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.