads our narrator and his family to a large fenced-in area behind the house. It's filled with dogs.
- One dog in the pen, the only male, makes it clear that he is the top dog. Our narrator names him Top Dog. Creative.
- When Senora comes to visit, she pets the dogs, lets them lick her face, and calls our narrator Toby.
- Toby likes that name.
- But Toby's Mother never seems to fit in. She sulks around the edges of the Yard a lot—until one day, when she manages to open the gate and escape. Whoa.
- Toby decides to follow Mother, and off he goes.