In the home where Cindy lives, no dogs are allowed, so she must bundle puppy up when she goes to work as a cleaning woman in the Hospice. One patient is so blind with illness that he can barely see the dog; it looks like a smudge. But, oh, how nice to hold the puppy. What is Cindy to do? How will she care for Smudge?

Reviews
"A moving story with a happy ending."
- Quill & Quire

"A beautiful story, lovingly told and illustrated."
- Resource Link

Nan Gregory is a professional storyteller and has performed in schools, libraries, hospitals, parks and theatres, at conferences and festivals, and from the back of a horse-drawn sleigh. Her career has taken her across Canada and to the United States, Japan and New Zealand.

Ron Lightburn is an internationally renowned illustrator of books for children. His illustrations in the picture book Waiting for the Whales earned him the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award for Illustration and the Elizabeth Mrazik Cleaver Picture Book Award.