Sam the Stolen Puppy

Chapter Two

The Christmas holidays seemed to race past even faster than usual with Sam to play with. In no time at all, Emily was back at school. She spent the first day worrying about what he might be doing, and whether he was lonely without her. When Mum and Jack came to pick her up, Emily raced ahead. Mum had to keep calling to her to slow down.

“Come on, Jack!” Emily called crossly, as he stopped again. He was counting snails, and it took ages to get anywhere. Emily was desperate to get home and see Sam, she’d really missed him. It didn’t help that Jack had spent most of the walk so far chatting away about what a fun time he’d had playing with Sam while Emily was at school. It wasn’t fair. Sam was her puppy! But Emily supposed she couldn’t really say Jack wasn’t allowed to play with him. Actually, in a way she was glad that Jack had been there, because otherwise Sam might have been lonely. She just hoped that Sam had missed her a little bit!

Back at the house, Sam was padding about, feeling confused. He hadn’t seen Emily in ages. She’d been away before, but never for this long. He didn’t understand about school, even though Emily had explained it all very carefully the night before and promised him that she would be back.

Sam sniffed carefully under the sofa, in case Emily was hiding there. No, just a lot of fluff and some Lego bricks. He sneezed. Then he trotted out into the hallway, and gazed up at the stairs. He couldn’t quite manage the stairs yet, and he wondered if she was up there. But normally, if Emily was going upstairs, she took him with her.

Sam whined, and then tried a hopeful little bark. No Emily came running. He sat down and rested his nose on the first step, tired from searching. It had been quite fun playing with the little boy, but it wasn’t the same. He wanted Emily back, she was his special person.

Emily hopped about on the doorstep, waiting for Mum and Jack to catch up. Why were they taking so long? She dropped her school bag and knelt down to peer through the letter box, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sam.

“Ohhh!” There he was, flopped down next to the stairs, fast asleep.

“Emily, what are you doing?” Mum asked, as she and Jack came up the path.

“Looking at Sam, he’s so cute, he’s fallen asleep…”

They opened the door very quietly and crept in, shushing Jack, who wouldn’t stop chattering.

Sam heard the door click shut and sprang up, barking excitedly. She was back! He was so excited he ran round Emily in circles, jumping on all four paws and squeaking to show her how happy he was.

Emily picked him up, and he licked her all over, desperate to welcome her back.

Emily kissed the top of his head, rubbing her cheek over the soft golden fur. “I can hardly hold him, he’s wagging his tail so hard,” she giggled.

“I think he might just have missed you a little bit,” Mum said, with her head on one side, pretending to think about it.

Emily smiled to herself. She didn’t want Sam to be sad, but it was nice to know he’d missed her too.

It wasn’t long before Sam was old enough to go out for walks. He loved it, and so did Emily. The problem was, Sam got so excited by being outside that he spent the whole time barking and yelping and jumping up and down, so that by the time they got home he was so tired Emily had to carry him.

“I think Sam needs some dog-training classes,” Dad said, as he watched Sam running in his sleep after a particularly exciting walk one weekend. He’d tied his lead in a knot round Emily’s ankles, and then pulled her over when he went racing after a squirrel.

Emily nodded, but she looked a little anxious. “Will they be very difficult classes?” she asked.

“No, don’t worry, I’m not suggesting we train him to jump through hoops or anything. Just the basics. How to walk nicely on the lead, sit, stay, that kind of thing.”

“Ohhh.” Emily brightened up. That did sound very useful. Sam was gorgeous, and great fun to take for walks, but he wore her out too.

Dad found out that there was a dog-training class held in the local park on a Saturday morning, which was perfect. It meant he and Emily could take Sam together. Now that she knew they wouldn’t have to do anything too hard, Emily was very excited about it. She begged Mum to buy a special packet of puppy treats to take with them for when Sam did really well.

Jack was very upset that he wasn’t allowed to go, even though Mum promised that he could do something special with her. He threw a massive tantrum on Saturday morning, and Emily felt a tiny bit guilty. Jack really did love Sam too.

“I suppose we could all go,” she told Dad as they walked down the front path with Jack staring out of the window after them, tears still trickling down his face.

Dad shook his head. “That’s sweet of you, Emily, but Jack’s too young. This class is for us almost more than it is for Sam – teaching us how to teach him. We wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the class properly if Jack was with us. He’d never stop chatting!”

