by Megan Rix
‘What’s that for?’
‘It’s where you’ll be teaching Patch to go to the loo.’
‘Don’t dogs just go where they feel like it in the garden?’ Joe’s mum said, when Joe told her later. ‘I’ve never heard of dog toilets before.’
‘That’s what I said,’ agreed Joe. ‘But Lenny told me Patch isn’t going to be a pet. He’ll be a working dog and he needs to go in just one area of the garden, the bark-chip area, so that it’ll be easier for the disabled person to clean up after him.’
‘But how are we going to teach him to do that?’
‘Lenny’ll go over it when he comes round, but I think we have to take Patch to the bark area whenever he needs to do a wee or a poo. And when he does, we give him tons of praise and a treat.’
‘Right,’ Joe’s mum said. ‘It sounds like there’s going to be a lot for us to learn – and a lot to do. Especially once you are back at school next month – you’ll have a lot to manage. You’re still sure you want to take Patch on?’
‘Absolutely sure,’ said Joe. He’d never been more sure of anything in his life. ‘It’s what Dad wanted, right?’
‘Right,’ agreed Mum.
Chapter 7
The next day Joe and his mum went to the DIY superstore to buy some bark chippings.
Joe had been so busy going along to Helper Dogs every day and visiting Patch too, that although he hadn’t forgotten about going back to school, he hadn’t been thinking about it much, either.
But when he saw the twins and their bearded dad just ahead of him in the shop, his stomach lurched. Callum and Daniel were in his class at school; they often played football together at breaktimes, but Joe still didn’t want to talk to them.
‘The bark’s in the gardening aisle down the end,’ Mum said as Joe ducked away and hurried along the plug and wires aisle. When he reached the end, he crouched down to see if he could spot Callum and Daniel. Had they just started shopping with their dad or were they heading towards the checkout?
‘No messing about in the store,’ a woman wearing the shop’s uniform told Joe.
‘I’m not.’
But the shop assistant had already hurried past.
Joe sneaked a peek round the edge of the shelves again, but he couldn’t see Callum or Daniel.
Then a hand gripped his shoulder and his blood went cold. He’d been caught. Slowly he turned round, only to find himself staring at old Mr Humphreys.
‘What are you playing at?’ Mr Humphreys said.
‘I’m not playing, I’m trying to avoid someone,’ Joe informed him.
‘Who?’ Mr Humphreys asked him suspiciously.
‘Two boys from school.’
Mr Humphreys took a look round the end of the shelf for himself.
‘Do you mean those two who are just going out of the exit with a bearded man? They look about your age.’
Joe took a careful look too. Callum and Daniel had gone!
Joe’s mum came down the aisle towards them. She looked cross, but her expression changed when she saw who Joe was with.
‘Hello, Mr Humphreys – fancy seeing you here,’ she said.
‘I’m buying some new shears,’ he told her. ‘It’s surprising how fast hedges grow if you don’t keep them trimmed. Bit like children. Need to be watched or you won’t know what trouble they’ll get themselves into.’ His beady eyes stared meaningfully at Joe.
‘Quite,’ Joe’s mum said, sounding a bit confused. ‘But worth all the hard work when they turn out well.’
‘Hmph,’ Mr Humphrey said, and he stomped off.
‘Where did you get to?’ Joe’s mum asked as soon as Mr Humphreys had gone.
‘There were kids from school here. Daniel and Callum and their dad,’ he explained.
‘So?’
‘I didn’t want to talk to them. Not about …’ His voice trailed off. They both knew why.
His mum frowned. ‘You’re going to have to talk to them one day,’ she said gently.
‘I know. But not today.’ And not ever if he had his way.
‘Come on. I found the bark chippings.’
Once they’d bought them Joe and his mum struggled to lift the heavy bag from the trolley into the boot.
‘Hope Patch appreciates all this effort,’ Mum groaned.
‘Hey, Joe!’ a familiar voice shouted. Joe turned round. It was Charlie from his class at school. She’d got an electric wheelchair last term and now she zoomed over to them in it.
‘That looks really heavy,’ she said as she watched them struggling with the bag of bark chippings.
‘It is,’ Joe’s mum replied.
