Sam the Stolen Puppy

by Holly Webb

  For Emily Ruby,

  and for Robin and William

  For more information about Holly Webb visit: www.holly-webb.com

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  About the Author

  Other titles by Holly Webb

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  The living room was covered in shreds of wrapping paper, and Emily’s mum was desperately trying to keep track. “Emily, was that toy car Jack just opened from Auntie May or Auntie Sue? No, hang on, Auntie Sue sent you both book tokens, didn’t she?” She stared at the list, anxiously. “But I’m sure she said something about a car.”

  Emily’s dad rustled through the paper to try and find a gift tag. “No, sorry, I think Jack’s eaten it.”

  “Is it breakfast?” Jack had caught on to the idea of food. “I want toast!” He abandoned the car in a pile of paper and ribbon, and started to head for the kitchen.

  “Hey! Come back here!” Dad called, a little crossly.

  Jack turned back, looking confused. “But I thought breakfast…” he said, in a hurt voice.

  Dad picked him up, and tickled him. “Sorry, Jack, I didn’t mean to sound cross. We just need to wait a bit. Emily hasn’t opened all her presents yet. Come on, Emily – you’re not usually so slow.”

  Emily was sitting quietly with a neat pile of opened presents next to her. They were nice. A pair of new trainers. A pink fluffy winter hat and scarf. New glitter pens and a sketchpad. She should be happy. But she couldn’t help being a tiny bit disappointed. There had only been one thing on her Christmas list.

  She and Jack had both written letters to Father Christmas – well, Emily had written Jack’s for him, which took for ever, because he kept changing his mind, and he wanted most of the toy shop in his stocking. He’d drawn a big spiky thing he said was a reindeer, and a J at the bottom, which was all he could manage, because he was only just three. Dad had lit the fire in the grate, even though it wasn’t really that cold, and they’d sent the letters flying up the chimney in a rush of flickering ashes. Emily wasn’t convinced about letters magically racing to the North Pole, but it was still fun to do. And you never knew, anyway…

  Still, she hadn’t really expected Father Christmas to leave a puppy at the end of her bed. It had been a big hint to Mum and Dad, and they seemed to have missed it. Emily had one present left, and it certainly didn’t have a dog in it. It was far too small. Though it did have very cute wrapping paper – silver, with little black pawprints scattered all over it.

  “Sorry, Jack, I’ve just got this one to open.” Trying not to look too disappointed, Emily carefully tore the end of the parcel – she wanted to keep the pawprint paper. She couldn’t work out what was inside as she peered in. She’d guessed from the shape that it might be clothes, even though it felt a bit hard. She shook the parcel, and out came something red, uncoiling itself as it came. A red dog collar, and a lead!

  Emily’s tummy turned over with hope and trying-not-to-get-too-excited-because-it-might-not-mean-what-she-thought-it-meant. She did have a very gorgeous toy Dalmatian dog called Georgie, who was almost life-size. Until a couple of years ago, one of her favourite games had been to pretend that he was real, and tie ribbons round his neck for a lead. But she never did that now. Almost never, anyway. Mum and Dad wouldn’t have bought her a real collar and lead just for Georgie, would they?

  Slowly, she looked up at her parents, the collar lying in her hands, like it was something incredibly precious.

  Her dad was grinning. “Can anyone hear something in the kitchen?” he asked thoughtfully. “I’m sure there’s a noise. Maybe in the utility room. Sort of a barking noise…”

  Emily leaped up in excitement and rushed to the kitchen door, and then through to the little room at the end where they kept the washing machine. In the corner of the room was a beautiful new basket. Emily knelt down beside it, hardly breathing, she was so excited. The basket was padded with a soft fleecy blanket, and snuggled into one corner of it was a ball of golden fur. As Emily watched, the puppy heaved a great sigh that seemed to go from one end of its body to the other, and then opened one eye to peer up at her. Obviously she looked interesting, because the other eye opened too, and then the tiny dog turned round and stood up. He gave a massive yawn, showing a lot of pink tongue and some very sharp little white teeth, then padded across the basket to reach Emily. They were almost nose to nose. The puppy gave a shy little wag of his tail, and licked Emily’s cheek, looking at her hopefully. This looked like someone who might be good at cuddling. It had been a little bit boring tucked away in this basket.

  “Oh, wow…” Very gently, Emily put out her hand for the puppy to sniff. She was desperate to pick him up, but she wasn’t sure if it was OK. Maybe the puppy would be scared? She looked round to see Dad leaning against the door, looking pleased.