Emily giggled. Dad was right. Maybe she could hold a special dog-training class in the garden later, and show Jack what they’d learned.

The park was very close, but Emily was feeling tired by the time they got there. Sam seemed to want to do anything except walk in a straight line. He definitely needed training!

Luckily, Lucy, the instructor, was very nice, and she reckoned that Sam would soon get the hang of it.

“You’re starting young, which is exactly right. He’s a lovely little dog,” she said, patting Sam. Lucy thought it was best for Emily to do the training, and Dad to watch and help out. “It’ll be easier if he has one person in charge, then he won’t get confused,” she explained.

Emily had been looking forward to telling Mum and Jack everything they’d done, but when they got home, Jack wasn’t interested. “Don’t want to see,” he muttered, when Emily tried to show him how Sam walked to heel.

Mum gave her an apologetic look. “Still grumpy,” she mouthed, and sighed. “So, the class went all right then? Did Sam do as he was told?”

Dad and Emily exchanged an embarrassed look. “Some of the time,” Emily said. “He did stay for a little while, but he wasn’t very good at the bit where he was supposed to sit and look at a dog biscuit, and not eat it until he was told. He had four!”

Sam sat under the kitchen table, panting to himself and showing all his teeth in a big doggy grin. He liked dog-training…

Jack sulked about the dog-training all weekend, but on Monday morning he suddenly brightened up. He seemed very eager for Emily to get off to school and leave him alone with Sam.

Emily couldn’t help wondering just what Jack was planning. It was obviously something to do with Sam. She got told off twice by her class teacher for not paying attention, and the second time he was really cross. So she wasn’t in a very good mood when Mum and Jack came to pick her up, and she got even grumpier when she saw Jack’s smug face.

“What have you been doing?” she growled. “You’d better not have spent all day messing around with Sam. He’s my dog!”

“Emily!” her mum said. “That’s not very nice!”

Emily stared at the ground, feeling even more annoyed with Jack.

Jack just beamed at her. “I’m doing dog-training too!” he announced proudly.

“Jack’s coming to dog-training?” Emily gave her mum a hurt look. “But Dad said—”

“Not your dog-training. That’s boring. My dog-training. I’m teaching Sam how to sing.” And Jack danced along the pavement, singing loudly to himself.

Emily sighed. Jack was so silly sometimes. “He’d have to be better than you!” she called after her brother.

Emily and her mum expected Jack’s singing lessons to last about a day, but surprisingly, he kept going. Every so often he would disappear off with Sam, and he got very huffy if anyone tried to join in.

Then one Friday afternoon, when Dad got home, Jack appeared in the kitchen looking very pleased with himself.

“Me an’ Sam have got something to show you!” he said, excitedly.

Mum and Emily exchanged a look. “Is this your singing?”Mum asked kindly.

Jack nodded. “You all have to listen. Sit down, Daddy,” he ordered.

Dad had been putting the kettle on, but he grinned, and found a chair. “Go on then. Where’s the star?”

Jack opened the kitchen door, and peered round. “Sam! Sammy! C’mon!”

Sam pattered in.

“Everybody ssshhhh!” Jack hissed. He sat down on the floor with Sam, and started to sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”.

Sam wagged his tail, lifted his nose up to the ceiling and barked along. “Ruff, ruff, ruff-ruff-ruff…”

When they finished, with a long howl from Sam, there was a stunned silence in the kitchen.

“Did I just imagine that?”Dad asked.

Emily shook her head. “No, he really did it!” She knelt down to make a big fuss of Sam. “You’re such a clever boy! I can’t believe you taught him that, Jack, that’s brilliant!”

“We’re going to learn ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ next,” Jack said, pleased with the reaction he’d got. “But it’s a bit harder.”

The real dog-training classes started to go a lot better after the first couple of weeks – it was as though Sam suddenly got the hang of it. Emily felt really proud of him at the classes. He was so little compared to some of the other dogs, but he was one of the best ones there.

“Sam, sit!” Emily was standing just in front of him. Sam looked up at her enquiringly. Oh yes, he knew this one. He thumped his bottom down, tail swishing the grass happily.

“Good boy! Now, stay!” Emily turned and walked away.

Sam watched her uncertainly. He wanted to follow Emily, but he knew he wasn’t supposed to. He gave a little whine, hoping she might come back to him.

Emily looked round. “Stay, Sam!” she said firmly.

