Zooman Sam by Lois Lowry Page A

friend who was absolutely not her boyfriend, was leaning on the gate to the yard.
    "Hi," Sam said.
    "Is your sister around?"
    "No, she had to stay at school for Chorus."
    "What're you doing?" Steve came through the gate and into the yard. He scratched Sleuth behind the ear. "Hi, Sleuth," he said.
    "Animal training," Sam explained. "It's the kind of thing a zooman has to do."
    "Sit, Sleuth," Steve said. Sleuth sat abruptly and looked up.
    "Down, Sleuth," Steve said. Sleuth wiggled himself into a lying-down position and looked up through his fringe of hair.
    "He's already trained, Sam," Steve said.
    "Yes, but he does a bad thing if you say a food word."

    "A food word?" Steve asked with a puzzled look.
    "Yes. The name of a food. Almost any food. Try it," Sam said.
    Steve looked at Sleuth, who was still obediently lying on the grass. He thought. "Cheeseburger," Steve said loudly.
    Sleuth leaped up, woofed, and threw himself at Steve.
    "Down!" Steve shouted. Sleuth reluctantly lay down again.
    "What about a food that tastes horrible?" Steve asked Sam.
    "Nothing tastes horrible to Sleuth," Sam explained.
    "Brussels sprouts!" Steve tried. Sleuth looked up but didn't move.
    "Brussels sprouts taste horrible to everybody, even dogs," Steve explained. Sam nodded. Actually, Sam kind of liked Brussels sprouts. He liked the way they looked like little cabbages. And his mom put lots of butter on them, so they tasted good.
    But Sleuth did not react to Brussels sprouts.
    "Spaghetti!" Steve said. Sleuth leaped forward and almost knocked him down.

    "You got a problem here," Steve told Sam.
    Duh,
Sam thought, but he didn't say it. His mom thought saying "duh" was very rude.
    "We need a gun," Steve said. Then he looked at Sam's face, and laughed. "No, Sam," he reassured him. "Not that kind of gun."

12

    Sam sank to his knees beside Sleuth. He put his arms around the dog, and Sleuthie licked Sam's face.
    "We can't shoot him," Sam said emphatically to Steve. "We love him!"
    Steve Harvey laughed. "No, Sam," he explained. "You didn't let me finish." He sat down on the grass beside Sam and the dog.
    "You probably know this already, being a zooman," Steve said.
    "I'm only a
beginning
zooman," Sam pointed out.
    "Well, the thing that animal trainers all know is that you have to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior."

    Sam thought about that. It made sense. "
Moms
do that," he said. "And dads. And teachers." He thought about Mrs. Bennett sending Adam to the time-out chair. And Becky. And Tucker. And Stephen with a PH. Even Sam had to go to the time-out chair occasionally.
    "That's right, Sam." Steve scratched Sleuth behind his ear, through the thick white hair. "Now: we need to teach Sleuth that certain behavior isn't acceptable. So we need to think of a way to punish him when he does it."
    "A time-out chair," Sam announced. "That's the best way."
    But Steve shook his head. "Dogs don't understand time-out chairs. Time-out chairs are a place for humans to sit and think, but dogs don't do that. What we need is a quick
physical
thing: something that will hurt a little, but only for a second."
    "Not a gun," Sam said warily. Suddenly he remembered something. It was something that had happened quite recently. "I know!" he said. "Anastasia did it to me! A quick thing that hurt for a second!"
    "Your sister? She did something that hurt?" Steve looked surprised.

    "Yesterday, when we went to your house to say thank you to your dad for the hats? Every time I said something dumb, Anastasia poked me with her finger. Like this." Sam leaned over and poked Steve hard, in the middle of his back, with his index finger.
    Steve jumped. "Ouch!" he said. "I see what you mean. But you didn't say anything dumb, Sam. You said thank you to my dad. That was all."
    "But I kept
starting
to say dumb things. And Anastasia kept poking me. I started to say about flecks."
    "Flecks?"
    "Yes. Anastasia told me that you had beautiful flecks in your eyes. So when we were in your