Need critique of intro.

I'd really appreciate it if some of you would be so kind as to crititque the intro paragraphs of my new Children's novel, "The Spirit of Beautiful Joe."
It is a supernatural/fantasy/adventure. Thanks. I really want to make this one work for me.


Annabelle looked at the Pets For Sale section of the classified ads.
“Look mom, here’s some Basenji puppies for sale. They’re barkless.”
“Those puppies might not bark, but they would whine or howl or make some other noise to disturb the neighbors,” her mother replied.
“They wouldn’t make a loud noise.”
“.We’ve already been through all that. The neighbors would complain,” Mrs. Gray said.
“No, they wouldn’t. Everybody on the street has a dog.”
“That’s right, and they constantly complain about each other’s dog. You can’t have a dog and that’s final.”
Annabelle closed the newspaper and tried not to cry.

Thanks everybody. Actually this is the beginning of an adventure story. The family goes to Meaford, Ontario for a family vacation. While there, Annabelle visits Beautiful Joe Park. As she gazes at the statue of Beautiful Joe, his spirit comes to her and tells her he is sad because there is a puppy mill in the area, operating in the day as an apple orchard. Pups are being secretly kept in appalling conditions. Annabelle tries to involve the police but they can't find any evidence of a puppy mill operation. Beautiful Joe doesn't give up though and visits Annabelle again and again giving her more details. Annabelle learns that during the day, to avoid detection, the puppies are being kept in an old underground apple storage cellar. Annabelle sees the puppies during the night when she sneaks out to visit the apple orchard. She sees the puppies are suffering from being kept underground with inadequate ventilation. One night, she sneaks out of the house again to meet Beautiful Joe, who arrives in a milk wagon. (His cruel owner was a milk man.) Annabelle and Beautiful Joe succeed in freeing the captive puppies and dogs and carry them away, with the owners of the mill in hot pursuit. Beautiful Joe bares his teeth to scare the owners away and the horse rears up his legs at them and Beautiful Joe and Annabelle arrive safely at Annabelle's house with the dogs and pups. When her parents hear of the puppies plight and Annabelle's bravery they agree to let the dogs and pups stay overnight, untilt he SPCA opens in the morning. In the morning, after a night filled with howls and whines, Annabelles' parents agree to let her keep one pup. They say the noise of one pup will be nothing compared to the racket of the night before. Annabelle visits Beautiful Joe Park again, to thank Beautiful Joe, but only finds the statue. She strokes it as she says, "Thank you, Beautiful Joe." The she pats the pup she is carrying in her pocket, who she has named "The Spirit of Beautiful Joe."

In this story, I have attempted to drop my urge to make everything realistic. I know in real life the girl's parents would have a fit if she snuck away in the night and wouldn't let her go alone to the park etc etc but I am choosing to let this story be fiction. I can put a statement at the front of the book if I need to saying "Don't go sneaking off in the night."

My husband and I have a summer place there too. Maybe we'll run into each other in Beautiful Joe Park. I visited the park for the first time on the weekend. Of course I was very moved by all the memorial to working dogs. I must have read Beautiful Joe a hundred times when I was a child, so I remember it well.

Thanks everybody. You've really boosted my morale. Hugs.