How to Steal a Dog

Georgina decides that she will have to share her dog-stealing plan with Toby, as her mother has given her no choice but to look after him after school. Georgina tells Toby that “we’re gonna find us a dog that somebody loves so much, they’d pay a reward to get it back” (15). She convinces him that this is the only way they will be able to find somewhere to live.

Georgina writes out her a plan for stealing a dog in her notebook. The first step is to find a dog of a person rich and devoted enough that they will pay a high reward for its return. As Georgina reads over her rules, she has a moment of doubt about her plan’s morality. However, she decides that her family’s living situation is so dire that she must do whatever it takes to get out of it.

At first, Georgina regrets that Toby is helping her instead of Luanne. However, she knows that if she enlisted Luanne’s help in stealing the dog, Luanne’s mother Mrs. Godfrey would almost certainly find out. Georgina recalls that Mrs. Godfrey “doesn’t like me one little bit” (19). Even when Georgina was housed, Mrs. Godfrey did everything in her power to discourage the friendship between the two girls (19).

Georgina encourages Toby to look for a suitable dog, and they go their separate ways. On her search, Georgina comes across a few dogs but dismisses them for being too disheveled, too loud, too unloved by their owners, or from a family that would be too poor to pay for a high reward. Toby does not have any luck either.

However, when they reach Whitmore Road, they find a big lavish house with a little black-and-white dog digging up the garden. The dog’s name is Willy. When Georgina sees that Carmella, Willy’s owner, coddles him despite his misbehavior, she knows that she has found her victim. Georgina believes that the woman “must be rich” and that she will definitely pay a high reward in order to be reunited with her dog (24). When she sees that the house name is The Whitmores like the road, she figures that the woman is so wealthy that she owns the entire street. 

Georgina’s teacher Mr. White writes a letter addressed to her parents. While she cannot see its contents through the paper, Georgina guesses that Mr. White is complaining about her incomplete homework, failed math test, slovenly appearance, and lack of lunch money on some days. She hides the letter, not intending to give it to her mother.

Georgina is annoyed that her mother has parked the car so close to school and worries that her classmates will see her. She writes more in her notebook about stealing a dog, explaining that she must scope out the dog’s character and whether people on the street are nosy and likely to be watching her. Georgina goes back to Whitmore Road and summons the dog. He is very friendly, and Georgina is overcome by how cute he is.

Back in the car, Georgina contemplates the fact that she has never stolen anything in her life. She wonders whether she really could steal a dog. In a fit of frustration, she sits on the steering wheel side of the car and imagines that she is driving, “the whole time sending bad thoughts to my daddy for getting tired of it all and making us live in a car” (32). As she imagines driving out of Darby, North Carolina, Georgina feels better about her plan to steal Willy.

Georgina feels left out as she watches her schoolmates head to their extracurricular activities, while she has to go to the laundromat to do the family’s washing. She and Toby shove all the clothes into one machine so that they can buy a snack. Georgina gets annoyed with Toby because he is not coming up with enough ideas about the dog-stealing mission.

The two go to Whitmore Road and spy on the woman playing with Willy. Georgina says that they will have to wait for the woman to go out and obtain some rope. Toby asks where they will hide Willy after they have stolen him. Suddenly overwhelmed by the situation, Georgina bursts into tears. However, her mother returns to the car and surprises her with the announcement that she has found them a house to live in. Georgina is shocked and delighted as they have never lived in a house before. She feels happy at the thought that she will not have to steal a dog.

The house that Georgina’s mother has found turns out to be derelict, complete with mold, plants growing on the inside, and ruined furniture. It is an abandoned home that her mother obtained after she heard from a coworker that the owner would not mind them staying in it. This is despite the private property signs on the outside. Georgina is overwhelmed, feeling that “first I had to go and get a daddy who acted mean all the time and then just up and left us,” and now “I had a mama who had gone plumb crazy” (42). When both Georgina and Toby say they prefer living in the car, Georgina’s mother becomes furious, saying that they do not understand how difficult it is to get enough money for a deposit as well as rent.

At night, when Georgina wants nothing more than to sleep and forget everything, she remembers Mr. White’s lesson about Aesop’s fables and the idea that “there is always someone worse off than yourself” (45). Georgina doubts that there is anyone unluckier than her at this moment.

The house continues to be an unsuitable home, though Georgina’s mother has taken measures such as buying a plastic raft to sleep on. Georgina cannot help lashing out at her mother, telling her that she is not doing her job of looking after them properly.

At school, Mr. White confronts Georgina and asks her to explain her bad attitude, even probing into whether anything is going on at home. Georgina feels that she cannot explain how bad things have gotten to him. She cannot bear to tell him how her father left, how she had to live in a car, and the feeling that “my best friend didn’t even like me anymore and now she had a new friend” (50). Georgina is jealous that Luanne is going off with Liza Thomas to Girl Scouts meetings and other activities, while she has to look after Toby. Although Luanne asks Georgina to come over after school, Georgina feels that she has to reject the offer.

Back in the car, her mother emphasizes that she is doing her best and that every night she prays for the miracle money that will rescue them from this situation. She pleads for Georgina’s understanding. Now certain that she really will have to steal a dog, Georgina thinks long and hard about a suitable place to hide him. She tells Toby that they will execute the plan soon. Finally, she is able to close her eyes. However, she reflects that had she “known what was going to happen the next day, I never would have slept that good” (55).