Harry had always been a friendly dog when he lived with Beth, but he liked his own space, too. He didn’t really enjoy being cooped up with a lot of other dogs. And he hated being shut up in a run. However hard the staff tried to exercise all the dogs, they had to stay in their runs for a lot of the day. As for the noise – Harry was a sensitive little dog, and the sound of barking made him want to hide under his cushion.
What made it worse was that other people kept bothering him. He was taken out of the run and given to them to hold. He wished they would just leave him alone so he could wait for Beth to come back and get him. When was she coming back? He was still hoping that she would, but he was getting less sure every day.
That first day, Harry hadn’t even looked at Grace. She wanted to go to the shelter on Tuesday, but she had her ballet class. But on Wednesday, when Grace visited, Harry actually stood up in his basket and leaned over to give her a considering sniff. Hmm. So it was her again.
On Friday she was back, so he licked her fingers, just to be polite. When she went, he watched her walking down the corridor. She smelled nice, and he wondered whether she would come again. On Saturday, he sat up in his basket when she opened the run, and when she crouched down beside him, he put his paws on her knee, positively encouraging her to stroke him.
“Oh, Harry…” Grace breathed delightedly. He was pleased to see her!
Harry hadn’t been planning to make friends with the girl, but she was quiet and gentle, and she reminded him of Beth. It was nice to be stroked and petted again, and told what a lovely boy he was. He was still waiting for Beth to come back, of course, but there was no harm in letting this nice girl –Grace, the others called her – make a fuss of him.
The next Monday, Sally walked past Harry’s run to see him curled up in Grace’s lap while she stroked his ears. Grace was staring down at him with a little smile on her face. She was imagining that Harry was hers, and that they weren’t at the shelter, they were sitting on the grass in her garden, a lovely big garden, just right for a dog to play in. None of the flats that they’d seen in their house-hunting had had gardens, but this was only a dream, after all…
“You’ve done really well with him,” Sally said, smiling.
Grace jumped slightly – she hadn’t noticed Sally coming. Harry grumbled a little when she moved, and turned himself round to get comfy again.
Sally watched him, looking pleased. “You’ve got a great feeling for animals, Grace. You’ve been so patient, and it’s really paid off with Harry. We’ll start trying to introduce him to more visitors now, I think. We’d really like to rehome him soon.”
Grace only nodded. She couldn’t trust herself to say anything. She didn’t want Harry to be rehomed yet – then she’d never see him again.
Grace frowned at the knitting pattern. She was trying to make a little teddy for Harry to have in his basket, but knitting was a lot trickier than it looked when her nan did it. She sighed. She had a feeling that it wasn’t going to look like the picture, but then Harry would probably chew it to pieces anyway. She just really wanted him to have something to remember her by. Visitors to the shelter kept saying how cute he was, and she was sure he was going to be rehomed soon. Grace sniffed, and a tear smudged the crumpled pattern.
“Grace,” Danny called round the door. “We’ve got to go and look at this flat with Mum and Dad.”
Grace frowned. Her room at the moment was more like a cupboard, but she liked it, even if there wasn’t enough space for a desk and she had to do her homework on her bed. It was comfy like that, anyway.
The new flat was really nice, with a much bigger room for Grace. She could imagine all her dog posters up at last, with all that space, and loads of shelves for her tiny china animals and her books. But it was a second-floor flat – with no garden.
“So what did you think?” Dad asked, as they were walking back home. “I really liked it.”
Mum nodded. “Me too. Lovely kitchen. And your room was great, wasn’t it, Grace?”
Grace shrugged.
“What is it?” Dad asked. “Didn’t you like it?”
“I’d much rather have a tiny bedroom, and a garden, so that we could have a dog. I really would. I don’t need a big room, honestly.”
“She’s right,” Danny put in. “A garden would be brilliant.”
Mum sighed. “I know how much you two want a dog, and I’ve been really impressed with the way you’ve worked so hard at the shelter. But I still wouldn’t feel happy leaving a dog alone all day. We’ll have to think about it.”
But she gave Dad a thoughtful look, and flicked through the list of flats that the estate agent had given them. Maybe they could find something…
Chapter Three
Harry had started to look forward to Grace’s visits. She usually came after school, so at about half-past three he would find himself standing by the door of his run, sometimes with his paws up on the wire, watching out for her. That Friday afternoon, almost two weeks after he’d first met Grace, Harry woke up from a nice snooze in his basket, and stretched out his paws. Now, why had he woken up? Was it food-time? No… Ah. It was Grace time. She should be coming to play with him soon.
“Oh, he’s lovely! What a gorgeous little dog!”
A voice floated over to him, but it didn’t sound like Grace. Harry blinked, still a little sleepy, and peered across the run. A young woman was looking at him, and Sally was with her.
Sally opened the run to let the woman hold Harry. He allowed her to pick him up, but he kept peering over her shoulder, looking out for Grace.
“He’s been with us a couple of weeks now. He’s a lovely puppy, but he’s been missing his old owner. She had to go overseas. He’s cheering up a bit now, but any new owners would have to take it slowly with him. Really take the time to build a relationship. And you know that Jack Russells are very energetic? They really need a lot of exercise.”
The woman nodded. “I’ll definitely go home and talk it over with my husband. I’ll let you know very soon.”
She waved goodbye to Harry as she walked down the corridor back to the reception area, and Harry wagged his tail delightedly and woofed. The woman smiled, thinking this was all for her – she didn’t realize that Grace was just walking through the door behind her. She went home thinking what a sweet, affectionate little dog Harry was. He’d obviously taken to her.
Grace gave the woman a worried look as the door swung shut. Not another person admiring Harry! Everyone who came to the shelter seemed to think he was really cute. Grace had a horrible feeling that Harry would be going to a new home soon.
“Hey, Grace! I’m making some coffee; do you want some juice? And there’s a packet of chocolate biscuits, look, I splashed out. Fancy one?” Sally waved the packet at Grace as she walked past the kitchen on the way to see Harry the next day. On Saturdays Grace usually played with Harry, and then tried to spend some time with any other dogs that the staff thought needed fussing over. Sally had asked her to help with a couple of other dogs who were quite shy and needed someone patient.