  “That’s really good, Emily. Taking it slow. That’s just what you need to do.” He crouched down by the basket too. “Pet him a little. Stroke his ears. Then when he’s used to that you can give him a cuddle.”

  “He’s really for me?” Emily whispered, hardly able to take her eyes off the puppy.

  “All yours.” Dad was grinning as he watched Emily’s amazed face.

  “He’s so beautiful, thank you so much, Dad! I didn’t think you’d noticed I wanted a dog.”

  “It would have been hard not to notice,” Dad said, laughing. “You certainly gave us some hints! Dogs just seemed to keep being mentioned…”

  “He’s a golden Labrador, isn’t he? He’s so lovely. You are the most beautiful dog I’ve ever seen,” Emily murmured, as she tickled the puppy behind his ears with one finger. His ears felt like velvet, so soft. The puppy closed his eyes in delight. Just the right place. One of his back legs kicked without him meaning it to, as Emily tickled a really itchy bit.

  Emily looked worriedly up at Dad. “Did I do something wrong? Why did he do that with his leg?”

  “No, it’s OK. Some dogs do that. My dog Scruff used to do it whenever you scratched him behind the ears. It just means they like it, and they want more scratching. Don’t you, hmmm? And you’re right, he is a golden Labrador,” he added, reaching out to stroke the puppy too. “He’s eight weeks old.” He grinned down at Emily, who was still gazing in wonder at the puppy, stroking him with one finger. “So you like him then?”

  “I love him!” Emily wanted to leap up and hug him, but she didn’t want to frighten the puppy with any sudden movements.

  “Good,” said Dad. “Why don’t you try picking him up? That’s it, scoop him up gently. Make sure you’re supporting his bottom so he feels comfortable.”

  Emily carefully snuggled the puppy into her dressing gown, and the little dog immediately tried to climb up her front, eager to explore.

  “Take him into the kitchen,” Dad suggested. “Let him have a little look around. I went and picked him up late last night, and we’ve kept him in here since then. He needs to settle in to the house gradually. Just a room at a time. We’ll keep him in here and the kitchen for now.”

  Emily stood up, very, very carefully, and walked slowly into the kitchen, the puppy peering round her shoulder. The little dog’s bright black eyes were taking everything in.

  Mum and Jack were sitting at the kitchen table, and Jack was wolfing down a big bowl of cereal. As he saw Emily walk in, his eyes went wide, and a spoonful of milk dribbled out of his mouth.

  “That’s a dog!” he gasped.

  “Yes,” Mum agreed. “He’s Emily’s. For Christmas. But I’m sure
Emily will let you play with him too.”

  Jack started to bounce up and down on his chair, laughing with excitement. “A dog! A dog a dog a dog a dog a dog a dog!”

  “Watch it!” Mum reached over, and removed his cereal bowl to a safe distance. “Calm down, Jack.” She handed him a cloth, which he ignored entirely, still staring at the puppy.

  “Why did Emily get a puppy and not me?” he asked, frowning.

  “You’re a little bit young for your own puppy, darling,” Mum explained. “Father Christmas brought you a remote control train.”

  Jack looked unconvinced. “I’d like a dog more,” he muttered.

  Emily sat down on the very edge of a chair with the puppy in her lap. “He’s so lovely,” she murmured. “I can’t believe you really gave me a dog!” Suddenly she sat up a little straighter, clutching at the puppy to stop him falling. “What about that TV ad?” she said worriedly. “I saw it after I wrote my Christmas letter. It said you shouldn’t give dogs as presents.”

  Mum and Dad exchanged looks. “It’s true, Emily, it’s not really the best idea,” Mum said. “People often think a cute little puppy would be a lovely present, and then when the puppy gets bigger, they don’t want the work of looking after it properly.”

  “Because it is a lot of work, Emily, you’re going to need to be really responsible,” Dad put in.

  Emily nodded seriously. She would be super-responsible!

  “But we were planning to get you a dog anyway,” Mum went on. “We’d already contacted the people who bred your puppy, and we were waiting for the next litter of pups to come along. This little one just happened to arrive at the right time to be the perfect Christmas present.”

  Emily hardly ate any Christmas lunch. She kept disappearing from the table to check on the puppy. He had a little bit of turkey, and some carrots, but Dad said he couldn’t have any Christmas pudding.

