Sam the Stolen Puppy Read Free

wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the class properly if Jack was with us. He’d never stop chatting!”
    Emily giggled. Dad was right. Maybe she could hold a special dog-training class in the garden later, and show Jack what they’d learned.
    The park was very close, but Emily was feeling tired by the time they got there. Sam seemed to want to do anything except walk in a straight line. He definitely needed training!
    Luckily, Lucy, the instructor, was very nice, and she reckoned that Sam would soon get the hang of it.
    “You’re starting young, which is exactly right. He’s a lovely little dog,” she said, patting Sam. Lucy thought it was best for Emily to do the training, and Dad to watch and help out. “It’ll be easier if he has one person in charge, then he won’t get confused,” she explained.
    Emily had been looking forward to telling Mum and Jack everything they’d done, but when they got home, Jack wasn’t interested. “Don’t want to see,” he muttered, when Emily tried to show him how Sam walked to heel.
    Mum gave her an apologetic look. “Still grumpy,” she mouthed, and sighed. “So, the class went all right then? Did Sam do as he was told?”
    Dad and Emily exchanged anembarrassed look. “ Some of the time,” Emily said. “He did stay for a little while, but he wasn’t very good at the bit where he was supposed to sit and look at a dog biscuit, and not eat it until he was told. He had four!”
    Sam sat under the kitchen table, panting to himself and showing all his teeth in a big doggy grin. He liked dog-training…

    Jack sulked about the dog-training all weekend, but on Monday morning he suddenly brightened up. He seemed very eager for Emily to get off to school and leave him alone with Sam.
    Emily couldn’t help wondering just what Jack was planning. It was obviously something to do with Sam. She got told off twice by her class teacher for not paying attention, and the second time he was really cross. So she wasn’t in a very good mood when Mum and Jack came to pick her up, and she got even grumpier when she saw Jack’s smug face.
    “What have you been doing?” she growled. “You’d better not have spentall day messing around with Sam. He’s my dog!”
    “Emily!” her mum said. “That’s not very nice!”
    Emily stared at the ground, feeling even more annoyed with Jack.
    Jack just beamed at her. “I’m doing dog-training too!” he announced proudly.
    “Jack’s coming to dog-training?” Emily gave her mum a hurt look. “But Dad said—”
    “Not your dog-training. That’s boring. My dog-training. I’m teaching Sam how to sing.” And Jack danced along the pavement, singing loudly to himself.
    Emily sighed. Jack was so silly sometimes. “He’d have to be better than you!” she called after her brother.
    Emily and her mum expected Jack’s singing lessons to last about a day, but surprisingly, he kept going. Every so often he would disappear off with Sam, and he got very huffy if anyone tried to join in.
    Then one Friday afternoon, when Dad got home, Jack appeared in the kitchen looking very pleased with himself.
    “Me an’ Sam have got something to show you!” he said, excitedly.
    Mum and Emily exchanged a look. “Is this your singing?”Mum asked kindly.
    Jack nodded. “You all have to listen. Sit down, Daddy,” he ordered.
    Dad had been putting the kettle on, but he grinned, and found a chair. “Go on then. Where’s the star?”
    Jack opened the kitchen door, and peered round. “Sam! Sammy! C’mon!”
    Sam pattered in.
    “Everybody ssshhhh!” Jack hissed. He sat down on the floor with Sam, and started to sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”.
    Sam wagged his tail, lifted his nose up to the ceiling and barked along. “Ruff, ruff, ruff-ruff-ruff…”
    When they finished, with a long howl from Sam, there was a stunned silence in the kitchen.
    “Did I just imagine that?”Dad asked.

    Emily shook her head. “No, he really did it!” She knelt down to