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the kids and Hugo for a bit, what do you think?’

      I thumped my tail on the floor to signal my delight. Talk about bliss! Gail and I hadn’t spent time on our own together for what felt like months. It would be wonderful to be in her company without distraction even for just a few minutes.

       *

      Just as he promised, Simon returned an hour later, more than happy to look after the kids and Hugo, giving Gail and me some much needed time to ourselves. Eagerly, I followed my owner out into the hallway. Quickly, she slipped her trainers on and shoved a treat and my lead into the pocket of her wax jacket. I hadn’t used a lead in over a year, but Gail always liked to tie me to a post outside the supermarket when she nipped in for groceries, just in case anyone stole me.

      ‘Jen, we’re off now. Any problems give me a ring, OK?’ Gail called up the stairs.

      ‘OK,’ came Jenny’s muffled voice.

      Gail rolled her eyes as she opened the door and we stepped out into the fresh air.

      ‘Teenagers eh, Perce?’ she groaned. ‘I remember when Jenny was Ben’s age, she was such a sweet little thing. Now she spends all her time on her mobile phone playing games or chatting to her friends.’

      ‘She still is sweet,’ I yapped as we walked along Barksdale Way, the trees rustling in the wind. ‘She’s just making up for lost time. Don’t forget she was sick for so long, you can’t blame her for wanting to be a normal kid again.’

      ‘You’re so wise, Percy’– Gail smiled – ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

      ‘You’ll never have to find out,’ I told her seriously.

      I meant it too. I would be with Gail until my dying day. She had showered me with love and kindness ever since the day she adopted me from the tails of the forgotten. I would never forget her loyalty.

      As we turned the corner, I could see the shops up ahead and Gail and I quickened our pace.

      ‘You were a big help at Mum and Dad’s the other day,’ she said suddenly. ‘I just wanted to say thanks. All that fetching and carrying you were doing, dragging things from boxes, moving things out of the way with your snout, didn’t go unnoticed, not to mention going to get Hugo as well yesterday.’

      ‘It was nothing,’ I barked in reply.

      ‘Why do you think Hugo went off like that?’ Gail mused. ‘I thought we were making progress with his obedience, but after that and the potpourri I’m not so sure.’

      My ears prickled with horror. Had Gail had enough of Hugo and his bad behaviour?

      ‘We had a good chat,’ I barked quickly. ‘I think I got through to him, I think he just wanted to help your parents.’

      ‘It’s going to make such a difference having them around.’ Gail sighed as we reached the supermarket entrance. ‘I’d forgotten how much hard work babies are.’

      ‘Not to mention an adorable, but still very naughty puppy,’ I added.

      ‘I know Mum’s missed being around us all too. I think it will do her and Dad as much good as it will us,’ she said warming to her theme. ‘It will be great for us to keep an eye on them now they’re getting older too. Of course I know that’s a long way off,’ Gail said, completely misunderstanding my last bark, ‘but it’s good for them to get settled in the area and make new friends before they start to need us. But for now it’s just so perfect having them here! I couldn’t be happier.’

Chapter Five

      Returning to Barksdale Way we found the place in relative chaos. Poor Jenny was doing her best to quieten a fractious Ben who had apparently been screaming at the top of his lungs ever since we left. As for Hugo, he was clearly enjoying a surge of energy as he was now running up and down the hallway.

      ‘The sterilising machine’s broken and Dad’s trying to repair it,’ she wept as soon as we walked through the door. ‘As for Ben, he just won’t stop. I’ve tried everything. A bottle, changing his nappy, but he’s not interested in any of it.’

      ‘OK, love, give him to me,’ Gail said, dumping the shopping bags on the floor and taking the baby from Jenny. ‘Where did you say Dad was?’

      ‘In the garage,’ she said tearfully. ‘I did my best, I’m sorry.’

      ‘You’ve nothing to be sorry for.’ Gail smiled soothingly as she tried to hush her son. Suddenly a loud tearing sound caught my attention and, as I looked at Jenny in alarm, the sound rang through the house again. It was coming from the living room, and together the four of us rushed to the front of the house to find Hugo swinging joyously from Gail’s prized cream-and-blue Sanderson dandelion curtains.

      ‘What the hell?’ Gail blurted over the top of a still screaming Ben.

      ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ he barked excitedly. ‘Look how high I can climb.’

      ‘I’ll deal with Hugo,’ I barked angrily, taking in the scene. ‘You’ve got enough on your hands with that young man.’

      Gail didn’t argue as she jiggled Ben in her arms to try to get him to stop crying. Taking a deep breath, she left the room with Jenny close behind and I continued to watch my son in annoyed astonishment as he carried on climbing up the curtains. I wasn’t normally an angry dog, I never rose my bark or lost my temper. Yet since becoming a father I felt my patience increasingly wearing thin. Now, looking at my offspring running amok in my gorgeous owner’s home, I felt fury rise. How ever would he find himself a forever home if he carried on like this?

      I stood my black fur on end to make myself look big and scary, then growled loudly. ‘Get down from there now!’

      At the sound of my angry tones, Hugo’s expression of jollity turned to fear. He was now nearly at the curtain pole, and turning to look down at me he realised my bark in this case was not worse than my bite. Immediately, he slid down the curtains and stood before me, his eyes wide and pleading.

      ‘Sorry, Dad,’ Hugo yapped. ‘I didn’t mean to make you cross.’

      ‘It’s not only me you should be apologising too though, is it?’ I replied. ‘It’s time you grew up. Just look what you’ve done to poor Gail’s curtains.’

      Together, the two of us looked upwards towards the drapes and I shuddered at the sight. Not only were the cream curtains torn and frayed, but they were hanging by a thread from the pole. I knew Hugo was only a pup and bad behaviour was expected as he pushed boundaries, but I had never behaved like this.

      ‘So how are you going to make it up to Gail?’ I barked eventually. ‘Don’t you think she’s got enough to deal with at the minute?’

      Hugo yapped nothing in reply. Instead, he looked at the floor, unsure of what to bark. I knew how he felt. Just how could I get through to him that it wasn’t acceptable to treat his home like a playground? A night in the tails of the forgotten would teach him how lucky he was to have a roof over his head as nice as this one, not to mention a family that adored him, I thought sagely.

      Just then I had an idea. Seeing my boy was still excitable from his session with the curtains, I decided that what he needed most was some fresh air and a lesson in the importance of family.

      Less than twenty minutes later and we had arrived at Doreen and Eric’s and were creeping through the permanently open conservatory door and into their kitchen.

      ‘Daddy, this is very nice,’ Hugo barked as we stepped into the kitchen, ‘but I still don’t know why you made us come here.’

      I stopped by the mystery island and turned to face him.

      ‘Because if you’re well enough to run up and down curtains then you’re

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