Poor Smokey! He has no tail, so Brad, Brian, DJ, Derek, and Marco decide they are going to find him once so he will be able to show how happy he is like other dogs, by wagging his tail.
They go exploring in the woods, encountering all sorts of other animals with tails—a snake, a rabbit, a squirrel, and even a beaver—and ask each one if they have an extra tail they can loan poor Smokey.
However it is not until they meet Mr. Raccoon that they being to understand that maybe Smokey is perfectly happy the way he is, having developed his own form of communication. Thus they learn a valuable lesson about accepting themselves and each other the way they are.
With suitable language and charming illustrations, B.J. Shugars uses her story of Smokey the Tailless Dog to impart a gentle moral to children that it’s okay to be different and, in fact, we should celebrate our differences rather than discriminate because of them.