The Secret Dog Read Online Free PDF Page B

shifted away from her again.
     

    Josh could almost see the moment where Reggae ‘got it’. That her job was to move so that the sheep were driven towards Josh.
    Josh moved to his left, Reggae to her left, to balance him. Josh moved to his right, and Reggae moved to her right, so that she was opposite him.
    ‘That’ll do,’ Josh said. He left the pen. That had gone better than he’d expected!
    He called Reggae. She saw him reaching into his trouser pocket for a treat, and raced towards him.
    Ten minutes later, Josh repeated the whole process. This time, he started off to her right. Instead of circling, Reggae stopped opposite him. When he moved, she did too. She’d got ‘lesson one’ of learning to be a working dog!
     
    * * *
    Back in Reggae’s shed, Josh hung up his ‘work clothes’ and changed back into his dry school uniform. Then he opened a tin of dog food. Reggae sat watching him intently. Josh moved over to the wooden box he used as a chair and sat down.
    ‘Go.’ Reggae bounded over to the bowl and started to eat.
    As she ate, Josh thought about something that had happened two short months ago, when the earliest of the spring lambs were being born. He’d been training Reggae to heel. Some dancing lambs on a neighbouring hill had caught her eye. He didn’t have her on the lead and she’d headed for them, ignoringhis command to ‘stop’. All excited, she’d circled the group of lambs and ewes. Josh had been terrified that Reggae would accidentally hurt one of the lambs. This was a serious matter on the island, and dogs had been shot for this. Fortunately, when the big ewes saw Reggae, they’d started to move towards her. Alarmed, she’d sped back to Josh.
    She’d come a long way since then.
    ‘You did really well today,’ Josh told her, as she gobbled her food. ‘According to the weather forecast, this rotten weather will continue tomorrow. We’ll see if you can work
in
the pen. Then you’ll really start getting what being a sheepdog is all about.’

 
    Chapter 7
    Josh raced across the muddy field, carrying a margarine tub and a kitchen roll. After school he’d stopped at home to pick them up, and to change into shorts. That had been a good idea. His legs were already spattered with mud.
    The small grove of trees lay just ahead. Josh slowed down. He didn’t want to trip. Today’s thunderstorm had been especially violent, even by island standards. He’d already found one of its victims.
    ‘What are you doing?’ The girl’s voice startled Josh. He was crouched under a tree, still breathing heavily from his sprint. Had she
followed
him?
    ‘I asked what
are
you doing?’ The voice was impatient now. Josh hadn’t exactly been ignoring her. It was just that he didn’t want to turn away. There wasn’t much time to get this right.
    Reluctantly, he swung around to face her. He wasn’t very good at talking to people. Especially girls.
    He recognised her immediately. It was Yvonne, the vet’s daughter. She was always getting awards for this and that in the school assemblies. Sometimes she walked home with Kearney. At least
he
wasn’t there.
    He beckoned her with his hand. Yvonne was still wearing her green school uniform. It made her thinbrown hair look dull. She hesitated before leaving the path. But her curiosity won out, and she stepped carefully over the thick blanket of old rotting leaves, twigs and branches.
    ‘Ohhh,’ she cooed, when she saw what Josh was cupping in his hands. It was a baby bird he’d found, wet and bedraggled. ‘Are you sure you should be doing that? I read that once you get your smell on them their mothers won’t feed them.’
    ‘That’s rubbish,’ Josh said. ‘I’ve saved dozens of birds.’ He thought for a moment. ‘As long as you’re here, you can help. Put your hands together.’
    For a moment, Yvonne held back. Then she knelt and stretched out her cupped hands. Gently, he put the bird down in them.
    ‘Keep her warm,’ he said. ‘Smell