Eventually Daisy managed to get the lead on him, and she led Barney out of the pen, and then out of the door on to the yard, with the puppy waltzing joyfully around her feet. “Careful, Barney!” Daisy laughed. “You’re going to trip me up.” She glanced round to check that Julie wasn’t listening. She didn’t want her to know that she’d named the puppy – he wasn’t hers to name, after all. “We’re going on our first walk!”
Barney stared at the people in the farmyard, eating ice creams from the shop, visiting the piglets in their stall, or stroking the two shire horses. Children were running around, laughing and shouting. He’d never seen so many people at once. He was used to Julie and the occasional visitor, but that was all. He stopped frisking about and twitched his tail in a nervous sort of wag.
Daisy crouched down next to him. “It’s OK, Barney. I know it’s a bit scary. Let’s just go round the edge of the yard a bit…” She coaxed him along, being careful not to pull on the lead, until they reached a bench. She sat down, snuggling Barney up against her knees. She wished she could pick him up and have him on her lap, but Julie had told her that the puppies weren’t allowed on the furniture when they went in the farmhouse, because they were going to be just too big when they were older. So she thought it was probably best if he didn’t go on benches either. But she could still cuddle him. And give him a reward, she suddenly remembered!
Daisy pulled the foil pack of treats out of her pocket and tore it open, shaking a few into her hand. “Here, Barney!” She held them out to him.
Barney sniffed the delicious treats and glanced round. He’d been staring worriedly at the horse that was leaning its head out of its stall and watching him. It was enormous! But the treats smelled so good, he soon forgot to worry. He crunched them happily, and Daisy giggled as his soft, whiskery nose nuzzled against her hand, followed by a wet, velvety tongue – Barney was making sure he hadn’t missed any crumbs.
Daisy sat there enjoying the sunshine, and the admiring glances from the people passing by. She knew she ought to take Barney back and give one of the other puppies a turn, like Julie had said. But not just yet…
“Daisy!”
Daisy jumped. She hadn’t noticed her mum standing beside the bench. She smiled. “Hi, Mum! I didn’t see you.”
“I was coming to check if you wanted to go to the craft session this afternoon – they’re making friendship bracelets. I thought you might like to take some home for Millie and Eva.”
“OK.” Daisy nodded. “That sounds fun. Thanks.” She looked sideways at her mum, feeling slightly worried. Why was she frowning like that?
“Daisy, this is the same puppy again, isn’t it?” Her mum sat down next to her, and gently rubbed Barney’s flop-over ear. He panted happily, enjoying the attention.
“The same as what…?” Daisy said, stalling. She was pretty sure she knew what her mum meant, but she didn’t know why it mattered.
“The one with the floppy ear – the one you’re always playing with.”
“Yes… But Julie asked me to take him out and show him the yard. It’s to get him used to being on a lead.”
“And did she say you could give him the treats too?” Mum asked her.
“Yes! You know I wouldn’t feed him anything without asking!” Daisy protested.
“Mmm. But I don’t think Julie would’ve meant you should give treats just to this puppy. Have you taken any of the others out like this?”
“No, but…” Daisy trailed off.
“Daisy, if you fall in love with this puppy, what’s it going to be like when we go home? We’ve got less than a week here now, sweetheart. I don’t want you to be sad when you have to leave him.” Mum sighed. “And actually, it’s not very fair on him either.”
Daisy looked up in surprise. “What do you mean? Barney really likes me! He looks forward to seeing me, I know he does!”
“Exactly. Dogs get very attached to people, Daisy. Next Saturday he’ll be waiting for you to come and see him, and you’ll be on your way home!”
Daisy’s eyes filled with tears. She’d known she was really going to miss Barney, but she’d been trying not to think about it. He was her holiday dog – her secret, special puppy, just for these few days.
But she hadn’t thought about how he was going to feel when she’d gone.
“You’ve even named him, haven’t you?” her mum said. “You called him Barney just then. Julie said she tried not to name the puppies.”
“I didn’t mean to…” Daisy said quietly.
“I think you need to stop spending so much time with him,” her mum told her gently. “He’ll be going to his new owners soon. He needs to love them, Daisy. Not you.”
Daisy nodded slowly. Mum was right. She’d have to play with all the puppies, not just Barney, so that he didn’t think he was her special one… Daisy sniffed. She couldn’t do it, she knew she couldn’t. He was special!
She’d just have to stop seeing the puppies altogether.
She stood up, and Barney followed her, his ears twitching anxiously. Something was wrong. Daisy’s voice had changed, and her eyes looked all shiny. He whimpered, and Daisy patted him, but not the way she usually did. It was almost as though she didn’t want to touch him any more. Barney laid his ears back, and looked up at her worriedly. But Daisy wasn’t looking at him.
“I’ll take him back,” she whispered. “Sorry, Barney…”
Chapter Four
Barney sat by the wire front of the pen, watching the door out to the yard. The top half of the stable door was open, and two of his brothers were dozing in a patch of warm sun, while the others played. But Barney didn’t want to leave his watch to join in. It was hard to tell when someone was going to open the door, because there were footsteps going past all the time, people wandering across the yard to the café and the craft workshops. But he was listening anyway, waiting for Daisy to come back.
She hadn’t been to see him for ages, and he didn’t understand why. Until a couple of days ago, she’d come to the puppy pen every day to cuddle him, or play games with all the puppies. But specially with him. She really loved him, he could tell from the way she looked at him.
It had all changed after they’d gone out for their walk in the yard. He didn’t know what had happened, but everything had gone wrong.
Barney slumped down by the fence, resting his head on his paws and watching the other puppies tumbling about, chasing after a rope toy. Suddenly, his ears twitched. There was a scuffling noise at the door. Was someone coming? Perhaps it was Daisy!
The door opened, and Barney sprang up, jumping at the wire and scrabbling at it with his paws.
It wasn’t Daisy after all – just Julie, with a man and a boy he hadn’t seen before. “Oh, that one’s excited!” the man said. As soon as he saw them, Barney dropped down, and stood gazing sadly out through the wire.
“He’s a very sweet puppy, very friendly,” Julie said, smiling. But as she opened the pen, Barney slunk away into the corner, leaving his brothers and sisters to be fussed over by the visitors.
“I think I saw his picture on the website!” The little boy pointed to Barney. “He’s the one with the floppy ear. Please can we have him?”
“Is he all right?” the dad asked, as his son crouched down to look at Barney. “He doesn’t look very friendly. Don’t get too close, Davey.”