Free Jess the Lonely Puppy by Holly Webb Page A

back towards them now.
    “Why don’t you take her for a walk round the lake with Will, once he’s got her back on the lead?” Grandad suggested gently. “I’ll come too, if you want.”
    Chloe hesitated. She’d like to go, if Jess was on the lead… But then the puppy spotted two Canada geese flyingoverhead and barked at full volume, jumping up and trying to catch the birds, who ignored her completely.
    She shrank back against Grandad. “No, it’s OK. I’ll go back and sit with Mum and Dad, and read my book.”
    Grandad sighed as he watched her run back to her parents, who were sitting on the picnic rug. He followed after her slowly.
    Jess scampered off, and Will laughed as she pulled hard on her lead. She loved walks like this, with lots of different things to sniff out and chase. She caught sight of another duck in the distance and woofed happily, turning back to glance bright-eyed at Will. They raced away excitedly together.

    Chloe sat down on the rug and stared at her book, but she wasn’t really reading it. It was a book about a girl and her dog, which was quite funny really, she realized. Girls who read dog books were supposed to like dogs, not be scared of them.
    Chloe propped her chin on her hands and reread the first line of the page, but she just couldn’t concentrate. Why hadn’t she gone with Grandad and Will to walk Jess? She had been so excited when Mum and Dad had finally given in and said yes, they could get a puppy at last. Will and Chloe had been begging them for ages. It was going to be a family dog, who belongedto everyone, even though it was Will who was the keenest. He was ten now, and Mum and Dad had said that if he was really careful he and Chloe would be able to take the puppy out on their own, once they’d been to some dog-training classes.
    Unluckily, although the Greys had had Jess for six weeks now and she was big enough to go out for proper walks, the dog-training classes had clashed with Will’s football practice, so Jess hadn’t been to any yet. Will didn’t mind too much. He and Dad took her for really long walks when Dad got home from work, or sometimes he went with Grandad.
    But Chloe didn’t go at all. She had been sure that everything would be OK.She couldn’t possibly be scared of a tiny little puppy, could she? When they’d had a family discussion to decide what sort of dog they should get, she had said she didn’t mind as long as it was friendly and sweet, and not too big. And not a boxer.
    It had been a boxer who’d frightened her three years ago, back in her first year at school. She’d been running after Mum and Will through the park on the way home, and she’d gone a bit too close to the big dog. It had thought she was going to snatch the stick it was playing with and snapped at her. The boxer hadn’t really hurt Chloe, just torn her cardigan sleeve, but she had been terrified, and Mum had been furiouswith the dog’s owner. She’d told the boy that his dog should be on a lead if it wasn’t properly under control. She’d said she’d report him to the police if she ever saw it loose in the park again.
    Then Mum had explained to Will and Chloe that they mustn’t ever, ever go near strange dogs, even if they looked friendly. Chloe had known that already, of course, but she hadn’t meant to upset the dog. She’d just run a little bit too close.
    For ages, she would beg Mum to take them the long way home from school so they didn’t have to go through the park, where there were always people walking dogs. But that had been three years ago. She could walk through the park now, although she wouldn’t strokeeven the friendliest dogs.
    Chloe had been certain that a puppy would be all right. She loved the idea of having a dog, and a puppy that she knew from when it was tiny – surely she wouldn’t be scared?
    But it hadn’t worked out like that at all. The first time Chloe had seen Jess, the Border collie puppy was gorgeous – so fluffy, like a little