It wasn't the first time Danny had stared down the barrel of an ecto gun. It wasn't even the first time his parents had both pointed ecto guns at him. It was, however, the first time they had done it while he was in his human form. Although to be fair, they weren't actually pointing the guns at him. Instead, they were pointing them at the glowing green bundle of fur and drool in his arms.

"Just hear me out," Danny begged, wrapping his arms around as much of the pup as he could in hopes his parents would hesitate to shoot if they thought they might hit him.

"Danny," Maddie began patiently. "I know that looks like a cute puppy, but it's actually a dangerous ghost."

"I know that, but…"

"Listen to your mother, Danny," Jack chimed in. "We just want to keep you safe. So please, step away from the ghost."

"No!"

Danny took a deep breath and tried to choose his words carefully. He had to make this work.

"Yes, he is a ghost, but he's also a dog, and he's already been trained."

"Danny," Maddie spoke softly.

"Please, just listen. Look, he's not even trying to hurt me."

The small pup was happily wiggling in Danny's arms and trying to turn enough to lick his chin.

"See, if he really wanted to get away he could have gone intangible, or tried to bite me, or used some weird ghost power to hurt me, but instead he's happy. He's acting just like any dog would, he just happens to be a ghost."

Danny's parents glanced at each other. Their weapons lowered slightly but their fingers remained resting on the triggers.

"Are you suggesting we just let it go?" Maddie asked. Her tone made it clear she didn't like the idea.

"Actually," Danny hesitated, but only for a moment, "I was thinking…maybe we could keep him?"

"To dissect?" Jack asked, confused. Why else would they keep a ghost?

"No!" Danny gasped, horrified. "As a pet."

"What!" Jack and Maddie proclaimed in horrified unison.

"Son," Jack demanded, "Do you know what you are saying?"

"Yes," Danny insisted. "Just think about it, he's already trained as a guard dog so he'll be perfect to protect the house from ghost intruders."

Danny could see the thought working its way into his parent's heads. They were actually considering it. He had to keep going.

"And we can train him even further. Think how easy it will be to track other ghosts with a ghost hound. He can even follow them through walls so you'll never lose the trail."

The glance his parents exchanged was reassuring. They were seriously thinking about the benefits now. He just had to push a little more.

"He can even help to catch ghosts, not just track them."

"I don't know," Jack said. "He seems a bit small to be fighting ghosts."

Danny decided not to mention that the currently tiny pup could easily grow to the size of a car in moments.

"Fair point. But there are other benefits like since he can turn intangible he can let himself out to use the yard, and since he's already a ghost we don't have to worry about vet bills."

Danny was starting to run out of good reasons to keep the ghost dog. He had other reasons, of course, but, they weren't ones he wanted to share with his parents. For one, he didn't want to explain why a ghost pup kept following him around for no apparent reason no matter how many times he tossed it back into the ghost zone. That would mean explaining why he was catching a ghost dog in the first place and why it kept coming back to him. He also didn't want to explain that getting them to like and accept the pup was a first step in getting them to admit not all ghosts are bad and then maybe, just maybe they'll stop trying to catch and dissect his alter ego. Maybe after that, he might actually feel safe telling them he had superpowers that turned him into a ghost boy. But before all that he had to get them to like this dog.

"I don't know," Maddie said hesitantly. "Looking after a dog is hard enough, it's a lot of responsibility. Looking after a ghost dog will be even trickier."

"But we're a ghost hunting family." Danny hoped emphasizing ghost activities as a family thing would make them more open to the idea. "After all, I'm a Fenton," Danny said proudly, "and no one knows ghosts better than Fentons."

Maddie flushed with joy and Jack beamed proudly.

"Well, son," said Jack, "If you feel that strongly about it I suppose we can give it a shot."

"Just remember," Maddie said in a gentle, but warning tone, "If it turns out to be an evil ghost dog, we'll have to send it back to the ghost zone."

"He won't. I promise. Thank you so much."

Excited his plan worked Danny hurried up the stairs.

"Danny."

Danny stopped when he heard his father's voice.

"If you're going to keep him you might as well think of a name."

"Actually, I already did. I've been calling him Cujo."

For a moment Danny's parents were silent. Then his dad laughed.

"I like it."