Written by April Collins:
"I believe children are our future and we should teach them accordingly."
Learn more about April in her profile here.

Over the hill of a quiet, little town, lived a tiny, pocket-sized dalmatian named Pluto and his many siblings. Their home was a cute little farm with animals all around.

Pluto sat outside of his pen amongst the grass and weeds, smiling to himself. As he sat there, happy and content, he heard the sound of someone running towards him.

“Watch out!” yelled his younger sister, Sunny, as she stumbled into him, causing them both to go crashing to the ground and rolling through the grass. His sister, although younger than him by a whole 4 minutes, was a lot bigger than him. When she bumped into him, it made him a little dizzy. “Ow, that hurt!” he said in frustration.

Sunny just laughed and rolled over onto her back, looking at him with an upside down stare. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

As she began to walk away, he asked, “Hey wait up! Can I play with you?”

She looked back at him, and frowned, “I don't think so… You don't have enough spots.” This made Pluto stop for a moment and stare. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Sunny turned around and looked at him closely. "Well, you're so tiny. Tiny Dalmations don't have a lot of spots because you don't have a lot of room.”

Pluto's happy mood changed to sad as he listened to his sister. He never thought about the fact that he was smaller than everyone else, and something as simple as his spots were just how he looked. Pluto took a moment to count the spots on his body. 1... 2... 3... 4… In all, he counted 19, and he thought that was plenty. Looking at his sister, he responded, “But I have 19 spots.”

“Yes, but I have 29 spots. We are Dalmatians, and our spots are what makes us great. The more spots we have, the braver, bigger and better we are.”

He frowned. His little ears drooped in a sad way, and he couldn't help but notice that his sister did have more spots than he did. Was it true? Did her spots make her more braver?

Sitting there, sadder than before, Pluto looked around his happy home on the farm. In the puppy pen, he could see three of his other siblings playing happily. They were all much bigger than him as well, so there was a good chance they had more spots than him too. A little shy, he entered the pen and sat in the hay. “Hello…”

“Hi!” cheered his younger brother, Jules.
“Hiya!” squeaked his other sister, Sweet Pea.
“Howdy,” sang his oldest brother, Axel.

“Do you all know how many spots you have?” He said quietly. They all stopped playing for a moment to stare at him. They were confused.

“Yes! I have 25 spots, so that makes me super cool,” said Jules.
“I have 24 spots, and that makes me really pretty,” smiled Sweet Pea.
His older brother rolled his eyes at the other two and leaned in conerned, “Why do you ask?”

Pluto looked down at the ground and begin playing with the grass around his paws. “Well… I'm a lot smaller than all of you, so that means I have less spots, too. Are spots really what make a Dalmatian better?

“It makes sense!” gasped Sweet Pea.
“You need more spots,” Jules said. “So you can be a better Dalmatian, like us!”
“Until then, we can't play with you!” Sweet Pea declared.

“But, you guys, how is he going to get more spots?” Axel chimed in.

Pluto thought for a moment, wondering where to get more spots. “I guess I have to find them!"
And with that, the little pup went out on an adventure through the cute, little farm to find the spots he needed.

The Search

Using his tiny, black nose, Pluto sniffed around on the ground. He knew what spots looked like, but what did a spot smell like?

Pluto found a wooden fence with an animal standing behind it. He noticed the animal had spots, and they were really big!

Excited, he hopped on to the fence and spoke to the animal. “Excuse me, ma’am?” Lifting her head, she looked at the tiny dalmatian as she chewed on her food, “Yes?”
“Are you a dalmatian?”

She laughed, “Of course not, my dear. I am a cow!”
“A cow? But why do you have spots?”

“Hmm,” she tilted her head to tell side, thinking. “Maybe it's because I eat a lot of grass! Yea, that's it! Moooo!”
Pluto had never eaten grass before, he'd only ever played in it, but for spots he'd try anything!

Jumping through the wooden fence, he stood next to the cow and watched her chomp at the strands sticking out of the ground. This was sure to give him more spots!

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