Sam sighed, and watched Emily with his head on one side, waiting. Yes! Now she was calling him. He leaped up and raced towards her, frisking round her legs happily.

“He’s doing really well, Emily, you’ve worked hard with him.” Lucy, the class instructor, was smiling down at Sam. “You gorgeous boy.” She tickled him under the chin, and Sam closed his eyes blissfully. “Right, everyone, we’re going to practise that a few more times.”

Emily told Sam to sit again, and walked back to the other side of the training area. Sam waited beautifully, and Emily glowed with pride. Quite a few people were standing with Dad, watching the class, and she imagined them all thinking how well behaved he was. One couple seemed particularly interested in the dogs, and Emily was sure she saw them point to Sam. They had a gorgeous pointer with them. Maybe they wanted to bring him to the class, although he looked a bit old. As Emily watched, the pointer half-turned to look at a dog walking behind him, and the man who was holding his lead yanked him back really hard.

The dog crouched back against the man’s legs with his shoulders hunched, looking miserable, and Emily gasped. That was so mean!

The man caught her watching, and smiled at her. Emily looked away quickly. She’d almost forgotten Sam, and she turned back to call him.

Sam had got a bit bored waiting, and he thought Emily had forgotten him too. He was creeping very slowly towards her on his bottom, with a “please don’t tell me off!” look on his face.

Emily giggled. He was so funny!

Emily soon stopped thinking about the couple with the pointer, she was too busy concentrating on Sam. At the end of the class Dad was full of praise for them both, and they were all walking happily back to the park gates when Sam turned round and yapped. The pointer was right behind him, and he wanted to say hello.

“Oh, sorry,” Dad said to the man holding him. “Is your dog friendly? Sam hasn’t met that many other dogs yet, he gets a bit excited.”

Emily glared. That wasn’t fair. Sam did like meeting other dogs, but they shouldn’t have been letting their pointer get that close if they didn’t want Sam to talk to him.

“Don’t worry! Bertie’s very friendly,” the man said, smiling.

Emily didn’t think the pointer looked that friendly. He looked as though he was too scared of being told off to do anything. He cowered away from the man, and something about the man’s too-nice voice made Emily shiver. She didn’t trust him.

“Your puppy is gorgeous,” the woman who was with him said. “Is he a pedigree Labrador?”

Dad said that Sam was indeed a pedigree dog, and mentioned the breeder he’d come from. The couple seemed very interested, and asked lots of friendly questions, but Emily still didn’t like them. She tugged at Dad’s hand, hoping to get him to leave, but he ignored her.

“Da-aaad… Can we go?” Emily muttered.

Dad looked down at her in surprise. “Wait a minute, Emily, we’re just chatting.” He frowned at her in a way that said “Behave!” and Emily scowled back. Couldn’t Dad see these weren’t nice people?

The woman crouched down to stroke Sam, and he backed away up against Emily and growled.

“Sam!” Dad sounded shocked, but Emily was glad. She didn’t want them touching him!

The woman smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I probably smell of Bertie, and he doesn’t like it.”

Sam huddled close to Emily, still growling, but faintly so that only she could hear him. The woman didn’t smell of Bertie, she smelled of lots of dogs. Lots of unhappy dogs, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near her. He didn’t want to end up like Bertie.

Dad and Emily set off for home with Sam trotting along, walking to heel, like he’d been taught. Occasionally Emily had to remind him, but not very often.

Dad wasn’t noticing how well Sam was doing though. “Emily, that was very rude just now. You know better than that. What on earth’s the matter with you?”

Emily shrugged. It sounded a bit stupid, now they’d left the strange couple behind. “They just didn’t seem very nice,” she muttered. “I didn’t like them being so interested in Sam.”

“Emily, those people were perfectly nice. Don’t be so silly,” Dad snapped.

“But Sam didn’t like them either!” Emily protested. “Dogs are good at telling what people are really like!”

“Sam just picked up on your bad behaviour,” Dad said sternly. “I don’t want either of you being like that again. Now let’s get home.”

Emily walked along, glaring at the pavement as they turned into their road. Dad was being unfair, she was sure. She knew she was right not to trust them.

Sam looked up at her anxiously, sensing that something was wrong. Then suddenly the fur prickled on the back of his neck, and he looked behind him. His low growl jolted Emily out of her sulk, and she turned to see what Sam had seen.

The couple with the pointer were just walking past the end of Emily’s road, watching them…