New Tricks for Rascal (2 page)

Chapter Two

The courgette catastrophe

That evening, Ellie was struggling with her science homework at the kitchen table, when she had a sudden thought. She’d let Rascal out for a wee earlier and he’d been in the garden for an awfully long time. She jumped up and ran to the window. She could just see a small, white shape, scrabbling away – in the middle of Dad’s veg patch.

At that moment, she heard the front door open. Dad was home!

“What are you up to, Ellie?” Dad asked, as he walked into the kitchen and spotted her struggling to pull down the blind on the window. “Let me help with that,” he said, coming over.

“It’s OK, I’m fine,” Ellie blurted out. But it was too late…

“Have you seen what he’s doing?” Dad yelled, as he spotted Rascal through the window. He flung open the back door, and hared off down the path.

Ellie watched anxiously as Dad grabbed Rascal and stomped back indoors with the puppy tucked under his arm.

“He’s dug up every single one of my courgette seedlings! I only planted them out yesterday!” Dad snapped.

“Sorry,” Ellie whispered. “He just likes digging. He doesn’t understand…”

Dad put Rascal down, and the puppy cowered under Ellie’s chair.

“I know, Ellie. But he can’t be allowed to dig everything up.”

“He hasn’t had as many walks today as usual, because I was at school,” Ellie explained. “He was working off all his energy.”

“We’ll talk about this later,” Dad said, and stormed off to have a shower.

Ellie looked down at Rascal, who was sitting under her chair. “What are we going
to do, Rascal? That’s Mum, Dad
and
Max, all cross with you.”

Just then, Max came into the kitchen. He crouched down next to Rascal, and held out his hand solemnly. “Shake a paw, Rascal. All is forgiven.”

“What are you doing?” Ellie asked, as Rascal licked Max’s hand instead.

“He dug up all Dad’s courgettes, Ellie! I
hate
courgettes! Do you think you could get him to work on the beetroot next?”

At least Max wasn’t cross with Ellie and Rascal any more. But Dad had had a serious talk with Ellie that night, and Ellie was starting to feel quite worried. What if Mum and Dad
did
decide that Rascal was too naughty? Would they really send him back, like Max had said? She knew that Rascal had already had another home before they got him, with an elderly couple who’d found him too much of a handful.

“You’re only a little bit naughty,” Ellie told Rascal, as she brushed him out in the garden after school the next day. She’d noticed a lot of white hairs around, and she didn’t want Mum and Dad to have anything else to be grumpy with Rascal about.

But as she let Rascal back into the
kitchen and put the grooming brush away, Ellie heard a howl of horror from upstairs.

Mum looked up from the vegetables she was chopping. “Was that Lila?”

Ellie stared down at Rascal. “Please tell me that’s not because of you!” she whispered.

About ten seconds later, Lila burst into the kitchen. Her eyes were glittering with fury, and she pointed at Rascal, who backed behind Ellie.

“He ate my new pink lipstick!”

Ellie’s eyes widened. “Oh, no—”

“And
then
,” Lila went on, “he was sick all over my carpet!”

Ellie felt a terrible urge to giggle. It was awful but funny at the same time.

“I’ll clean it up,” she volunteered, hoping that might make Lila feel better. “And I’ll buy you a new lipstick!” She gave a sigh. She had wanted to use her pocket money to buy Rascal a squeaky bone toy to distract him from digging.

“Clean it up together,” Mum said. “And please be quick, girls. Your grandad’s coming over for dinner, remember.”

Lila grabbed the carpet cleaner and headed upstairs, muttering about horrible, smelly dogs. Ellie set off after Lila, closing the kitchen door firmly as Rascal tried to follow. Rascal gave a hurt little whimper, but Ellie didn’t give in. He definitely wouldn’t be welcome in Lila’s room!

Mum passed Grandad a slice of cake, and gave him a serious look. “Have you any ideas how we can get Rascal to behave, Dad? He’s being a bit of a nightmare.” 

Grandad bit into his cake and looked over at Rascal, who was sitting next to Ellie’s chair and hopefully eyeing her portion. “Jack Russells can be tricky. They’re really determined, which is what makes them such little characters, but it means it’s hard to train them. I think you might need some help. Have you thought about
puppy-training
classes?”

Ellie smiled at Grandad. Puppy-training classes sounded like a brilliant idea!

But Mum looked thoughtful. “Isn’t he a bit young? I’d planned to take him to some in the summer holidays.”

Grandad shook his head. “No, not at all. The younger the better. Lots of classes have puppy time, when they just let the pups play together. That’s really important for getting him used to other dogs, too…”

“Rascal always barks at other dogs in the park,” Ellie put in. “Even if they’re twice as big as he is!”

“I’ll have a look online later and see if there are any local classes.” Dad looked pleased. “But I think we all have to make a real effort to help Rascal to behave, too.
Making sure we don’t leave things lying around for him to chew, stuff like that.”

“And remembering to keep your doors shut!” Mum added.

Max made a grumpy noise through a mouthful of cake.

“And he needs more exercise and lots of fun play,” Dad went on. “Puppy-training isn’t going to stop him getting bored and digging holes, is it?”

Lila shrugged. “He’s Ellie’s dog, shouldn’t she be doing all of that?”

Ellie beamed. She wouldn’t mind that at all!

Chapter Three

The Dog-Training Disaster

With Ellie’s help, Dad found a website for dog-training classes at the nearby village hall. He phoned the instructor later that evening and signed Rascal up to start at once. Luckily, there was a space in her beginners’ class, which began on Friday, so they could start that very week.

Ellie was so excited. “Please can I come with you, Dad?” she begged, as soon as he got off the phone.

