Hotel For Dogs

Hotel For Dogs by Lois Duncan

Some kids move from New Mexico to the east coast. They start by living with their Aunt, who is allergic to dogs. This saddens the kids, especially the girl who misses her dog at home. Nearby, there is an empty house as well as the house of a spoiled bully. The bully has a nice dog who he treats poorly. A stray dog sneaks into the house. The girl takes care of her for a bit as she discovers she is having puppies. They need to get her out, so they decide to create a "hotel" in the abandoned house. Later after the bully really mistreats his dog, the dog runs away and wants to die. The kids rescue him and bring him to the hotel. Other kids and dogs eventually assist with the hotel. The kids also work jobs to help support the dogs. One night they plan to scare the bully with slides of a "ghost dog". Shortly after, the realtor is showing the parents a house, which happens to be the "hotel". They are afraid all has gone wrong. However, it ends up working out. The bully confessed to his cruelty, the parents are interested in buying the house and to cap things off, the girl gets a poem published (at an age younger than Shakespeare's first publication.) It all makes for a very happy ending.