Illustrated by Eric Lobbecke.
Everyone seems to have a dog except Alice's family but Dad says no dog because dogs mean trouble. When he sees that he's not on a winner here, though, Dad drives the family out to the Lost Dogs' Home and they look for a pedigreed dog like the one their friends own. But there are none for sale.
Then a huge black dog that's a bit like a Chihuahua, a bit like a Boxer, a bit like a Poodle and a bit like a St Bernard choose them! And Dad agrees that this is their dog.
He's a big galumphing sort of dog and of course every member of the family has a bright idea for naming him. Thumper, Jumper, Plumper, Stumper - until Alice stops the dog and the rest of them with a deafening whistle and a call to Galumpher to come over here.
So the family has a dog and now he has a name, and it seems just exactly as it was all meant to be!
A wonderful exuberant read-aloud story from one of Australia's best loved writers and an award-winning cartoonist, with some interesting angles on a subject that is very important to children: the connection between size and power.