A Sheepdog Called Sky Read online

  Sky began to sniff about happily in the long grass. As soon as he had moved a few metres away, Jasmine called his name. He looked up enquiringly, his ears pricked. She called him again and he trotted over to her.

  “Good boy!” said Jasmine, dropping to her knees and ruffling his fur. “Good dog!”

  “He’s learning really well, isn’t he?” said Tom.

  “He’s good like this, with just us and nothing to distract him, but I think it will be a while before we can let him off the lead in the yard.”

  A flapping of wings made them both turn round, just in time to see Button flying over the low hedge and landing on the lawn. The moment Sky saw Button, he sank to the ground, his ears flattened back and his eyes fixed on the duck.

  “Down!” commanded Jasmine, sweeping her arm down at the same time, palm downwards. “Good boy, Sky! Good boy!” she said, crouching beside him and ruffling his coat.

  “But he was already down,” Tom pointed out.

  “That’s how you train them to understand the command. If you say it every time they begin to go down, then eventually they learn that’s what they must do when you say it at other times.”

  She moved a few paces back from Sky. “Stay!” she commanded, her arm outstretched with the palm outwards.

  Sky’s eyes remained fixed on Button. He began to slink towards the duck. Jasmine stepped between them.

  “Stay!” she commanded again.

  Sky continued to slink forwards. Jasmine repeated the command, trying to stay calm and preparing to grab Sky if he pounced. To her great relief, Button flapped back over the hedge. Sky got up and trotted over to sniff in the flowerbed.

  “Hmm,” said Tom. “That one might take a while.”

  “That was a bit scary,” said Jasmine. “It definitely wouldn’t be safe to take him out on the farm yet. Not with all the chickens around.”

  “Let’s see if he can play a finding game, like Truffle used to,” suggested Tom.

  “Oh, yes,” said Jasmine. “If I go and hide behind a tree, he’ll probably follow me anyway, so while I’m going off and hiding, you say, “Find Jasmine!” all the time, and then when he gets to me, I’ll praise him. If we do that a few times, he should get the hang of what he’s meant to do.”

  Sky followed Jasmine everywhere like a shadow, so he naturally followed her when she went to hide. Once they had done it several times, with Tom calling out the command repeatedly and Jasmine praising him extravagantly when he reached her, Tom decided to keep Sky on the lead while Jasmine hid. When Tom let him off the lead and said, “Find Jasmine!” Sky ran to her instantly.

  “Good boy!” said Jasmine. Sky rolled on to his back and Jasmine tickled his tummy while he wriggled to and fro, wagging his tail in delight.

  Mum came down the garden path. “David’s here with the chinchillas,” she said. “Can you two help him bring their cage in?”

  Jasmine, Tom and Sky ran up the path. In the farmyard, David was sliding a large wire cage out of his car. It was a big car and he had put the back seats down flat, but the cage still filled the entire space.

  He looked up as they came out of the garden gate. “Hello, you two. Can you take one end of this? If it’s too heavy, I’ll take the branch out.”

  The cage had a big tree branch inside it, stretching from the solid wooden floor right to the top. Lots of smaller branches grew out from the big one.

  “Where are the chinchillas?” asked Tom.

  “They’re in a carrying case on the front seat. We’ll get the cage in place and then we can put them in it.”

  They took Sky to the scullery and then helped David carry the cage upstairs. It took up most of the free space in Jasmine’s room, and it reached nearly to the ceiling. Then David fetched the carrying case and placed it on Jasmine’s bedroom floor. Jasmine and Tom crouched beside it. The chinchillas were huddled in the corner. They were about the same size as guinea pigs, but they had much larger ears and bushy tails like squirrels’ tails, but smaller. Their thick fur was a beautiful silvery-grey colour.

  David lifted them out carefully. “This is Daisy,” he said, placing one chinchilla in Jasmine’s arms, “and this is Clover.” He handed her to Tom.

  “She’s so soft!” exclaimed Jasmine. “I’ve never felt anything so soft.”

  “Chinchillas have the softest, densest fur of any animal in the world,” said David. “They have up to two hundred thousand hairs per square inch of fur.”

