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he’s very strict. It works for him, though. He wins a lot of races around here.”
    “Well, I don’t have any experience with sled dogs,” Lizzie said, “but I have trained a lot of puppies. And one thing I’ve learned is that all puppies learn differently. Some learn quickly, some slowly. Some need lots of rules, and others need to be babied a little.”
    Fern’s eyes lit up. “You mean — you think it’s just that Bruce might not have been the right trainer for Bear?”
    “Exactly.” Lizzie was starting to talk faster now. “It’s true that Bear likes to sleep in front of the fire, and he’s not the most hyper dog I’ve ever seen. But you know when he’s been the most excited? Every time he’s around your dogs, that’s when. He can’t keep his eyes off them. And you should have seen him when he heard them coming down the trail yesterday. He pulled me right off my feet.”
    By the time Lizzie finished, Fern had jumped up. She shooed all the grown-up dogs outside and into their pen. Then she rummaged around in abig wooden box beneath the harness hooks. “I think this might fit him.” She held up a tangle of purple nylon webbing. “This was Homer’s puppy harness. We start play training our dogs really young.”
    “You mean —” Lizzie jumped up. “Can we try that on Bear? And see if he likes to pull?”
    “I think we should try our training method and see if it works better than Bruce’s.” Fern nodded. “I think you might be right.” She picked up Bear and spoke softly to him, petting him gently as she arranged the harness over his head. “See, the
X
goes over his back, and this part goes in front of his chest.” She showed Lizzie. “Nothing goes around his neck, since a sled dog would never pull from there.”
    Bear’s tail wagged hard.
    Oh, boy. Oh, boy! Does this mean I get to run like the other dogs?
    “So far, so good.” Fern gave Bear a kiss on the nose. “He doesn’t seem to mind the harness at all.”
    “What’s next?” Lizzie was dying to know.
    Fern rummaged in the big box again. She pulled out a long nylon rope and clipped it onto a ring on Bear’s back. “Next we see how he likes the feeling of dragging the rope around.” She put Bear down on the floor, then walked quickly to the other corner of the big room. “Here, Bear!” She clapped her hands.
    Bear trotted happily across the room to Fern. The line dragged along behind him on the barn’s dirt floor.
    Lizzie laughed. “He doesn’t even seem to notice it.”
    “That’s a good sign,” said Fern. “Sometimes puppies get spooked right from the start, and you have to take it very, very slowly.” She gave Bear a kiss and a hug. “Now you call him.”
    Lizzie called, and Bear galloped over. “Yay for Bear!” Lizzie scooped him up for a hug. “What a good puppy.” Bear squirmed happily and licked her face.
    The girls sent Bear running back and forth a few more times. Then Fern went to the box again and pulled out a chunk of wood, a small log about the size of Lizzie’s forearm. “This is the big test.” She knelt down and tied the wood to the end of the rope attached to Bear’s harness. “Hold him for a sec.” She went back to her corner of the room. “Okay, let him go. Here, Bear!”
    Bear took off at a gallop. The wood bumpety-bumped along behind him. He stopped for a second and turned to look at it.
    What’s that doing there? Oh, well.
    Then he kept going, dashing across to Fern with the log bump-bump-bumping away. Whenhe reached her, he stopped only long enough for a kiss from Fern before he turned around and ran right back to Lizzie, wearing a big doggy grin.
    This is great! This is what I was meant to do. I love to pull.
    Fern threw up her hands. “Awesome! Lizzie, you were so right.”
    The barn door slid open. “What’s going
on
in here?” Tim Carter stood with his hands on his hips.
    “Dad, look! Bear loves to pull.” Fern pointed. “Please, can we keep him?”
    Tim shook his head.