Holly Webb
The Unwanted Puppy
For Zoe and Zach, Lucy and Georgia
Chapter One
Zoe wandered along behind her dad, looking for daisies in the grass. She wanted the ones with the fat stalks and pink-tipped petals to make into a bracelet. There were just a few starting to open up, now that spring was coming.
She was gazing so closely at the grass around her feet that she was almost nose to nose with the dog before she saw it. She stopped, half crouching, staring into a curious, furry face. Zoe loved dogs and she thought she was good at recognizing what sort they were – she had a huge dog-breed poster on her wall. But she didn’t know this one.
It had thick soft fur that was mostly black on its head, but with a white muzzle going into a white stripe up its forehead. There was a splash of gingery-brown on the sides of its muzzle and it had the most gorgeous ginger eyebrows. They stood out against its black fur and made it look very surprised to see her. Its ears were fluffy and long, and a bit like a spaniel’s. Though it definitely wasn’t a spaniel, Zoe was sure.
Even though the dog was quite big, Zoe thought it must be a puppy. It had that teddy-bear look – cuddly and fat-legged, as though it hadn’t yet grown into its paws.
It was beautiful.
“Hello, sweetheart…” Zoe whispered, wondering if the puppy was a boy or a girl. She eyed the puppy sideways, trying not to stare too much into its eyes and make it scared. Her old dog Honey hadn’t minded – she even quite liked being hugged, which lots of dogs didn’t, but she had known Zoe forever.
The puppy leaned forwards – and licked Zoe’s cheek, making her giggle. Without even thinking, she reached out and stroked one of its fluffy black ears. Then she stared at it guiltily. She loved dogs, but her mum and dad had made her promise never to stroke one without asking the owner if it was OK first. Not all dogs were as friendly as they looked so it was always best to ask. Zoe hadn’t meant to break her promise, it was just that this cute puppy had licked her…
“You’re beautiful,” she murmured. “I wish I could make a big fuss of you! I’m sure you are friendly. Where’s your owner, hey?” She looked around. The puppy’s lead was tied to the playground fence, so perhaps it belonged to one of the families who were playing inside. The playground was busy, though, just after school pick-up time, and Zoe wasn’t sure who had brought the puppy.
“Zoe!” Her dad waved from the gate. “Come on!”
Zoe sighed and smiled at the puppy. “Bye, gorgeous! Maybe I’ll see you again sometime,” she added.
“Did you see that cute dog?” she asked her dad, as she ran up to him. “Look, over there by the fence.”
“Wow. Very cute,” her dad agreed.
“I don’t know what sort of dog it is.” Zoe said thoughtfully. “But I reckon it’s a large breed – it was really big already and I think it’s still a puppy.”
“I don’t know, either.” Her dad looked back over his shoulder. “Do you really think it’s a puppy?”
“Yes! Well … probably.” Zoe sighed, and slipped her hand into her dad’s, leaning her head against his arm. “I miss Honey.”
“Me, too.” Her dad sighed. “That dog reminds me of her a bit – I think it’s the fluffy ears.”
“Hers were even fluffier,” Zoe said loyally. “She was the best dog ever.”
Honey had died in the autumn the year before and Zoe had been devastated. Her parents had owned the gentle Golden Retriever from before Zoe was born, so she’d never known their house without her. She still woke up some mornings and forgot that Honey wouldn’t be there when she went downstairs, sniffing and licking and loving her, all one giant wag.
“She was,” her dad agreed. He was silent for a moment as they came through the park gate and out on to the road, just a little way down from their house. “Maybe we’ll have another Golden Retriever one day,” he suggested. “I bet you’d enjoy having a puppy.”
Zoe looked up at him in surprise. After Honey had died, Dad had said he didn’t want to think about having another dog, not yet. She tried to imagine a different Golden Retriever lying in Honey’s favourite spot, next to the kitchen radiator. It was difficult – the new dog looked just like Honey.
Still… A puppy…! Zoe smiled to herself, thinking of walks with a dog again and curling up to read a book with a loving dog’s nose in her lap. “Yeah … maybe…”
Scout turned to watch the girl walking away from the playground, his tail still wagging faintly. Was she going to come back? He had liked her petting his ears and fussing over him. He let out a hopeful whine, standing up to peer further around the fence. But she was gone.
The puppy heaved a sigh and slumped down, stretching out his fat tan and white forepaws and resting his muzzle on them. He wished Jack would hurry up and come and play with him. It wasn’t much fun sitting here. He could hear baby Tilly wailing and he sat up again, looking worriedly into the playground. Jack was on the top of the climbing frame and Tilly was in the pushchair, with her mum leaning over to comfort her. Everything was all right…
Still, he stayed watching, ears pricked a little. Tilly’s crying made him feel anxious, as if he ought to be doing something to help her, but he didn’t know what. Jack was coming back across the playground now, looking a bit grumpy. They were about to go home, Scout realized, wagging his tail so hard that it thwacked against the bars of the fence. Jack came hurrying over to pet him and untie his lead. Scout bounced around his feet, whining and jumping excitedly, while Jack giggled. As Jack and Tilly’s mum came out of the playground gate, Jack called, “Can Scout pull me?”
Scout looked round curiously as Jack picked up his scooter, which had been lying against the fence. His tail began to wag again – he knew this game! He began to pull hard against the lead. Jack squeaked and sprang on to his scooter as Scout raced down the path, Jack and the scooter bumping and rattling behind him. They bounced and clattered towards the park gates, with Jack giggling and Scout panting happily. Playing with Jack was his favourite thing to do.
Chapter Two
Zoe kicked the tennis ball towards the fence, catching it with the side of her foot on the rebound. She kept on tapping and catching the ball until at last it bounced off into a flower bed and she had to crawl through the bushes to find it. It was one of Honey’s old toy balls, Zoe realized, as she picked it up. She used to throw it for Honey to fetch all the time.
Zoe wandered back up the length of the garden with the ball in her hand. What would it be like to have another dog? Honey would have been out here with her, racing up and down, desperate to play. Even though she’d slowed down a lot in her last year, she still loved to run. Zoe had even built her an agility course out of old flowerpots and garden sticks – she’d been very good at weaving in between them. It would be a lot of fun to teach a puppy to do things like that… Zoe smiled to herself, imagining that gorgeous puppy from the park trying to fit between the sticks. From the look of it, the puppy was the perfect size now, but it wouldn’t be long before it was just too huge.
She left the ball on the patio bench and hurried inside, remembering that she’d wanted to find out what sort of dog it was. She started off looking at the dog-breed poster on her bedroom wall, but she’d been right, it definitely wasn’t on there. It was a bit similar to the sheepdogs, but the colouring wasn’t quite the same and Zoe was sure it was bigger all over. She grabbed her book of dog breeds off the shelf instead and started to flick through. She had a feeling that maybe the puppy was some kind of shepherd dog, so she started off in the Working Dogs section, laughing at the photo of a massive black Newfoundland. It really did look like a teddy bear.