Ruby sighed. “Maybe. He’s so sweet most of the time – you know he is. But I just couldn’t get him to stop barking! Mum rang Auntie Nell, and she says we might need to take him to obedience classes. Mum called and signed him up for some, but they don’t start for a few weeks. I don’t know what we’re going to do until then!”
“I’m sure puppy training will help. He isn’t really bad-tempered. Just yappy. He’s a gorgeous dog, Ruby.” Beth smiled, remembering. When she’d come over to tea last week, Toby had curled up on her lap and fallen asleep. When it was time for Beth to go home, Ruby had had to pick him up off her lap still asleep and all saggy, like a Beanie Baby dog.
“Maybe he just needs to get used to other dogs,” Ruby said. “Or perhaps you’re right, and he will grow out of it. But I need to make sure I hold on to him really tightly until he does.”
Beth frowned thoughtfully. “Couldn’t you take him somewhere quieter for walks for now?” she suggested. “Somewhere with not as many dogs, I mean.”
Ruby nodded. “That’s a good idea. I’ll ask Mum and Dad if they can think of anywhere. It’s half-term next week, so we should have a bit more time for walks.” She hugged Beth quickly, as the bell rang. “You’re a star!”
Ruby’s mum was pleased with the idea of a quiet walk. She thought that it would be a fun way to start the half-term holiday, after school on Friday afternoon.
“What about those woods we go past on the way to your dance class? Norbury Copse?” she suggested. “People do take their dogs there, but I wouldn’t have thought many people would be out in the middle of a Friday afternoon.”
“That would be great!” Ruby agreed.
When they got out of school on Friday, she said goodbye to Beth – who was going to stay at her gran’s for the week – and rushed to the car, flinging her PE bag into the boot.
Toby was sitting in his new wire travel crate, looking worried. He still wasn’t sure about going in the car, and he wasn’t really keen on being shut in the crate, but at least he had more space than in the old cardboard carrier.
The woods were only about quarter of an hour’s drive away, and soon Ruby was lifting Toby out, letting him sniff busily around the grassy verge they had parked beside. There were only a couple of other cars there – it looked like the woods would be good and empty.
It was a gorgeous autumn day, really warm for October, and Toby had a brilliant time racing along with Ruby, and flinging himself into piles of dry leaves. They flew everywhere as he rolled and jumped and snapped at them, growling as though he were very fierce. His legs were so short that every so often he disappeared right into a drift of leaves, and then he would come up spluttering and do it all over again.
Ruby was laughing so much her tummy hurt. The way Toby’s ears flapped when he jumped made him look as though he was trying to take off!
“Oooh, river!” Anya called excitedly, as they came to a little stream running along between deep, sloping banks.
There was an old rickety-looking wooden bridge, and they stood on it throwing sticks in and watching them float past underneath the bridge. Toby watched them in bewilderment, unsure why anyone would waste good sticks dropping them in the water. He whined and tugged on the lead, wanting to go and explore some more, and at last they went over the bridge and deeper into the woods.
Ruby and Toby were chasing Anya through the leaves, when suddenly Toby stopped, staring off down the little winding path they were following. He’d heard something, Ruby could tell. He looked as though he was listening with every hair of his body. Then she heard it too – barking, but much further into the woods. They weren’t going to have the place to themselves after all.
“Oh, is it another dog?” Mum said, with a sigh. “Hold tight to him, Ruby. Or I can take him, if you like?”
“It’s OK.” Ruby wound the lead round her hand, as Toby let off a series of earsplitting barks. He jumped around at the end of his lead, wanting to chase after the other dog, but Ruby wouldn’t let go.
Anya stared at Toby, wide-eyed. She didn’t like it when Toby barked loudly. She backed away, meaning to grab hold of Mum’s hand, but she wasn’t looking where she was going. She tripped over a tree root and fell, scraping the side of her face against the rocky ground.
“Oh, Anya!” Mum came running to scoop her up, as she started to howl.
Toby was so surprised by the noise Anya was making that he stopped barking. He didn’t much like loud noises either – unless he was the one making them. He whimpered and pulled at his lead, trying to get away.
“Ruby, can you get the wipes out of my bag?” Mum asked, examining the graze down the side of Anya’s face.
Ruby nodded. But Toby was pulling and tugging at the lead, and she couldn’t unzip the bag and hold him at the same time. She looped Toby’s lead over a nearby branch, so she could get at the bag properly. “Here they are.”
Toby wriggled anxiously. He didn’t like to see Anya upset, and he certainly didn’t like the wailing. But once Mum had found a couple of sweets in her bag, Anya seemed to cheer up miraculously, and let her wipe the graze clean. After that, Toby stopped worrying about Anya quite so much, and started to investigate the branch that Ruby had fastened him to.
He didn’t like it, Toby decided. He couldn’t move more than half a metre either way without the lead pulling on his collar and hurting his neck. He couldn’t go and sniff at that clump of bracken, which smelled as though a couple of other dogs had been there before. He had to check that out properly. And there was a really good, big stick just out of reach, which he would love to chew. It wasn’t fair! He shook himself crossly, making the tags on his collar jingle.
“It’s all right, Toby, hang on a minute…” Ruby murmured. But she didn’t even look round at him – she was still fussing over Anya.
Toby shook himself again, and his lead slipped off the end of the branch and thudded to the ground beside him. He stared at it in surprise. He hadn’t meant for that to happen.
If Anya hadn’t started to howl again, because Mum had accidentally wiped her face too hard, Ruby would have noticed what had happened and grabbed him. But she was giving Anya a hug to cheer her up.
Toby eyed them thoughtfully. They were busy. But there was no point in coming out for a walk, and then just sitting on the path the whole time. He pattered away, sniffing happily at the bracken. He expected that Ruby would come and catch him up in a minute anyway. Another dog had definitely been past – perhaps the one he’d heard barking earlier? He would go and find it. He scampered along the path, nose down, following the scent, and leaving Ruby and Anya and Mum far behind.
“Is she going to be OK?” Ruby asked Mum worriedly. It looked like a nasty cut, and it was still bleeding, even after Mum had wiped it a couple of times.
“It’ll be fine,” Mum said. “We need to go home and wash it properly though.”
“It hurts!” Anya wailed. “An’ my fleece! My best fleece!” It was her pink one with the hearts on, and it was stained with mud all down the side.
“Mum can wash it. It’ll be dry by tomorrow, won’t it, Mum?” Ruby hugged her little sister gently. “Toby didn’t mean to scare you by barking like that. He thought he heard another dog. Didn’t you, Toby?”