Puppy Called Dez. John Tovey

      A paw shoved hard against my back. It felt so rough and sudden that it woke me from my sleep.

      ‘Come on, fat bum, get up!’

      ‘What? Is it breakfast time already?’ I yawned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

      ‘Is that all you ever think about – food?’

      I blinked and tried to focus on the golden figure standing in front of me. Two huge brown eyes glared down. It was Violet, my youngest and meanest sister.

      ‘Shift! You’re lying in the middle of the floor again and we haven’t got enough room to play,’ she hissed, giving me a quick puppy nip on my shoulder.

      ‘Ouch!’ I squeaked, although it didn’t stop her because whatever Violet wanted, she got.

      ‘Have I missed it then?’ I asked, clambering to my feet.

      ‘Missed what?’

      ‘Breakfast?’

      Violet rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.

      ‘No, you fat bat!’ she said, flicking a claw against one of my enormous black ears, dangling either side of my head. ‘They’re just bringing it over now, but you’d better keep your big snout out of my bowl,’ she added, eyes narrowing, ‘otherwise there’ll be trouble.’

      ‘Oh, I will! I only ever eat leftovers,’ I insisted.

      Only Violet wasn’t listening. She’d flounced off with her tail sticking up in the air.

      ‘I don’t know where we got him from, he looks nothing like us,’ she sniffed to the rest of the litter of puppies – my family.

      Huge tears welled at the back of my eyes. Willing them to go away, I tried not to cry because I knew Violet was right – I looked nothing like my sisters and brothers. I was a tall Labrador, with ears that were much too big for my head and shiny black fur, but the rest of the litter were fluffy and golden. Mum told me I looked different because I was special.

      ‘One day, you’ll achieve great things. Just you wait and see,’ she insisted.

      But I didn’t want to be different; I wanted to be like the others. I was the second-eldest boy in a litter of guide-dog puppies. We lived at the National Breeding Centre in Bishop’s Tachbrook, Warwickshire, where all guide-dog pups begin their lives. One day, we hoped we’d grow up to become proper guide dogs because they were the most important dogs of all. But first we had to study hard and pass loads of difficult exams. Only then would we be allowed to become fully trained guide dogs, and the eyes of a blind or partially sighted person. We’d help them cross the road safely, and walk down the street without tripping up. In short, we’d become their best friend. Everyone needs a best friend, but right then, I didn’t have one.

      I had two brothers, Vesper and Vinnie. Vesper was older than me and top dog. Cool, clever and funny, he was everything I wasn’t. Then there was Vinnie, my baby brother. Vinnie was a hypochondriac – someone who thinks they’re ill all the time, even when they’re not – so he walked around all day, holding a tissue to his nose, terrified of catching a sniffle. I was baffled why he worried about it so much because we’d all had injections to stop us getting ill.

      I had an older sister called Vicky, who was kind, patient and lovely. She hated Violet picking on me and often told her off. Finally, there was Violet, the baby and the bully of the family. Violet was blonde and pretty, and she knew it. She’d tell me how fat and stupid I was. In fact, she said it so much that I started to believe her. All our names began with a ‘V’ because we were the ‘V’ litter – the pups in each litter were all given a name using the same letter. In the ‘A’ litter there was Alfie, Albert, Abigail and Amy. But names beginning with a ‘V’ are difficult to think of. I think they ran out of boys’ names when they got to me because I was called Valdez, which I hated. In fact, I hated it so much that I asked everyone to call me ‘Dez’ for short, and everyone did – everyone apart from Violet.

      Suddenly, one of the puppy handlers zoomed into view. She was carrying something – a set of bright red feeding bowls. Breakfast had arrived! My mouth watered as I ran over eagerly towards my dish. I knew it was mine because they always put me on the end of the line to keep me away from the others’ food.

      ‘NOM, NOM, NOM…’ I gulped. I didn’t even pause for breath until it had gone. Licking my lips, I glanced up to see Vinnie standing there, staring forlornly at his food.

      ‘Don’t you want that?’ I asked, pointing to it.

      ‘No, I think I feel a bit… ill,’ Vinnie whined. He wiped his brow dramatically with a scrunched-up tissue. ‘I think I’ll just go and have a lie down.’

      ‘You can finish mine off too, if you want, Dez?’ Vicky called.

      Thankfully, my ears were big enough to hear even though my nose was deep in Vinnie’s bowl, snuffling up his breakfast.

      ‘Just watch out for the puppy handlers,’ she whispered, looking over one shoulder. ‘They like us to eat our own food, but I’m absolutely stuffed!’

      So I ran over to Vicky’s bowl before she could change her mind and hoovered up the lot within seconds.

      ‘Nothing left here for you, Dez,’ Vesper said, when he noticed me gazing at his bowl. ‘So you can jog on,’ he laughed, belching loudly.

      ‘Violet, have you finished?’

      She turned to me and narrowed her eyes. ‘I’m stuffed too, but YOU’RE not having it!’

      ‘But if you don’t want it, then it’ll