Dad laughed. “You’ve
got
to come! You’re the only one who can get him to behave. If it was just me, he’d probably decide to lie down and sulk!”

Ellie giggled, but it was true. And it was a little bit worrying. What if Rascal didn’t behave for her either? She frowned. That couldn’t be allowed to happen. Mum and Dad already thought Rascal was a problem dog. He had to be a star at puppy-training, and prove that he was good enough to stay.

Ellie lay in bed that night, with Rascal curled up on her feet. (Mum had given up trying to get him to sleep in the kitchen.) She was in that dreamy state of half-asleep, and pictures of Rascal trotting perfectly to heel flitted through her mind. Rascal sitting
when she told him to – instead of looking at her with a
Why
? face, like he did now. Rascal fetching Dad’s slippers… Ellie giggled. Maybe not. The slippers would definitely have holes in them when Rascal had finished with them…

“Rascal, we’re going somewhere really exciting today.” Ellie was sitting on the
living-room
floor with Rascal after school on Friday, watching TV. “And you have to be very, very good, OK?”

Lila leaned over from the sofa. “Ellie, why are you talking to the dog?”

Max sniggered. “She thinks he understands.”

“He does!” Ellie protested. She looked down at Rascal, who was staring at her with bright, clever eyes. She was sure he understood her serious tone of voice, anyway.

Ellie had already packed a bag with Rascal’s favourite chew toy, the
chicken-flavoured
treats he really liked, a bottle of water, his bowl, and some plastic bags in case he had an “accident”. She kept checking it, worrying that she’d forgotten something.

They set off as soon as Dad got home. That way they could fit in a quick run around the park first, so that Rascal wasn’t too lively during the class – and had a chance to go to the toilet beforehand. But Ellie’s nervous feeling only got worse as
she and Dad got to the village hall, and saw all the other puppies and owners.

Ellie spotted a girl with a neat bob, wearing a Chase Hill uniform going into the hall. “Oh! That’s a girl from my school,” Ellie whispered. “Amelia. She’s in Year Six.”

She had never spoken to Amelia, who was in the same class as Max, but she knew Max had said she was stuck-up. Amelia was with her mum, and they had a beautiful King Charles spaniel, with huge, fluffy ears. Ellie wouldn’t have been surprised if Amelia had blow-dried them for him.

“That’s nice,” Dad said.

Ellie looked horrified. “No, it isn’t! What if we do it all wrong and she tells everyone at school?”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Dad said.

Unfortunately, he was wrong. As Ellie led Rascal into the hall, he dashed forwards, dragging Ellie along behind him.

“Come back, Rascal!” Ellie muttered, going red, as everyone turned round to stare. But Rascal had never seen so many puppies in one place before, and he barked himself silly, jumping up and down, and running in circles.

“Pick him up, Ellie,” Dad hissed.

Ellie hugged Rascal tightly and tried to calm him down, but he kept yapping and trying to wriggle out of her arms.

“Don’t worry.” The instructor, Jo, came over to them, smiling. She was much younger than Ellie had imagined she’d be, with a long brown plait. “He’ll soon get used to it. This is Rascal, isn’t it? We’re just going to start with everyone introducing themselves.”

She gathered them all together, and Ellie looked round curiously at the other dogs. Rascal was definitely the smallest, but they all looked quite young. As well as Amelia and Goldie, there was a chocolate Labrador puppy called Sam, a Dalmatian called Libby, a Westie, Angus, who was almost as small as Rascal, and Josh, a Border collie pup. Jo had brought her own dog too, a beautiful golden Labrador
called Emma, who looked like she knew everything there was to know about dog-training.

“These classes are all about you ending up with a happy, well-behaved dog,” Jo explained. “A dog who gets on well with all your family, and other dogs too. So, we’re going to start with some playtime. I think we’ll put Libby, Sam and Josh together in one group. Then Angus, Goldie and Rascal in the other, as they’re about the same size.”

Jo moved the two groups to opposite ends of the hall, and told all the owners to crouch down. “That way your puppy knows you’re nice and close if he’s scared. We’ll take their leads off and let them play with these rope toys. If one of the pups starts being too rough, just gently take them away for a minute, OK?”

Ellie undid Rascal’s lead. He looked up
at her curiously, and then went to sniff the rope. But Angus wanted it too, and as he tugged it away Rascal barked loudly. Everyone in the hall turned round to look.

Goldie had been sitting watching, but now she tried to join in, and Rascal noticed her for the first time. He trotted over, and started trying to sniff her bottom!

“Stop him!” Amelia snapped. Ellie snatched him up, her face scarlet. After that, Goldie and Amelia kept giving Rascal identical disgusted looks, and Ellie felt like a worm. She was glad when Jo told everyone to put the puppies’ leads back on, so they could practise walking to heel.

“Get your treats out, everyone. Remember, we want the dogs to enjoy training, and to want to do what they’re told. So, when your dog is paying attention to you, reward him. When he’s walking, have the treat just in front of his nose, so he follows along. Off we go.” Jo got them all walking in a circle round the room.

Rascal’s tail was wagging as he followed his favourite treat, and he looked
as though he was enjoying himself. Ellie took a deep, relieved breath. Maybe he had just been getting used to this training thing!

Then Rascal bolted, pulling the lead out of her hand. Ellie squeaked and chased after him.

Rascal whizzed up the stairs to the stage, where everyone had left their bags, and Ellie gasped. She knew what he was doing. Jo ran lots of classes that evening, and she’d mentioned that she brought sandwiches to keep her going.

Delicious-looking chicken sandwiches, one of which was now hanging out of Rascal’s mouth.