The Secret Puppy

Chapter Three

The flop-eared puppy galloped across the grass, and skidded to a halt before he landed in the rose bushes – he knew they were prickly. Then he turned round and galloped the whole way back again. All the puppies loved playing out in the garden. Now they were getting bigger they spent loads of time running around. Julie had given them an old football, and his two sisters were scrapping over it in the middle of the lawn. He thought about going to join in, but then he spotted a blackbird landing on top of the old brick wall.

The puppy stalked over, his tail wagging from side to side. He hoped that the bird would come down, so he could get a better look. The blackbird stared back, its head on one side, but it showed no sign of coming any closer. The puppy crept towards the bird, and then made a mad little dash up to the wall, jumping and scrabbling at the bricks and barking hopefully. The blackbird fluttered its wings in fright, squawked and flew away.

“I think you have to sneak up on them a bit more to catch them,” Daisy said behind him. At the sound of her voice, the puppy forgot about the blackbird, and raced over to her, his tail wagging madly. He planted his fat front paws on her knees, and did his best to lick her face all over.

“Hello there!” Daisy smiled. They were nearly a week through their holiday, and she had visited the puppies every day so far. Oliver had been off doing canoeing and raft-building on the river, but although Daisy had gone to a couple of the craft sessions, she by far preferred playing with the puppies.

Daisy’s dad had come to find her the day before, and he’d apologized to Julie for Daisy hanging around the puppy pen all the time.

“Not at all – it’s great to have someone else to play with the puppies,” Julie had explained. “Most of them are going to family homes, so they need to get used to being around children. Daisy’s helping me out! And the puppies love her. She’s very patient.”

Daisy glowed when Julie said that. She really wanted Mum and Dad to think of her as someone who was good with dogs – someone who could be helpful if they got a dog. But most of all she was pleased that Julie thought the puppies liked her. Especially her favourite puppy, the one with the flop-over ear. When no one was listening, Daisy had secretly named him Barney. It seemed to suit him – it sounded cheeky and matched the clever glint in his eyes. She did play with the other puppies too, but Barney always came over to her and if she sat down in the pen, he would snuggle up with his nose on her lap. He’d even fallen asleep like that a couple of times.

Lucy, the puppies’ mother, wasn’t in the pen with them today. She still spent a lot of time with the puppies, but as they were completely weaned from her milk and eating puppy food she liked a bit of time off now and then. Julie said that all she did when she wasn’t with the puppies was flake out in her basket, next to her sister Sally, looking exhausted. Occasionally she’d get up to have a big drink of water. Daisy thought she must be grateful to do this without three or four puppies coming to see what she was doing and then joining in and splashing her.

That morning, Daisy and Oliver had gone for a walk with Dad down to the nearest village, as they both had some holiday money to spend. Oliver had bought a water pistol, and Daisy had spent some of her money on a pack of puppy treats. It was bulging in her shorts’ pocket now. She’d asked Julie if it was OK to give them to the puppies, and she had said it was fine, as long as it was only a few at a time.

Just then, Julie came up to the door of the pen. “I was thinking, Daisy, if you like, you could take one of the puppies out for a little walk round the yard for me,” she suggested. “I need them to get used to seeing lots of people, and walking on a lead too. They’ll all be going to obedience classes as soon as they get to their new homes, and it’ll be good if the lead isn’t a complete surprise.”

Daisy nodded. That would be amazing – like having her very own dog! “Which puppy do you want me to take?” she asked, hoping it would be Barney.

“You can choose, as long as I know who’ve you’ve taken – that way I can make sure they all get a turn. Don’t take them out of the yard, though, and only walk them for a few minutes. They need to start small and build up.”

Daisy glanced at Barney. She was sure he would love the yard. He was such a curious little dog. Maybe people would think he belonged to her, she thought. He could be her secret puppy, just for a short while.

Julie gave her a collar and a lead to put on Barney, and showed her how to fasten it so that it would stay on, without being too tight.

Barney wriggled and whined with excitement as Daisy tried to put the collar on him. He wasn’t really sure what was happening, but it was definitely new and different. And Daisy was there. He loved it when she came to play with him. She would spend ages rolling a ball back and forth for him to chase, or stroking his ears.

Eventually Daisy managed to get the lead on him, and she led Barney out of the pen, and then out of the door on to the yard, with the puppy waltzing joyfully around her feet. “Careful, Barney!” Daisy laughed. “You’re going to trip me up.” She glanced round to check that Julie wasn’t listening. She didn’t want her to know that she’d named the puppy – he wasn’t hers to name, after all. “We’re going on our first walk!”

