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

He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets. Besides the goldfish in the pond at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white mice in his piano, a s-uirrel in the linen closet, and a hedgehog in the cellar. He had a cow with a calf too and an old lame horse ~~ twenty~five years of age ~~ and chickens and pigeons and two lambs and many other animals. But his favorite pets were Dab~Dab, the duck; -ip, the dog; Gub~Gub, the baby pig; Polynesia, the parrot; and the owl, Too~Too.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting

Letters left to guess:
J Q X Z

Randi - 44 Es; 19 Rs: 107 points

Molucass - 39 As; 31 Ns; 13 Bs; 11 Fs: 133 points

QueenScoopalot - 33 Os: 66 points

DukeDogsMom - 28 Hs; 3 Vs: 31 points

joanofark - 7 Us; 4 Ks: 18 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; 8 Ms: 48 points

BCBlondie - 10 Ys: 10 points

Cincy'sMom - 11 Gs: 11 points