“You like those two, don’t you, Molly?” Mum asked, watching them and laughing as one of the puppies let go, leaving his brother rolling on to his bottom, still clutching the toy. “Shall we have one of the boys?”
“Oh yes, they’re really sweet. But they both are, Mum, how are we going to choose just one of them?” Molly stretched out her fingers to the puppies, who came over at once to sniff and lick them. She tickled them behind their ears, and hugged them as they climbed up into her lap. “Couldn’t we…?”
“Only one, Molly!” Mum said firmly. “One dog is quite enough work.”
Dad was nodding too, and Molly sighed and looked back at the puppies. Just then, the puppy with the right eyepatch struggled off her knee and went to join his sisters, who were taking turns hanging off their mum’s ears.
The other puppy watched them for a minute, then turned and gazed up at Molly, his tongue hanging out a bit so he looked gorgeously goofy. Molly giggled. “OK,” she said, lifting him gently under his front legs, and snuggling him up against her shoulder. “Please can we have this one? He’s really friendly and cuddly.”
Mum leaned over to pet him. “He definitely is adorable. What are we going to call him?”
Molly gave the puppy a thoughtful look as he slobbered into her shoulder. “I think we should call him Max!”
Chapter Two
A week later, Molly and her parents were able to take Max home. He was eight weeks old now, and ready to leave his mother. Two of his sisters were about to go to new homes too, and Mrs Hughes said she was sure the others would find owners soon.
Molly still wished they could have Max’s brother as well, they were such a double act that Molly hated to split them up. Then Max spotted Molly, flung himself at her, and nearly knocked her over, and Molly thought that maybe two dogs doing that all the time might be a bit much. But she was so happy that he remembered her!
“Hmmm. We’re going to have to take him to a good puppy-training class,” Molly’s mum said. “It won’t be long before he’s big enough to hurt someone by accident. We need to be able to get him to calm down.”
Mrs Hughes was nodding. “I can recommend a trainer local to you. Max’s just had his first shots, so you can take him to classes in a couple of weeks when he’s had the second set. It’s really good to start young.”
It was very exciting taking Max home, there was so much to show him. Mum and Dad had already spent ages fitting a dog-guard in the boot of the car so that Max had his own special place to ride. Mum had to keep telling Molly to sit still, as she just couldn’t help twisting round in her seat to check that Max was OK, all on his own back there.
At the house there was his new basket, his food bowl, and his lead for walks. Mrs Hughes had said to introduce him to outdoor walks gently, as he was only used to quick runs in her garden at the moment. Molly was really looking forward to taking him for walks on the beach, but they needed to wait until after Max’s booster vaccinations.
Meanwhile Max was loving settling in to his new home. He did miss his brother and sisters, but Molly was a new and interesting person to play with, and he had her all to himself. He didn’t have to share his toys either, and there were loads! Molly had spent all her pocket money on tennis balls, and a hard nylon bone that would be good for Max’s new teeth. They had a brilliant afternoon, playing new and exciting games. Max ran about so much he fell asleep in the middle of a game of Boo that they’d invented with the blanket from his basket. He suddenly stopped bouncing, and when Molly peered worriedly under the blanket to check he was all right, she found him flaked out with his nose between his paws, fast asleep.
Molly had begged for Max to be allowed to sleep in her room, but Mum and Dad said no. They knew it would end up with Max on Molly’s bed and not in his basket, even though Molly promised it wouldn’t. “It’s all very well having a puppy on your bed, Molly,” Mum explained, “but once Max is his full size, there’d be no room in your bed for you! You can’t let him on to your bed now and then change your mind when he’s bigger, he wouldn’t understand.”
So Max had to stay downstairs. Molly had given him her old teddy bear to snuggle up to, and a hot-water bottle, so he’d feel like he was curled up next to his mum, but it wasn’t the same. After all the cuddles and fussing, Max didn’t understand why he was suddenly all on his own. He yapped hopefully, expecting someone to come back and play with him, but no one came. He got up, and pattered round the kitchen sniffing, trying to work out where they all were. Earlier on Molly had played a game where she popped out from behind chairs at him – maybe this was the same? But she wasn’t behind any of the chairs.
Max trailed back to his basket with his tail hanging sadly. Where had they all gone? Were they going to come back? He snuffled and whimpered to himself for a little while, then the exhausting day caught up with him again, and he fell asleep, burrowed into his blanket.
Upstairs Molly listened worriedly. It was so horrible hearing him cry, but Mum and Dad had explained that it would only upset Max more if she went down and then left him again. Her bedroom door was open, and she could hear the noises from the kitchen. She crept out very quietly, and leaned over the banisters. He sounded so sad! But he was definitely getting quieter, so perhaps he was going to sleep. Molly was tired herself from all the chasing around they’d been doing, so she sat down on the top step, leaning against the wall, and tried not to let her eyes close.
Molly’s parents had been watching TV in the living room. When they came upstairs a couple of hours later, Molly was fast asleep on the top step.
“Max…” she muttered sleepily, as her dad lifted her.
“He’s fast asleep in his basket, Molly, don’t worry. Go to sleep.”
The weekend just flew by. Back at school on Monday everyone was really envious when Molly told them about Max. She had a couple of photos that Dad had run off on the printer for her, and she showed them off proudly.
“Oh, he’s lovely, Molly! My brother has an Old English sheepdog, they make great pets.” Mrs Ford, Molly’s class teacher, looked at the photo admiringly as they stood in the playground before school. “You should show those to the class when we do weekend news.”
Molly didn’t normally like the class news sessions that much, as she never felt like she had anything very exciting to say! But today she couldn’t wait to tell everyone about her puppy. It was nice to have them all admiring Max’s picture too, as she was really missing him. She couldn’t help wondering what he was doing, and if he was missing her too. Mum had promised to make lots of fuss of Max, but she’d be busy doing stuff on the computer too, as she worked from home. Molly hoped she wouldn’t get carried away and forget about him.
Molly’s school was really close to her house, so she walked there with her mum, and they picked up her friend Amy, who lived three doors down, on the way. Then Amy’s mum brought them home. That Monday Molly hurried Amy all the way back to their road, and then she raced home and flung herself through the front door.