Barney stared at the people in the farmyard, eating ice creams from the shop, visiting the piglets in their stall, or stroking the two shire horses. Children were running around, laughing and shouting. He’d never seen so many people at once. He was used to Julie and the occasional visitor, but that was all. He stopped frisking about and twitched his tail in a nervous sort of wag.

Daisy crouched down next to him. “It’s OK, Barney. I know it’s a bit scary. Let’s just go round the edge of the yard a bit…” She coaxed him along, being careful not to pull on the lead, until they reached a bench. She sat down, snuggling Barney up against her knees. She wished she could pick him up and have him on her lap, but Julie had told her that the puppies weren’t allowed on the furniture when they went in the farmhouse, because they were going to be just too big when they were older. So she thought it was probably best if he didn’t go on benches either. But she could still cuddle him. And give him a reward, she suddenly remembered!

Daisy pulled the foil pack of treats out of her pocket and tore it open, shaking a few into her hand. “Here, Barney!” She held them out to him.

Barney sniffed the delicious treats and glanced round. He’d been staring worriedly at the horse that was leaning its head out of its stall and watching him. It was enormous! But the treats smelled so good, he soon forgot to worry. He crunched them happily, and Daisy giggled as his soft, whiskery nose nuzzled against her hand, followed by a wet, velvety tongue – Barney was making sure he hadn’t missed any crumbs.

Daisy sat there enjoying the sunshine, and the admiring glances from the people passing by. She knew she ought to take Barney back and give one of the other puppies a turn, like Julie had said. But not just yet…

“Daisy!”

Daisy jumped. She hadn’t noticed her mum standing beside the bench. She smiled. “Hi, Mum! I didn’t see you.”

“I was coming to check if you wanted to go to the craft session this afternoon – they’re making friendship bracelets. I thought you might like to take some home for Millie and Eva.”

“OK.” Daisy nodded. “That sounds fun. Thanks.” She looked sideways at her mum, feeling slightly worried. Why was she frowning like that?

“Daisy, this is the same puppy again, isn’t it?” Her mum sat down next to her, and gently rubbed Barney’s flop-over ear. He panted happily, enjoying the attention.

“The same as what…?” Daisy said, stalling. She was pretty sure she knew what her mum meant, but she didn’t know why it mattered.

“The one with the floppy ear – the one you’re always playing with.”

“Yes… But Julie asked me to take him out and show him the yard. It’s to get him used to being on a lead.”

“And did she say you could give him the treats too?” Mum asked her.

“Yes! You know I wouldn’t feed him anything without asking!” Daisy protested.

“Mmm. But I don’t think Julie would’ve meant you should give treats just to this puppy. Have you taken any of the others out like this?”

“No, but…” Daisy trailed off.

“Daisy, if you fall in love with this puppy, what’s it going to be like when we go home? We’ve got less than a week here now, sweetheart. I don’t want you to be sad when you have to leave him.” Mum sighed. “And actually, it’s not very fair on him either.”

Daisy looked up in surprise. “What do you mean? Barney really likes me! He looks forward to seeing me, I know he does!”

“Exactly. Dogs get very attached to people, Daisy. Next Saturday he’ll be waiting for you to come and see him, and you’ll be on your way home!”

Daisy’s eyes filled with tears. She’d known she was really going to miss Barney, but she’d been trying not to think about it. He was her holiday dog – her secret, special puppy, just for these few days.

But she hadn’t thought about how he was going to feel when she’d gone.

“You’ve even named him, haven’t you?” her mum said. “You called him Barney just then. Julie said she tried not to name the puppies.”

“I didn’t mean to…” Daisy said quietly.

“I think you need to stop spending so much time with him,” her mum told her gently. “He’ll be going to his new owners soon. He needs to love them, Daisy. Not you.”

Daisy nodded slowly. Mum was right. She’d have to play with all the puppies, not just Barney, so that he didn’t think he was her special one… Daisy sniffed. She couldn’t do it, she knew she couldn’t. He was special!

She’d just have to stop seeing the puppies altogether.

She stood up, and Barney followed her, his ears twitching anxiously. Something was wrong. Daisy’s voice had changed, and her eyes looked all shiny. He whimpered, and Daisy patted him, but not the way she usually did. It was almost as though she didn’t want to touch him any more. Barney laid his ears back, and looked up at her worriedly. But Daisy wasn’t looking at him.

“I’ll take him back,” she whispered. “Sorry, Barney…”