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  • Hi, Welcome to the Screen Actors Guild Foundation BookPALS.

  • I'm Amanda Bynes, you may know me from "All That," or Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show," or "Big Fat Liar."

  • Today I'm going to be reading a story about a dog, and I have two dogs so I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

  • It's called "The Night I Followed the Dog." It's written and illustrated by Nina Laden.

  • I have a dog. Nothing exotic or special, just an ordinary dog. In fact I always thought he was a boring dog.

  • What I mean is he can fetch, roll over and shake hands, but mostly he sleeps and eats.

  • I used to think that our next door neighbors had the best dog in the world. Their dog can sing and change the channels on the TV.

  • Their dog always wins medals in obedience school, but I don't think their dog is so great now. Not since the night I followed my dog.

  • Every night I let my dog out and he runs off into the darkness with his tail wagging. The next morning, I let him in and he heads straight for the food bowl.

  • But one morning I knew something was funny. When I opened the door, a little bit earlier than usual, and I saw my dog jump out of a limousine wearing a tuxedo.

  • Before I could look twice, he disappeared into the backyard and I opened the kitchen door and whistled.

  • When he came into the house he was the same as he always is. Hungry! I really wasn't sure if I believed what I had seen.

  • So that night I decided to follow him. I wore dark clothing so I wouldn't be noticed, and I left my bicycle near the door so I'd have it close by.

  • When I let the dog out, I slipped out too. I took out the garbage so he wouldn't suspect anything. The dog went straight to his doghouse.

  • I saw a light go on inside. Slowly I snuck around the backyard and peeked into the doghouse. This is not the doghouse that I had helped build.

  • Inside there was a living room, a bathroom and a huge closet full of fancy clothes. The dog was in the bathroom.

  • He was wearing a tuxedo and fumbling with a bowtie. When he came out, he casually walked out of the doghouse across the yard and down the street.

  • I grabbed my bicycle and followed him. Two blocks later, I saw a limousine pull over. The dog got in and the car took off. I started peddling faster.

  • The car headed across town. I thought I would lose them, but luckily they were stopped by a few red lights.

  • After a while, I found myself in a part of town that I'd never seen before.

  • The buildings all seemed to be empty and it was very quiet. The limousine stopped.

  • I hid and watched my dog get out. He disappeared into a building and the limousine pulled away.

  • There was nothing on the outside of the building just two brass fire hydrants on either side of the entrance. I opened the door.

  • At the end of the hall there was a neon sign that said The Dog House. I crept closer. It looked like some kind of club. I decided to get a closer look.

  • The moment I opened the door, two mean looking bulldogs appeared and said, "you can't come in here."

  • I didn't know what to say, so I said, "but bu..bu..but I saw my dog. I mean I think my dog's in here."

  • Just then, my dog walked over and said, "it's okay boys, he's with me." The bulldog said, "sure boss, ahhhh what ever you say boss."

  • For a minute, it seemed like forever, I waited. Then my dog said, "I knew you'd find out eventually. Well now you know. This is my place."

  • I looked around. Finally I asked, "what is this place?" My dog said, "this, this is a place where dogs come after a hard day.

  • It's a place where we can relax. It's a place where we can talk about our problems with the mailman or with the poodle next door.

  • See all the sofas? We can sit on the sofas here. We can get treats without having to lie down, roll-over or play dead.

  • And if we want to chew on a shoe or chase out tails no one will stop us.

  • We have no masters here, no leashes and no rolled up newspapers. This, this is a place where dogs can be dogs."

  • We sat down. A cocker spaniel came by and asked me if I would like a bowl of water or some biscuits. Little by little dogs of all kinds started coming in.

  • Some danced. Some talked. They all looked at me a little bit funny, but when they saw who I was with they smiled and shook my hand.

  • At one point, my dog waved to an Afghan with a camera. She came over to our table and took a picture of us together. Being with my dog made me feel like a movie star.

  • Just when I was really starting to enjoy myself, I looked at my watch. I told my dog I had to leave or I'd get in trouble. He nodded.

  • I think he was about to say something but a glamorous greyhound grabbed his paw and whisked him onto the dance floor.

  • As he was getting up, he tossed me the photo of the two of us.

  • Then he bowed slightly and disappeared into the crowd. It was way past my bedtime.

  • canceled one As I peddled home into the cool night, I thought to myself now I'm really going to be in the doghouse, but then again that might not be so bad.

  • The End. What'd you think? Yeah, I thought it was really great, too. I should go home and read this to my dogs.

Hi, Welcome to the Screen Actors Guild Foundation BookPALS.

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