Ginny the Dog: A Hero Among Heroes Heroes come in many shapes and forms, but they all do uncommon things in unusual situations. They stand out. We've all heard stories of hero dogs that save their owners. One dog saved his owner by fighting off an alligator. Another woke his sleeping family when a fire broke out in its home. Still others rescue injured or needy people in dangerous situations. One dog even managed to call 911 when his owner suffered a seizure. But one dog, named Ginny, performed heroic acts on a regular basis, not just once or twice in unusual situations. Because of her kindness, many lives were saved.

Ginny the dog was adopted by her owner from an animal shelter in 1990. Within days of bringing her home, her owner discovered that Ginny seemed to be able to find cats in distress. On her daily walks, Ginny would often find abandoned, trapped, or endangered kittens or cats that needed rescuing. In one such episode, Ginny found a group of kittens trapped in a pipe. She managed to let her owner know, by scratching and barking at the pipe, that something needed her help. Because of Ginny, all the kittens were saved.

Almost daily, Ginny would find cats that needed rescuing or, in some cases, a little love. Ginny's owner reported that when Ginny saw a cat on their walks, she would pull away from her leash and run after the cat. Instead of chasing cats like most dogs, Ginny would nuzzle and lick them, giving them comfort. Because of Ginny, her owner soon found he was caring for hundreds of wild neighborhood cats. In addition, Ginny pushed her owner to adopt more than 20 cats, most of whom had permanent injuries or special needs.

"When we would go to the pound to drop off donations," her owner said, "Ginny always found the cat that was blind or deaf or hurt in some way. She would sit down in front of the cat's crate and not move until we brought it home."

What makes a dog behave in such a kind way? Some believe Ginny had a very strong mothering instinct. But how could she tell when a cat was deaf? How did she know which cats needed love and attention? Regardless of how she did it, Ginny rescued hundreds of cats in her life and set an example we all can follow.

What is the main idea of the bolded paragraph? (5 points)

Group of answer choices

Ginny caused her owner to care for neighborhood cats.

Ginny has a gift for finding cats in distress.

Ginny is an unusually heroic dog.

Ginny the dog was adopted by her owner from an animal shelter.

Passage: mrs. smith’s sixth-grade class filed onto the grassy field behind the middle school after lunch. as she exited the building, chelsea looked around for her closest friend, brittany. she spotted her by the swings, talking to their classmate brian. 2 “brian thinks he’s the fastest person in mrs. smith’s class,” brittany told her when she had joined them. it was obvious that brittany didn’t agree with brian. 3 “i guarantee i can beat anyone in this class to a race,” brian said, tugging on the scarlet baseball cap that he wore each and every day. “in fact, i bet i can run faster than the seventh, eighth, and even ninth graders, too! ” 4chelsea rolled her eyes, but wasn’t astonished by his declaration. brian was typically overconfident; he was always challenging other students and expecting to win. according to brian, he was so talented that he could hit more home runs than children on the baseball team and even could repeatedly make more baskets than the boys and girls on the basketball team. 5 “who dares to challenge me? ” brian shouted, directing his question to every student on the playground. the students looked around, but no one volunteered. 6 “i’ll race you,” chelsea said, breaking the awkward silence. she knew she wasn’t the fastest person on the playground, but if she possessed the determination necessary to win, perhaps she could complete the race first. 7 “first person around the field wins,” said brian, stretching his legs and jumping up and down to ready himself for the race. 8they approached the starting line, and brittany counted to three. 9 “see you at the finish line! ” brian exclaimed and left chelsea in the dust. 10brian soon disappeared around the first turn. chelsea took a deep breath and continued to run at a quick pace. the sun was warm and she soon grew tired, but she didn’t stop. ahead, brian approached the finish line and as he began to celebrate, she watched him trip over a small mound of dirt and fall to the ground. 11as chelsea reached the finish line, she noticed that brian was still seated on the ground, rubbing his injured knee. instead of running past him and winning the race, chelsea stooped down to him stand. he leaned on her shoulder, and they completed the race together. 12 “you could've won,” brian said as their friends came out to congratulate them. 13chelsea smiled. “friends are more important than winning,” she said. 14brian smiled at her. “my thoughts exactly,” he said question: which action in the story advance the plot the most? a) when chelsea accepts brian's challenge to race him b) when chelsea rolled her eyes at irritation at brian's pride c) when chelsea reached the finish line and brian finish the race d) when brittany told chelsea that brian thinks he's the fastest in the class