‘We can manage,’ Joe said through gritted teeth.
‘My dad’ll help. He’s really strong. Dad!’ Charlie yelled to the man with her mum and brother.
The last thing Joe wanted was someone else’s dad helping them.
‘Be right there,’ Charlie’s dad called as he hurried towards them.
‘We can manage,’ Joe shouted, and he used every last ounce of strength he had to lift the bag into the back of the car.
‘I see you didn’t need any help after all,’ Charlie’s dad said when he reached them. ‘You must be really strong,’ he said to Joe.
‘Thank you for offering to help, anyway,’ Mum said.
‘Joe’s dad died,’ Charlie told her father, and Joe thought he’d never hated anyone as much as he hated Charlie at that moment. ‘He was a soldier.’
‘Sorry to hear that,’ Charlie’s dad said as her mum and brother came to join them. ‘Come on, Charlie.’
‘See you at school, Joe. Can’t wait to go back,’ she said over her shoulder.
‘I can,’ Joe muttered. But Charlie didn’t hear him.
When they got home, Joe set to work making a square area filled with bark chips in the back garden.
‘What are you doing now, for goodness’ sake?’ Mr Humphreys wanted to know. He was standing on a stepladder, clipping his garden hedge with a pair of shiny new shears.
‘We’re getting a puppy,’ Joe told him. ‘He’s coming on Saturday.’
‘Are you indeed,’ said Mr Humphreys. ‘Well, just make sure you don’t let it come into my garden and dig up all my plants.’
‘I won’t,’ Joe said. What did Mr Humphreys have to be so grumpy for?
‘And who’s going to keep an eye on it when you’re at school, I’d like to know?’
‘Mum.’
‘Huh, poor woman, as if she doesn’t have enough on her plate at the moment from the sounds of it. I’ve seen that back-bedroom office light of hers on at all hours of the night. And now you expect her to look after a puppy as well.’
Joe knew his mum was doing lots of overtime, but he hadn’t realized she was working late into the night.
‘It’s a Helper Pup,’ Joe said, but Mr Humphreys wasn’t listening.
‘Just hope you appreciate how lucky you are to have such a good mother,’ he said as Joe went back inside the house to get away from him.
Chapter 8
The six puppies slept in a heap together, not caring who they lay on top of, or where their paws ended up. One of Patch’s paws rested on top of Little Blue’s head as the pair snuggled up together. It was a few days after Patch’s test.
‘Big day for you two,’ Mrs Hodges said to the little pups, scratching the top of Patch’s head as she went past to make a cup of tea. ‘You’ll be sleeping somewhere else tonight.’
Little Blue made a sleepy sound and stretched out her paws. Her movement woke Patch, who opened his eyes, half stood up, and then flopped back down again on top of Green Boy, who rolled on to Pink Boy, who lay half on top of Yellow Boy, who snored next to Red Girl.
Over the next quarter of an hour the puppies woke and then drifted back to sleep again. But they were all wide awake by the time Mrs Hodges started to scoop their puppy kibble into the feeding tin. Their little noses sniffed the scent of breakfast and they stumbled over each other in their haste to get to the foo
d.
‘OK now … wait a minute … all right then … here it is. There’s enough for everyone,’ Mrs Hodges said as the puppies jostled each other, trying to feed from the same spot in the tin that she placed in the centre of the puppy pen.
Mrs Hodges lifted Pink Boy and moved him to the other side of the tin. Then she moved Red Girl to a different spot so she could get to the food more easily.
The puppies had finished their breakfast and were playing together while Mrs Hodges sipped a much-needed cup of tea when the doorbell rang.
Patch immediately stopped playing and looked up.
‘I bet I know who this is,’ Mrs Hodges said as she got up from her armchair and headed to the front door, closely followed by Marnie.
As soon as she’d left the room, Little Blue clamped her tiny teeth on Patch’s tail. He spun round in surprise and the two of them were soon playing a game of tail chase.
Mrs Hodges found Joe standing at the front door.
‘Hope I’m not too early,’ he mumbled, although he knew he was much earlier than the nine o’clock they’d agreed on. ‘Lenny said he’d meet us here.’
