Ruby had just set the oven timer for the chocolate chip cookies they were baking, when she realized he was still outside. She looked out of the kitchen window, but she couldn’t see him.
“Maybe he’s sitting by the door, waiting to come in,” Mum suggested.
But he wasn’t. Feeling worried, Ruby ran outside, hoping that Toby hadn’t found a gap under the fence. She and Dad had gone all the way round the garden checking it for holes when they’d first brought him home, but what if they’d missed one?
She raced down the garden, calling anxiously. “Toby! Toby!”
Mum stood on the patio, carrying Anya, and peered into the flowerbeds.
Suddenly, Anya laughed and pointed, and Ruby heard a worried little whine somewhere up above her.
“Toby! How did you get up there?”
He was standing in the doorway of Ruby’s treehouse, staring down uncertainly. The treehouse had been Ruby’s birthday present the year before, and it had clever steps built round the tree trunk. Obviously Toby had managed to scramble up, but he wasn’t so sure about getting down again.
“Oh, Toby! You aren’t supposed to go climbing!” Dachshunds’ long backs meant stairs weren’t good for them – Ruby was amazed that he had even managed to get up the steps. She reached for Toby, and he wriggled into her arms gratefully so she could carry him down. Then he ran all around the garden twice, as though he liked the feel of solid ground under his paws.
Getting stuck in the treehouse didn’t teach Toby to be any more cautious, as Ruby had hoped it might. He was still only a very little dog, but he seemed to think he was enormous, and he had no fear at all.
A few weeks after they had brought him home, once he had had all his vaccinations and been microchipped, Toby was ready to go out for his first walk.
Ruby fetched his beautiful blue lead. They were taking Toby to the park – and she knew he would love it!
“Toby, keep still!” She was trying to clip the lead on to his collar, but Toby kept wriggling. He’d never worn the lead before, but somehow he knew it meant something exciting.
“Let me check your collar too…” Ruby whispered. Auntie Nell had told her that it was important to fit his collar properly – not so loose it would slip off, but not so tight it would rub. She was supposed to be able to put her finger between Toby’s neck and the collar. “I’ll open it up one more hole, it’s a bit tight on you. Toby, stop jumping!” She giggled as he wriggled again and licked her nose.
Ruby was a bit worried that Toby would be nervous as they walked to the park – especially with the noisy cars speeding past. But he bounced along happily, sniffing everything they passed. His claws clicked busily on the pavement as he scurried from side to side, occasionally darting behind Ruby as he caught another interesting whiff. Ruby kept having to stop and unwind the lead from around her ankles.
“Are you all right, Ruby? Do you want me to take him?” Dad asked. Mum was walking with Anya, who was just as much trouble as Toby, and didn’t have a lead, unfortunately.
“No.” Ruby shook her head firmly. Toby was her special responsibility, and she had to be able to look after him. Surely it couldn’t be that difficult to go for a walk?
At last they reached the park. It wasn’t very far away, but Toby had probably covered three times the distance by going forwards, backwards and sideways, and he was looking a bit weary. But as soon as he saw the huge expanse of green grass, and the other dogs racing around, he brightened up immediately, his tail starting to whip from side to side. He sniffed busily at several clumps of grass, and then followed Ruby along one of the paths.
“Shall we see what he thinks of the ducks?” Dad suggested.
“Knowing Toby, he’ll think that they were put there for him to play with,” Mum sighed. But they headed through the park towards the ducks, with Anya running ahead – the ducks were her favourite thing.
“Oh, watch out, Anya!” Mum called, seeing a man coming down the path with a big German shepherd dog. Anya loved dogs, and she wanted to stroke all of them – even if they looked big, and possibly a bit fierce, like this one.
Toby spotted the German shepherd at the same moment as Anya did, and he darted forward, dragging his lead out of Ruby’s hand.
“Toby!” Ruby squeaked in horror, watching him galloping away. She looked down at her hand, as though she was still expecting the lead to be in it. Then she raced after him.
Toby ran up to the huge German shepherd, and barked loud, shrill barks at it. He could see Anya next to the bigger dog. She was his, even if she did keep sleeping in his basket. He wasn’t going to let some big strange dog scare her. He danced around the huge dog – barking and yapping until he ran out of breath and had to sit down, panting.
The poor German shepherd hadn’t even thought of hurting Anya, and was too well-trained to do anything to Toby either. She took a confused step backwards, towards her owner. She was worried she might be in trouble, and it was all very unfair.
But her owner patted her. “Good girl, Tara. Sit, there’s a good girl.” The man then reached down and picked up Toby in one hand – while Toby wriggled and yapped and fought.
Ruby came running up. Mum and Dad were chasing after them, too.
“Here you go.” The man handed the wriggling puppy to Ruby.
“I’m really sorry! It’s his first walk – he doesn’t really understand other dogs yet…” Ruby stammered, hoping the German shepherd’s owner wasn’t going to shout at her.
“Sorry!” Dad gasped, as he caught Anya up. “I hope he didn’t upset your dog.”
Toby was still yapping at the German shepherd, who was now sitting beautifully and looking rather smug, as though she knew she was well-behaved and the little yappy dog wasn’t.
“Just be careful. Not all dogs are as calm as Tara,” her owner told Ruby kindly, and he nodded at Dad.
“I won’t let him run off again,” Ruby promised.
“I’m so sorry about that!” Dad said, holding tight to Anya, who was reaching out hopefully as the big dog paced past. “No, Anya, you can’t stroke her. We shouldn’t have let you get so close.”
“Let’s get home before we get into any more trouble,” Mum said, looking around anxiously at all the other dogs in the park.
As the German shepherd and her owner headed off down the path, Ruby hugged Toby tight. He was still staring suspiciously after the bigger dog, his little body tense with anxiety as he pulled in her arms.
“Oh, Toby!” she whispered. “That dog could have eaten a puppy like you for breakfast!”
“And had room for a couple more,” Dad added grimly.
Chapter Three
“It was so embarrassing,” Ruby said, blushing as she remembered the disastrous walk the day before. “And then on the way back home there was another big dog – a Labrador – and Toby barked at him, too!”
Ruby had hurried into school that morning to talk to Beth before they went into class. Beth had known they were taking Toby for his first walk that weekend – Ruby had been so excited about it on Friday.
Beth nodded. “I wonder if it’s a small dog thing? My gran’s got a Westie called Billy, and he barks at everything. Gran says it’s because he knows he’s little and he feels like he’s got a lot to prove. Toby might grow out of it,” she suggested, a bit doubtfully.