The puppy seemed to know that they were talking about him. His brothers and sisters had lost interest in Daisy, and gone off to chase each other around the pen and tussle with the toys that were scattered about. But he stayed by the wire, watching her intently with his dark, intelligent eyes.
“What’s his name?” she asked Julie.
“Well, we try not to name them, even though it’s difficult sometimes. It’s nice if their new owners can choose their own names,” Julie explained.
“He looks really clever,” Daisy said.
“He is sweet,” Mum agreed.
Daisy looked up at her eagerly, and Mum shook her head. “Don’t get too excited! We couldn’t have a big dog like that.”
“But – we might be able to get a dog? Another kind of dog?” Daisy whispered.
“We’re thinking about it,” her mum admitted. “Dad would really like a dog, and I had a dog when I was your age. She was called Cola, because she was exactly cola-coloured. You and Oliver are old enough to be sensible with a dog now. So maybe we can have a think about it when we get home…”
“Oh, Mum!” Daisy flung her arms round her mum’s neck.
The puppy by the wire looked up at them, wondering what was going on. His floppy ear straightened up for a second, and then flopped over again. The girl looked down at him, and he licked her hand through the wire and made her laugh. He liked her.
Daisy crouched down by the wire again. “I might be able to have a puppy like you,” she whispered.
“You can stroke him, if you’re gentle,” Julie told her, and Daisy slowly stretched out her fingers, so as not to scare the puppy, and rubbed his golden fur. She sighed contentedly.
Julie was smiling. “If you want, Daisy, you might be able to help me with socializing the puppies – getting them used to different people before they go to their new homes.”
“Can I, Mum?” Daisy asked hopefully. She had two weeks at Riverside Farm. It was the perfect opportunity to show Mum and Dad what a fantastic dog-owner she would be. She was scratching the puppy behind his velvety ears now, and he was leaning blissfully against the side of the pen.
Mum nodded. “Just don’t get too used to German shepherds, Daisy! I know they’re gorgeous, but if we do get a dog, it’ll definitely be something smaller.”
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.