‘Come in, come in,’ she said as Marnie wagged her tail. ‘Patch will be delighted to see you.’
‘Are all the puppies going to their new homes today?’ Joe asked as he came inside.
‘Not all of them today, but they’ll all be gone by the end of the weekend,’ Mrs Hodges said. ‘Green Boy’s off at eleven o’clock, and Mr and Mrs Royston are coming for Little Blue this afternoon. Then the Pink Boy, who they’re going to call Jasper, and Red Girl are going together tomorrow morning and Yellow Boy’s off after lunch.’
‘Won’t you miss them?’ Joe asked. He didn’t think he’d ever want to let the puppies go if they were his. ‘And won’t Marnie miss them too?’ The puppies were her children after all. Joe gave Marnie a stroke.
‘Marnie’s had enough of them bothering her and they’re old enough to go out into the world now, although I would have liked to have kept one of them,’ Mrs Hodges said, leading Joe into the kitchen. ‘But they’re all going to good homes.’
‘Hello, Patch,’ Joe said as Patch ran over to him, ready to be scooped up in Joe’s arms.
Half an hour later the doorbell rang again and Lenny came in.
‘Today’s the big day,’ he said, heading over to Joe, who was playing with Patch and the other puppies.
‘He’ll probably cry the first night he’s with you, but don’t worry,’ Mrs Hodges told Joe. ‘Put this with him and it should help.’
She gave Joe a small square of dirty-looking yellow blanket and saw his confused look.
‘It’s a small piece of the blanket from the puppy pen that has the scent of his mum and his brothers and sisters on it,’ she told him. ‘I’ve cut it up so they can each take a little bit of it with them.’ She picked up one of the six soft star toys that were also in the pen. ‘All the puppies have got one of these to take with them too. They’re all stars as far as I’m concerned,’ she added.
Joe nodded.
Mrs Hodges blew her nose and headed over to the kitchen counter. She picked up one of six small bags of puppy food.
‘This is what he’s been used to eating,’ she explained.
‘You’ll need to introduce the Helper Dog puppy food gradually to this bag,’ Lenny told Joe. ‘Begin with two thirds of this one that Patch is used to and one third of the Helper Dogs puppy food and in a few days make it half and half, then two thirds and a third, until finally you make it all Helper Dogs puppy food.’
Joe nodded again. There were so many things to remember and he desperately wanted to get it all right. He’d read through the Helper Pup manual Lenny had given him three times already.
He followed Lenny with Patch in his arms, and at the front door Mrs Hodges gave the dog a last hug.
‘I’m going to miss you,’ she told him.
Patch licked her face with his little pink tongue as if he were saying goodbye.
‘You can come and see him whenever you like,’ Joe reassured her.
‘Thank you,’ Mrs Hodges smiled.
Lenny pulled open the doors at the back of his Helper Dogs van. Inside was a metal puppy crate with a blanket and a soft rabbit toy waiting for Patch inside it.
It’s a cage, Joe thought. He didn’t want to put Patch in a cage, not even for the short journey to his street.
‘Can’t I just hold him on my lap?’ he asked Lenny.
Lenny shook his head. ‘He’ll be safer in there,’ he said, pulling open the crate door.
Joe put Patch inside the crate and then swallowed hard as Patch looked out at him and whimpered.
‘He doesn’t like being in there,’ Joe protested.
‘He’ll get used to it,’ Lenny told him. ‘Lots of dogs come to love them. They’re like the dog’s kennel. A special room of his own.’
Patch didn’t like the smell of the crate or the hard shiny bars that hurt his puppy teeth when he tried to bite them. Then, even worse, the crate began to shake as the engine started up. Patch was terrified of the loud roaring sound. He shook with fear and panted as the car drove off.
‘It’s all right, Patch,’ Joe said softly. ‘Nearly there.’
It was the first time Patch had been away from his mum, and his brothers and sisters, and the first time he’d been in a car – and he didn’t like it one little bit. He whined and cried and panted the whole way to show what he thought of being in a cage inside a roaring beast.
Finally the van stopped and the back doors opened. The darkness of the van interior was replaced by sunlight and fresh air from outside.