  “Two hundred thousand?” said Tom, looking at Clover’s mass of fine hairs. “Per square inch?”

  “It means they never get fleas, because fleas can’t get through the fur to bite them. But it also means they’ve been hunted nearly to extinction in the wild.”

  “To make fur coats?” said Jasmine, cuddling Daisy closer to her. “That’s so horrible.”

  “Are they sisters?” asked Tom.

  “Yes. Chinchillas are social animals, so it’s not good for them to be kept alone. They’re much happier with other chinchillas to keep them company.”

  “Like guinea pigs,” said Tom, “and rabbits.”

  “Can we take them out and play with them?” asked Jasmine.

  “Absolutely. Chinchillas need lots of exercise, so let them out at least once a day. Just make sure you always supervise them, and shut the cage door carefully when you put them back.”

  Jasmine nodded, stroking Daisy’s fur. “I will. I wouldn’t want the cats to get anywhere near them.”

  “There is that,” David said, “but actually the cats would find it hard to catch them. They’re very agile and fast. They can jump up to six feet, and they’re great climbers. The main problem is that they can be incredibly destructive. They gnaw anything they can get their teeth into. I let them run around my living room when I’m in there, but I’ve had to fix chicken wire to the front of the bookcase since they started chewing the spines off my books.”

  Jasmine noticed a glass fish bowl on the floor next to the carrying case, filled to about a quarter of the way up with a fine grey powder. “Is that their dust bath?” she asked.

  “Yes,” said David. “A fish bowl is good because the dust doesn’t spill out too much.”

  Tom looked puzzled. “What’s a dust bath?”

  “Chinchillas can’t wash in water because their fur’s too dense, so they have to have a dust bath several times a week,” said Jasmine. “I was watching videos online. They roll over and over in this special fine dust and it cleans their fur. It’s so fun to watch.”

  “Well, I’m very grateful to you for looking after them,” said David. He took an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Jasmine. “That’s a little something for your work.”

  “Oh, you don’t need to pay me,” said Jasmine politely.

  “No, I insist. Your mum says you’re planning to run a boarding kennels alongside your rescue centre when you’re older. That sounds like a very sensible business proposition to me. And it must be costing you a fair bit to keep Sky at the moment, so you can put this towards it.”

  “Well, if you’re sure,” said Jasmine. “Thank you.”

  “Just don’t leave it lying around,” said David, “or Clover and Daisy will have it. I left a twenty-pound note on my bedside table once and they chewed it into a thousand pieces.”

  Jasmine laughed and stuffed the envelope in her pocket, just as her bedroom door opened and Manu came in.

  “Can I see the chinchillas?” he asked. “Oh, they’re so cute! Can I hold one?”

  “Sure,” said David, “if that’s OK with Jasmine. She’s in charge now.”

  “Be really careful,” said Jasmine, “and support her properly, like this.”

  “It’s your sixth birthday soon, isn’t it, Manu?” David said, as Manu stroked Daisy. “What are you hoping to get?”

  “A mobility scooter,” said Manu.

  David looked taken aback. “A what?”

  “You know,” said Manu. “One of those really cool things old people have, that th
ey ride to the shops on.”

  “Yes, I know what a mobility scooter is,” said David. “I’m just wondering why a six-year-old boy would need one.”

  “I don’t need one,” explained Manu patiently. “They just look really fun.”

  “Right,” said David. “Of course.”

  “Do you want one of my cakes?” Manu asked David.

  “I wouldn’t,” said Jasmine, “if I were you.”

  “Are those the cakes you were making last time I was here?” asked David.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh,” said David.

  “And you never know,” said Manu, “If you’re really lucky, you might get the one with the cow’s tooth inside it.”

  “Open wide,” said Jasmine to Sky, prising his jaws apart. “Good boy.” She slipped the toothbrush inside his mouth.

  It was a week later, and time for Sky’s regular grooming session. Jasmine had brushed his coat until it shone, and now she was cleaning his teeth with a soft toothbrush dipped in a weak solution of bicarbonate of soda. Sky stood still, wagging his tail gently from side to side.

