Henry Huggins

When visiting the Lucky Dog Pet Shop again to purchase horse meat from Mr. Pennycuff, Henry learns that the town is having a dog show, and the winner will receive prizes from the Woofies Dog Food Company. Mr. Pennycuff encourages Henry to enter Ribsy in the contest, but Henry isn’t sure since Ribsy isn’t a pure-bred dog. Mr. Pennycuff gives him the form, which has a space for mixed-breed dogs, and Henry decides to enter Ribsy. On the way home, Henry sees Scooter, Robert, Mary Jane, Beezus, and Ramona playing outside and tells them about the dog show. Scooter scoffs, “Aw. Ribsy’s just an old mutt!” (123), but Henry defends his dog and claims that he is intelligent. Looking at the impressive list of prizes, Mary Jane says she will enter her dog Patsy, and Robert will enter his old dog, Sassy. Since Beezus and Ramona don’t have a dog, they will borrow a friend’s puppy, Puddles. Scooter claims his dog Rags is the most intelligent dog on the street and will surely take the top prize. Henry says Ribsy can do tricks, but Scooter cruelly says that if he was such a good dog, then his owners wouldn’t have let him run away.