  “And Emily, you really mustn’t give him anything from the table. We don’t want him learning to jump up and steal food!” Mum got up to start clearing the plates. “Have you thought of a name for him yet?” she asked, as she went over to the sink.

  Emily looked thoughtfully at the puppy, who was having a fight with a piece of wrapping paper, rolling over with it and growling. “I think I’m going to call him Sam,” she decided. “He looks like a Sam.”

  “That’s a nice sensible name,” Dad agreed. “We don’t want to be yelling, ‘Here, Fluffikins!’ across the park, do we?”

  Emily giggled. “Actually, I think Fluffikins is a cool name, Dad, thanks!” She knelt down next to the puppy. “You’d like to be called Fluffikins, wouldn’t you?”

  The puppy made a disgusted noise, and spat out a small ball of wrapping paper at her.

  Emily grinned. “OK, Sam it is, then.” She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand, watching the puppy nosing around her feet, sniffing and snorting quietly to himself. Then he climbed on to her foot and looked up at her hopefully, one paw in the air. Emily giggled. “Hey, Sam,” she said, reaching down to pick him up.

  Sam gave a delighted sigh, and firmly stamped up and down on Emily’s lap until it was just right. Then he flopped down and fell fast asleep in seconds.

  Emily watched his tiny body twitching as he slept. She still couldn’t believe he was hers. How could anyone be so lucky?

  Chapter Two

  The Christmas holidays seemed to race past even faster than usual with Sam to play with. In no time at all, Emily was back at school. She spent the first day worrying about what he might be doing, and whether he was lonely without her. When Mum and Jack came to pick her up, Emily raced ahead. Mum had to keep calling to her to slow down.

  “Come on, Jack!” Emily called crossly, as he stopped again. He was counting snails, and it took ages to get anywhere. Emily was desperate to get home and see Sam, she’d really missed him. It didn’t help that Jack had spent most of the walk so far chatting away about what a fun time he’d had playing with Sam while Emily was at school. It wasn’t fair. Sam was her puppy! But Emily supposed she couldn’t really say Jack wasn’t allowed to play with him. Actually, in a way she was glad that Jack had been there, because otherwise Sam might have been lonely. She just hoped that Sam had missed her a little bit!

  Back at the house, Sam was padding about, feeling confused. He hadn’t seen Emily in ages. She’d been away before, but never for this long. He didn’t understand about school, even though Emily had explained it all very carefully the night before and promised him that she would be back.

  Sam sniffed carefully under the sofa, in case Emily was hiding there. No, just a lot of fluff and some Lego bricks. He sneezed. Then he trotted out into the hallway, and gazed up at the stairs. He couldn’t quite manage the stairs yet, and he wondered if she was up there. But normally, if Emily was going upstairs, she took him with her.

  Sam whined, and then tried a hopeful little bark. No Emily came running. He sat down and rested his nose on the first step, tired from searching. It had been quite fun playing with the little boy, but it wasn’t the same. He wanted Emily back, she was his special person.

  Emily hopped about on the doorstep, waiting for Mum and Jack to catch up. Why were they taking so long? She dropped her school bag and knelt down to peer through the letter box, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sam.

  “Ohhh!” There he was, flopped down next to the stairs, fast asleep.

  “Emily, what are you doing?” Mum asked, as she and Jack came up the path.

  “Looking at Sam, he’s so cute, he’s fallen asleep…”

  They opened the door very quietly and crept in, shushing Jack, who wouldn’t stop chattering.

  Sam heard the door click shut and sprang up, barking excitedly. She was back! He was so excited he ran round Emily in circles, jumping on all four paws and squeaking to show her how happy he was.

  Emily picked him up, and he licked her all over, desperate to welcome her back.

  Emily kissed the top of his head, rubbing her cheek over the soft golden fur. “I can hardly hold him, he’s wagging his tail so hard,” she giggled.

  “I think he might just have missed you a little bit,” Mum said, with her head on one side, pretending to think about it.

  Emily smiled to herself. She didn’t want Sam to be sad, but it was nice to know he’d missed her too.

  It wasn’t long before Sam was old enough to go out for walks. He loved it, and so did Emily. The problem was, Sam got so excited by being outside that he spent the whole time barking and yelping and jumping up and down, so that by the time they got home he was so tired Emily had to carry him.

  “I think Sam needs some dog-training classes,” Dad said, as he watched Sam running in his sleep after a particularly exciting walk one weekend. He’d tied his lead in a knot round Emily’s ankles, and then pulled her over when he went racing after a squirrel.

  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.<
br />
  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…