Patch put his paw to the crate bars and looked straight at Joe and Lenny. There was no mistaking what he was trying to say.
‘He can come out now,’ Lenny said, and Joe opened the crate door and lifted Patch out. The puppy’s heart was beating very fast and Joe did his best to soothe him.
‘All Helper Dog pups have to get used to going in cars,’ Lenny said. ‘It’s part of their training. Going on buses and trains too.’
Joe’s mum was waiting for them at the door.
‘Best to keep him in the one room to start with,’ Lenny said to them both as Joe set Patch down on the lounge floor. ‘Letting him wander all over the place might be a bit overwhelming for him.’
Joe hadn’t thought of that. He wanted to be able to show Patch the garden and take him upstairs to his bedroom where they’d decided Patch would sleep at first.
‘And get him used to going in that crate at night-time. The Helper Dogs people issue them because they don’t want to be charged for any damage a pup might do. Once he’s toilet-trained he can sleep downstairs,’ Lenny told Joe.
But Joe didn’t want Patch to sleep downstairs all alone. He was sure that whoever Patch went to live with eventually would want him to sleep in their room too.
‘Patch wouldn’t do any damage,’ he said.
‘Not on purpose, no,’ agreed Lenny. ‘But to a pup, the wire to your TV is an interesting wiggly snake toy to chew on – especially when he starts teething and is looking for something to bite. He won’t know slippers aren’t toys, or socks, and puppy teeth are sharp. Shredded cushions and the like can all be avoided if you put a puppy in his crate when you can’t watch him.’
Joe looked down at Patch. He was sure the puppy wasn’t a cushion shredder.
‘We’ll keep a good eye on him,’ Joe’s mum said.
‘Well, don’t say you haven’t been warned,’ said Lenny, smiling and handing Joe a very soft collar for Patch. ‘Put this on him and then just leave it,’ he told Joe. ‘In no time at all he’ll get used to it and not be bothered.’
But Patch didn’t want the collar on and he scratched at it the minute it was clipped on. Joe picked up the star toy Mrs Hodges had given the pup and wiggled it about on the floor.
‘Here, Patch – what’s this?’
Patch was immediately interested and forgot all about the collar as he tried to pounce on the
star, his little puppy tail wagging.
‘You’ll need to keep a diary of what Patch does, and every month there’s a form to fill in to show how he’s progressing. You can do it all online on our Helper Dogs website.’
‘What about photos?’ Joe asked as Patch chewed on the star and made little growling sounds. ‘Should I take some photos of Patch for his diary and progress form?’
‘Joe’s got his dad’s camera,’ Mum said.
‘It takes really good pictures,’ Joe told Lenny, ‘and it can do videos too.’
‘Pictures and videos would be great,’ Lenny said. ‘I bet Sam’ll love to see them.’
Patch was so small at the moment it was hard to imagine that one day he’d be an assistance dog.
They all looked at the puppy determinedly dragging the star toy across the floor.
‘Right, I better get on.’ Lenny turned to Joe. ‘I know you’re going to do a brilliant job with Patch.’ He knelt down and gave Patch a final tickle behind one ear. ‘I’ll see you both very soon.’
Joe suddenly felt nervous. This was it. Patch was his responsibility now and it was a big one.
Chapter 9
Once Lenny had gone, Joe’s mum went back to work in her office and Joe took Patch out into their small garden. Patch explored the flower beds, but didn’t go too far away.
Joe was thinking about his dad. ‘You’d have liked him,’ he told Patch. ‘You’d have liked my dad very much.’
He threw the soft yellow ball he’d bought for Patch a short distance across the lawn.
Patch watched it land, looked up at Joe, looked back at the ball and then made a yipping sound as he ran over to retrieve it.
‘That’s it!’ Joe shouted as Patch ran. ‘That’s it! That’s what you’re supposed to do.’
Mr Humphreys poked his head over the hedge.
‘What’s all that noise, for goodness’ sake?’
Then he saw Patch.
‘All that yipping and yapping racket,’ he complained as Patch wagged his tail at him. ‘I hope he isn’t going to be barking all the time and giving me a headache. Looks like he’ll be a little imp. What’s wrong with his ear?’