  “That must taste disgusting,” said Tom, who had arrived in the middle of the session. The house was quiet for once. Ella was still at a friend’s house, where she had stayed the previous night. (Not that Ella ever made any noise anyway.) Ben had come round earlier, but he had gone home. Manu was up in his bedroom, Mum was at work and Dad was out on the farm.

  “It tastes revolting,” said Jasmine. “I tried it. But he’s very good.”

  “He adores you so much he’d do anything for you, that’s why,” said Tom. And it certainly did seem that way. Sky never left Jasmine’s side if he could possibly help it.

  “Time for your training, Sky,” said Jasmine, as she finished cleaning his teeth.

  “I think he’s ready for a new challenge with the finding game,” said Tom.

  Jasmine clipped Sky’s lead to his collar. “What sort of challenge?”

  “Well, he finds you every time now, just by sniffing you out. Why don’t we see if he can find me?”

  “OK,” said Jasmine. “Let’s try it.”

  They walked down the garden path. The weather was dull and overcast this afternoon, the sky blanketed in thick clouds. The air was still and sticky, with little black bugs flying around.

  “OK, Sky,” said Tom, “let’s see if you can find me as well as Jasmine.”

  The children stood together at the top of the garden, with Sky sitting beside them. Then Jasmine unclipped Sky’s lead and Tom slowly began to walk away.

  “Find Tom!” commanded Jasmine, sweeping her left hand away from her in Tom’s direction.

  Sky looked up at her enquiringly, wagging his tail. She repeated the command. He followed her hand movement with his eyes, but he didn’t move.

  “Find Tom!” she said again. And, this time, Sky stood up and, hesitantly at first, trotted off towards him.

  “Good boy!” said Tom, crouching down and stroking his glossy coat. “Good boy, Sky!”

  Jasmine called Sky back and he bounded to her instantly. “Down!” she said, sweeping her hand downwards, palm to the ground. Sky was good at this command now. He lay on the ground, his eyes fixed on Jasmine, awaiting her next instruction.

  After Sky had run to Tom a few times while he was in plain view, Tom hid behind a tree while Sky was watching and Jasmine gave the command. Sky ran straight to Tom.

  “Well done, Sky,” said Tom, tickling his tummy as Sky rolled on his back. “You’re a very quick learner.”

  “Let’s see if he can find you just by your scent,” said Jasmine. “I’ll take him round the corner and you hide.”

  Just then, a piercing scream came from the house. Sky shrank back, whining and trembling. The children stared up at Ella’s open bedroom window, where the scream had come from. Then they raced towards the back door. Thunder rumbled in the distance as they ran up the stairs.

  Ella was sitting on the edge of her bed, her head in her hands, clutching at her hair, rocking backwards and forwards.

  “What’s happened?” asked Jasmine. “Ella, are you ill? What’s wrong?”

  Ella sprang off the bed. “That dog of yours, that’s what’s wrong! Look what he’s done to my work! It’s completely ruined! All my notes, completely destroyed!”

  “By Sky?” said Jasmine. “But how? When?”

  With a shaking finger, Ella pointed at the floor behind her. Jasmine and Tom walked round to the other side of her bed. Scattered all over the carpet like confetti were hundreds of minuscule pieces of paper. Paper that, Jasmine could just about make out, had once been Ella’s carefully researched, hand-written notes for her summer holiday project.

  “That wasn’t Sky,” said Jasmine. “That was the chinchillas. Somebody must have left the cage door open.”

  Ella stared at Jasmine. Her eyes grew huge and her face turned red. Then she strode out to the landing and flung open Manu’s bedroom door. Before he could resist, Ella grabbed his arm and dragged him into her room.

  “Look at this!” she yelled. “Look at it! Completely ruined! The whole summer holiday I’ve been working on this and now it’s totally destroyed, and all because you are so completely stupid that you can’t even shut a cage door!”

  “I did shut the door,” protested Manu.

