A Pug Like Percy: A heartwarming tale for the whole family. Fiona Harrison

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СКАЧАТЬ right,’ Boris barked loudly through the plastic. ‘You won’t have to wait long for a home.’

      Barney’s tail thumped against the floor excitedly. ‘Awww, really?’ he asked. He paused for a moment, then looked at me. ‘Well, I don’t think it will be long before someone takes you in either. Everyone loves pugs, don’t they?’ Barney said, echoing Kelly’s earlier sentiments.

      Boris slumped to the floor. ‘That’s true as well. You two will be snapped up and I will be all alone for ever.’

      ‘Of course you won’t,’ Barney reasoned.

      ‘I will,’ Boris barked. ‘I’m a bad dog, my old owner Sam and his wife Emma could never be bothered with me. I was always getting under their feet or in their way.’

      ‘I’m sure you weren’t,’ I replied. ‘So many dog owners think that all we need is a bowl of food, and a couple of walks. They don’t realise we need company, affection and—’

      ‘Love,’ Boris interrupted. ‘My owners never loved me. They thought they did, but when it came down to it, I was just too much trouble for them.’

      I felt a pang of sympathy for the young dog. Barely out of his teens, he was just a little younger than me, and despite my own fears about the future, I wanted to make Boris feel better.

      ‘You’ve seen how lovely Kelly and the rest of the carers are here. She will love you, play with you and listen to you, all while helping find you a good home.’

      ‘She’ll be lucky,’ Boris barked darkly. ‘My owner Sam used to tell me I was such a pain, nobody else would want me.’

      I growled under my breath. This Sam appeared to be unfit to lick Boris’s paws, I thought darkly.

      ‘You’re not a pain,’ I barked in anger. ‘You’re a lovely dog, Boris.’

      ‘Don’t pay any attention to your old owners,’ Barney added. ‘Any family would be lucky to have you.’

      Boris rolled his eyes. ‘Easy for you to say, you’re both a lot cuter than I am. Nobody will want me.’

      ‘But it wasn’t always like that,’ I protested. ‘I felt as bad as you do now when my old owner Javier dropped me off here yesterday.’

      ‘What was he like?’ asked Barney.

      I sighed and flopped to the floor, unsure where to start. When I thought of Javier, I felt wretched. Even though he had dumped me here, I still worshipped him and would do anything he asked if he walked through the doors right now.

      ‘Javier was a doctor from Argentina, who liked the finer things in life and he treated me like a king with the best food, treats and toys money could buy,’ I told Boris gruffly. ‘We lived in a flat in Battersea overlooking the River Thames, after he adopted me from my mum three years ago when I was a few months old.’

      ‘Sounds like a nice life,’ Boris barked appreciatively.

      ‘It was,’ I woofed. ‘I would nap when he was working, then when Javier returned, he would drink a cold beer straight from the fridge, before taking me out for a walk in the park, where we would chat and I would chew tennis balls. If Javier was working long hours, then his girlfriend, Gabriella, would take me instead, but it was never the same as she couldn’t wait to get our walk over with.’

      ‘So what happened?’ Boris asked, interrupting my trip down memory lane.

      ‘I was watching television one night,’ I barked gloomily, ‘when I saw they were both filling their suitcases with their belongings. Once the cases were filled, Javier picked me up, gave me a cuddle, told me he loved me, but that he and Gabriella had to go home to Buenos Aires, as their visas had run out.’

      ‘Why didn’t they take you with them?’ Barney quizzed reasonably.

      I shrugged my little shoulders and felt my bottom lip tremble. I had wondered the same thing as I had barked my throat out at the time, begging him to take me, but Javier ignored my pleas. Instead, he gathered my things together and then called a taxi and dropped me off here.

      ‘That’s horrible,’ Boris said quietly. ‘You must have been terrified.’

      Sadness coursed through my fur as I remembered watching Javier walk away and how my little body had pulsed with fear as I realised he really was going to desert me in a shelter, somewhere in the far reaches of South London. My wrinkled cheeks burned with shame as I recalled how I had barked at him not to leave me, that I was sorry for whatever I had done and that I would be a good boy, if only he would come back for me and take me with him to Argentina. But my undignified and desperate barks had fallen on deaf ears as my former master climbed into the back of the taxi, without so much as a backward glance.

      ‘I was terrified,’ I barked quietly. ‘I still am.’

      In fact, I was so terrified I had not yet confessed my greatest fear to anyone here, not even to Kelly. That even if she did find someone who would love and adore me, there was nothing to stop them leaving me too. Who was to say that they would keep me for ever and ever? Javier had taught me one thing, that sometimes love was not enough.

Chapter Two

      As the days turned into weeks and most of the friends I had made left the shelter for pastures new, I wondered if Barney, Boris and Kelly had in fact been wrong and that not everyone loved pugs. Over the last few days, I had watched Frank the spaniel walk away with a lovely young couple from Cheam; Maggie, a Weimaraner, disappear with an elderly gentleman from Hove; and even Daisy the Highland terrier, with flatulence evil enough to clear a room, adopted by a seemingly lovely family from Chelmsford.

      Now it seemed Barney was all set to leave me too, as he had hit it off with a young single lady from Clapham, who was now here to take him home. As the woman bent down to fondle his ears, Barney whined and wagged his tail with such excitement he made the floor vibrate beneath me. Of course I was happy Barney had found someone to give him the love he deserved, but deep down I was sorry it was not me.

      As Barney walked away with his new owner, he shot me a hopeful stare. ‘A special family are coming for you, I promise.’

      I watched him walk through the large glass doors that opened up to the exercise yard and the outside world beyond. Deflated, I trotted back to my squishy bed, and dived under my soft blanket. All I wanted was to shut everyone out. Even though it was Saturday and I knew the shelter would be full of prospective families, I was not in the mood to perform. Over the past few weeks, I had done all the cute pug-like things you could imagine to try and get a family to take me. I had uncurled my tail to give it a little waggle, exposed my belly to show I loved a stroke and even stared longingly with my big brown eyes at passing children. Of course I had received my fair share of cuddles and, as my time here grew longer and longer, I had even stopped moaning when the bigger children pulled my tail or stepped on my delicate paws. But while everyone had been kind enough to shower me with love, I had heard them talk in hushed tones about the health problems my short face would cause, along with worries about gassiness.

      I was broken-hearted. I had lost my home, my owner, and hope was deserting me. Kelly had done her best to cheer me up, by telling me how loveable I was, but I knew that was untrue. I no longer felt СКАЧАТЬ