Little Jarrell was testing his mountain bike road outside of Columbus, Georgia, when his riding partner, Chris Dixon, stopped suddenly. Something in the distance_______among the trees caught her attention. It_______to be a sandy-colored five-month-old Great Dane mix.

He was skinny, and had a lot of road rash and a_______leg. The cyclists fed the friendly pup and_______their water. They were more than seven miles from_______and riding bikes. ''We couldn't_______ him," Little told his partner. He_______picked up his new friend and slipped the dog's hind legs into the back pockets of his cycling jersey. Then he put the dog's_______paws over his shoulders.

The 30-minute ride into town"_______at a bike store, where they got more water and __________ for the dog. That was when Andrea Shaw, a woman from Maine in town on business,__________by. The dog made a beeline for her, licking her. Shaw was__________and, after learning what had happened, declared her__________ : I am keeping this dog.

Shaw called him Columbo __________the town where they'd met and scheduled an operation on his leg. Today, Columbo is living the high__________on a farm with a horse, a pony, a six-year-old boy, and two coon dogs to keep him company.

Last October, a fire broke out in Georgia. The family got their kids out ______ except Taka, a 9-year-old dog. Luckily, Taka fell into a neighbor’s house. Upon seeing a dog on fire, the neighbor ______ and reached out to Crystal Lesley, a vet at Care More Animal Hospital. “We had never ______ a burn victim as severe as Taka before. We were ______ that he wouldn’t make it,” Lesley said.

Taka had ______ burns on his body, so he needed round-the-clock ______. “I had been taking him home with me every day, so eventually I realized I couldn’t ______ him,” said Lesley. That was when Taka officially ______ Lesley’s. “After months of treatment, I was visited by a nurse at the burn center about Taka visiting ______ children, in hopes of him ______ with them.” Lesley knew Taka was ______ for the job. “He loved kids and people,” she said. “I’d like to say that I decided that he was so special that we should ______ him with the world.”

Taka took his treatment dog training test and ______ easily. “To see that he could be an ______ or at least a light at the end of the tunnel for a child or anybody that has ______ what he has experienced is what all of this is about,” Lesley said.

While there isn’t anything unique about an 8-year-old longing for a pet dog, the extremes to which Jenna Bates was willing to go make her unique.

“My dad really didn’t want a dog, so I knew I had to do something super _______ to earn one,” she said. Then Jenna _______ with a deal her father couldn’t _______. She’d _______ sugar of all types for a year, and her parents would reward her strong _______ with a puppy dog.

“Oh, she’ll never _______ it.” Mr. Bates said. He figured a day of watching her friends eat pizza would end any more _______ about dogs.

After all, Jenna had never even _______ to read a food label before making this deal. _______ her affection for sweets, she started the deal with confidence.

As Jenna read the ________ on the food, she was ________ to learn most chips, ketchup, bread, and crackers had added sugar.

“Then I looked at my ________ meal, and then I looked at my normal lunch. I thought, “What did I do?” she said. “But then, I thought, ‘I can do it for my dog!’” Then that kept ________ over and over.

Actually, she found herself ________ her new living way so completely that she had no plans to give it up.

Dad ________ brought forward his end of the ________ earlier this month. The family ________ for two hours to pick up their ________ member — Lucy, the golden doodle.

Jenna may not be sure how much longer she’ll stay away from sugar, ________ she is sure about one thing — being a dog owner is even better than she’d ________.