Note: I am substituting the character ~ 'tilda' where dashes '-' are in the text of this puzzle to reduce confusion...

He was -ery -ond o- ani-als and -ept -any -inds o- pets. Besides the -old-ish in the pond at the botto- o- his -arden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white -ice in his piano, a s-uirrel in the linen closet, and a hed-eho- in the cellar. He had a cow with a cal- too and an old la-e horse ~~ twenty~-i-e years o- a-e ~~ and chic-ens and pi-eons and two la-bs and -any other ani-als. But his -a-orite pets were Dab~Dab, the duc-; -ip, the do-; -ub~-ub, the baby pi-; Polynesia, the parrot; and the owl, Too~Too.

The Story o- Doctor Dolittle
by Hu-h Lo-tin-

Letters left to guess:
F G J K M Q V X Z

Randi - 44 Es; 19 Rs: 107 points

Molucass - 39 As; 31 Ns; 13 Bs: 122 points

QueenScoopalot - 33 Os: 66 points

DukeDogsMom - 28 Hs: 28 points

joanofark - 7 Us: 14 points

Chelsea - 39 Ts; 30 Is: 99 points

Vio&Juni - 9 Cs; 27 Ss; 8 Ws; 13 Ps: 57 points

Sweet_Stormy - 16 Ls; 24 Ds: 40 points

BCBlondie - 10 Ys: 10 points