The Girl Who Thought She Was a Dog by Clare Balding

Author:Clare Balding
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241334195
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2017-12-19T16:00:00+00:00

They watched the rest of the competitors from the sidelines, excitement mounting. When it came to handing out the prizes, Fennel and Twiglet lined up expectantly. Fennel knew she had shown herself and Twiglet as well as she possibly could and was very confident of receiving at least a commendation. The ringside announcer was calling forward people and their dogs to give them prizes. The list was getting longer and longer – and still their names had not been mentioned. Fennel started to worry. Maybe she had just made them both look stupid.

Finally, the last prize was handed out. They had won nothing. Fennel and Twiglet trudged back to Grandma, both their heads hung in disappointment.

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Fennel whispered. Twiglet nudged her hand with his nose.

‘Don’t worry, darlings,’ said Grandma. ‘At least you gave it a go.’

‘But I so wanted us to go to Crufts together.’ Fennel was speaking very softly and Grandma could barely hear her. ‘I just wanted to show them what it’s like to have a dog who is so understanding and kind.’

She smiled sadly at Twiglet, who licked her hand comfortingly.

As they walked back to the car, Fennel heard cheering. Twiglet heard it too and cocked his head. The noise was coming from an arena in the middle of the showground. They could hear an excited commentator and lots of people whooping and hollering.

‘Do you want to go and have a look before we head home?’ Grandma asked.

Fennel nodded – anything to take her mind off the embarrassment of the failed showing class. As they neared the arena, Fennel spotted lots of coloured poles arranged into mini show jumps. There was a red-and-black ramp going up steeply on one side and down the other, like a pointed bridge, a see-saw, a tunnel and a series of bendy poles.

‘I think you’ll enjoy this,’ said Grandma.

They stood at the side of the arena for half an hour, watching dogs fly round the course, their owners pointing to jumps and encouraging them to go faster.

‘It’s amazing!’ said Fennel excitedly. ‘The dogs seem to know exactly where to go next and they’re really enjoying it.’

‘They love it,’ said Grandma. ‘It’s very good for their fitness and you can see the good ones really work as a team with their owners.’

‘A team,’ repeated Fennel quietly. ‘Yes, that’s exactly what they are.’

The seed of an idea was planted and, by the time they got home, Fennel knew what she wanted to do.

‘How did it go, darling?’ asked her mum as they came inside.

‘Oh, we didn’t win anything,’ replied Fennel briskly. ‘But it doesn’t matter because I’ve got a better idea.’

Rosie looked at her daughter in astonishment.

‘If you need me,’ continued Fennel, ‘I’ll be in the garden. I need to build an agility course …’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.