Gromit was the runt of his litter. He was always the smallest, always getting the least amount of attention from his mother. Every day he snuggled up to his mother only to be pushed away by his three brothers and two sisters. He never got enough to eat and he never got enough love.

Gromit and his family lived in a pet shop owned by a human couple. On the day he was finally old enough to go for adoption, Gromit was curled up by the edge of the glass cage they were put in. He was feeling sad. His brothers and sisters were practicing being pets and had purposefully excluded him. His mother had never taught him any of the tricks that his littermates could do: "sit", "roll over", and even "play dead". All Gromit could do was stand and walk on his hind legs, and no-one wanted a dog who couldn't do tricks.

Gromit watched as his two sisters were adopted and taken home by children who loved seeing puppies do tricks. He had stood on his hind legs but the two children had completely ignored him.

The door to the pet shop swung open and the bell tinkled as a man stepped through the door. He was a middle-aged man who wore a white shirt with a noticeable green vest over it. He caught Gromit's eye because he seemed to be looking for a puppy. Adults only looked for a puppy if they had a child at home, and this man didn't look like he had children.

"Got any dogs?" the man cheerfully asked Dave, the sales assistant.

"Yes we do."

Dave led the man past Gromit's cage and to the display of grown-up dogs. Gromit sank back down into his depression. Of course the man wasn't looking for a puppy.

"Got any puppies?"

Gromit snapped his head up and stared at the man as he said that. He was looking for a puppy!

Dave was also staring but he managed to hide it fairly well. "Uh, yeah. Over here, Mr Wallace."

Dave led Wallace to Gromit's cage. Gromit sat up straight at the prospect of being adopted, but his three brothers elbowed past him to the front of the cage and started sitting and rolling over and playing dead. Gromit slunk back to where he had been sitting. He felt he was never going to be adopted. He watched to see which one of his brothers Wallace would take. However, Wallace wasn't looking at any of his brothers. He was looking straight at Gromit. Gromit knew it was his time to shine. He stood back up on his hind legs and walked a few steps forward and then a few steps backward to show Wallace what he could do. Even though he put his heart and soul into it, Gromit felt sure Wallace was going to move on from him. But Wallace didn't. He looked to Dave for permission and, when Dave gave it to him, he picked Gromit up. His hands were soft and warm, and he was beaming down at Gromit. "You're a good lad, aren't you?"

Gromit couldn't physically stick his tongue out but he wagged his tail eagerly.

Wallace turned to Dave. "I'll take this one."

"His name's Gromit," Dave informed him as he started to get the paperwork ready. Gromit couldn't stop himself feeling excited. He finally had a home!

"Gromit," repeated Wallace. "I like that." He looked Gromit straight in the eye. "Wallace and Gromit. What a tag team we'll be, eh?"