The Puppy That Came for Christmas by Megan Rix Read Free Book Online Page B

shopping.”
    My eyebrows had almost shot off the top of my head by this juncture. There hadn’t been much sleeping—let alone housework—going on in our house, and Ian was picking up ready-meals every night on his way home from work. We didn’t want to leave Emma by herself for a second.
    â€œShe has to learn to be alone at some point,” said a woman in the corner who hadn’t spoken before.
    â€œThis is Diane,” Jamie said. “She’s an experienced puppy parent visiting today from the Peterborough center.” Diane had a Labradoodle that was sitting rigidly to attention beside her.
    â€œIt’s like being a parent,” Diane said. She looked over at Liz. “Do you have children?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHow about you?” She looked over at Jo.
    â€œGrown up now,” Jo said. “I’m a granny.”
    â€œHow about you?” Diane said to me. “Do you have children?”
    I hesitated, for fear of stumbling over my words, but Diane didn’t wait for my reply. “When you’re a parent, you develop a sixth sense of when your kids are up to something. Suddenly you seem to have eyes in the back of your head.”
    â€œHear, hear,” laughed Liz. “I need to with my lot.”
    â€œAnd that’s why people who’ve had children make the best puppy parents,” Diane announced.
    I concentrated on Emma, who was pawing my leg, so Diane wouldn’t notice she’d upset me. I might not have had the experience of having children, but I was going to be the very best puppy parent I could be.
    â€œYou OK, Megan?” Jamie asked when Diane left shortly afterward.
    â€œOh, fine,” I said, sighing. But I was worried about leaving Emma when I went for my monthly blood test and scan. Sometimes, if there were a lot of people waiting, it could take ages for me to be seen. And, despite what Diane said, I wasn’t ready to lock Emma up in the house on her own for hours.
    â€œPop her around to me,” Jo said. “I’m only up the road from you, and she and Elvis can have a play together.”
    â€œIt’ll be at least every month,” I said. “Maybe twice a month sometimes.”
    â€œNot a problem at all.”
    Now that Diane had gone back to Peterborough, I was starting to enjoy the Helper Dogs class and the new friends I was making.

5
    Puppies, it was turning out, were a bit of a full-time job. Even without the dozens of trips to the garden in every twenty-four-hour period, there were bundles of forms to fill in, charts to plot, diaries to keep. I felt as if I needed a secretary to keep on top of the admin, while I got on with the important business of loving and caring for Emma. And then there was our first visit to the vet.
    Emma had been given her first vaccination before we got her, and she was due a second at ten weeks. Together, the two puppy inoculations protected against some real nasties including canine distemper, viral hepatitis, parvovirus, leptospirosis and other diseases that sounded like you wouldn’t wish them on your worst enemy. Even a quick glance at the list of potential symptoms—diarrhea, vomiting, deep hacking coughs, fever, collapse and sometimes death—was almost enough to convince me never to let Emma out of the house without a biohazard suit on. Parvovirus, in particular, I’d heard a lot about as Jamie had been muttering darkly about an outbreak of “parvo” in our area; because of the vaccinations it wasn’t very common, so when a dog did catch it the outlook was bad. Puppies, naturally, were particularly vulnerable, and could die within a couple of days due to fluid loss. On top of the vaccinations, Emma would need to be wormed every month for the first six months, but it would be Jamie and Helper Dogs that provided the tablets. Dogs shouldn’t have worms for their own health, but the worms’ larvae also posed a health risk to