  “Well, you clearly didn’t shut it properly, did you? You complete and utter…”

  Ella continued to rant, but Jasmine had stopped listening. She ran into her room, just as the sky darkened and an enormous clap of thunder sounded. The door of the chinchilla cage was open, and there was no sign of Daisy and Clover. Jasmine looked inside their sleeping boxes, but they weren’t there either.

  She looked up as Tom appeared in the doorway.

  “Not there?” he said, and she shook her head. “Where do you think they’ll be?”

  “Either here or in Ella’s room, I guess,” said Jasmine.

  “Bagsy I search in here,” said Tom.

  Jasmine took a deep breath and went back to Ella’s room.

  Ella was still alternately ranting at Manu and sobbing, while fruitlessly scrabbling around picking up tiny pieces of paper. “All that work! Look at it! And now I’ll have to do the whole lot again and I’ll never get it finished by the start of term!”

  “It’s not my fault,” Manu was saying. “I definitely shut the door. They must have opened it themselves.”

  “They can’t open it themselves,” said Jasmine. “You didn’t shut it properly. And you’re not even allowed to take them out of the cage when I’m not there, anyway.”

  Ella started ranting at Manu again. Jasmine turned her back on them and began to search the room. The chinchillas must have been tired after all that chewing. They had probably curled up in a corner somewhere and gone to sleep.

  Ella’s room wasn’t very big and Jasmine searched everywhere. She was going through all the drawers, looking under Ella’s clothes, when Tom reappeared.

  “Have you found them?” she asked.

  “Yes, and it’s so cute. Look at this.”

  He led the way to Jasmine’s room and over to her bed. Gently, he peeled back the duvet. And there, in the middle of the bed, snuggled up together, fast asleep, were two balls of silver-grey fur.

  Jasmine’s face broke out in a huge smile. “Oh, they look so sweet and peaceful. I’m so glad you found them. I hadn’t thought of looking in the actual bed.”

  “It’s lucky they didn’t go to sleep in Ella’s bed,” said Tom, “or Ella would have crushed them.”

  “It seems a shame to move them,” said Jasmine, “but we’d better put them back.”

  Tom scooped Daisy into his arms. As Jasmine picked up Clover, an even louder clap of thunder sounded, followed by a dazzling flash.

  “Wow, did you see that?” said Tom. “Forked lightning.”

  Another thunderclap crashed directly overhead, and then came the sound of raindrops drumming on the roof. As they put the chinchillas back in their cage
and Jasmine shut the door firmly behind them, her stomach suddenly turned over. In all the panic over Ella and the chinchillas, she hadn’t thought about how Sky would react to the storm.

  “Where’s Sky?” she said.

  A worried look came over Tom’s face. “Did he follow us upstairs?”

  Jasmine ran to the doorway. “Sky!” she called, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. “Sky!”

  There was no response.

  “Sky!” she called again. “Sky!”

  Still nothing.

  “I’ll search all the rooms upstairs,” said Tom. “You do downstairs. He’s probably in his bed.”

  Jasmine ran downstairs, calling Sky’s name all the time. She raced into the scullery.

  Sky’s bed was empty. And the back door was wide open.

  Jasmine felt sick. She stared through the open doorway into the pelting rain outside. She had been the last person to come through that door. She had left it open. And Sky had gone.

  Frantically, she ran through every room downstairs, looking behind doors and furniture, under chairs, tables and sofas, any place she could think of where a traumatised puppy might be cowering.

  Tom appeared as she was making a second fruitless search of the living room.

  “He’s not upstairs,” he said.

  “Did you look under all the beds?”

  “I looked under everything, behind everything, in all the cupboards, everywhere. Manu and Ella haven’t seen him. Where could he be?”

  “I left the back door open,” said Jasmine miserably.

  Tom’s eyes grew wide with horror. “So he’s run off.”

  “He might be miles away by now,” said Jasmine. “Dogs just run and run when they’re frightened. And he could have gone in any direction. Where do we even start?”

  “Why don’t you ring your dad? He can go out in his truck around the fields. If Sky’s still running, he’ll probably spot him. And we can each search in a different direction. One of us will find him.”