The Lost Puppy by Holly Webb

Chapter One
    “Ruby! Happy Birthday!” Auntie Nell rushed down the garden path to hug Ruby, with Maisie the dachshund galloping after her.
    “Hey, Maisie, where are the puppies?” Ruby asked. Ever since Maisie had her puppies, she’d been curled up in her pen in the kitchen with them, as though she didn’t dare let them out of her sight. 

    Auntie Nell shook her head. “I think she’s getting a bit fed up with them now they’re so much bigger. They spend all their time climbing over her, and nipping each other’s ears, or Maisie’s. They can’t get over the board we’ve got across the kitchen door, but their mum can, and she’s left them behind to have a bit of a break.”
    “Can we go and see them?” Ruby asked. She’d always loved playing with Maisie, but the puppies were even more gorgeous than their mum, and she hadn’t seen them for a week. She was sure they’d have changed. They were eleven weeks old now, but they still seemed to be growing so fast she could almost see it happening.
    “Puppies!” her three-year-old sister Anya demanded, stomping up the garden path. She loved the puppies as much as Ruby did. Ruby actually wondered if sometimes Anya thought she was a puppy. She curled up in their basket almost every time they came to visit Auntie Nell. Once she’d even tried their puppy food, but luckily she hadn’t liked it. 
    “And hello to you too, Anya.” Auntie Nell grinned, as Anya hurried past her into the house. Ruby chased after her little sister – if she wasn’t quick she’d probably find Anya sitting in the water bowl.
    “So are you having a good birthday?” Auntie Nell asked. “Does it feel odd that you’ve already had your party?” Ruby had shared her birthday party with her best friend Beth the previous weekend. Beth was two weeks older than Ruby, so they’d split the difference.
    “No, it’s great!” Ruby beamed at her. “It feels like I’m having two birthdays!”
    “Well, I’ve got a present for you, in the house.” Auntie Nell was looking a bit smug and secretive, Ruby realized. She started to feel excited about the present. She looked round at her mum and dad, wondering if they knew what it was. Mum had exactly the same expression on her face as Auntie Nell, which Ruby supposed wasn’t that strange, as they were sisters.
    “What is it?” she asked curiously.
    “Why don’t you come and see the puppies before you open your present?” Auntie Nell suggested. “Otherwise we’ll find them all nibbling Anya’s toes. It’s nearly their lunchtime.”
    The puppies were still having lots of small meals. “Is it porridge?” Ruby asked hopefully, as they went through to the kitchen. The last time they’d visited, the puppies had eaten milky porridge, and all of them had dangled their big ears in the bowl – and came out with porridge-crusted ears afterwards. It was really funny!
    Auntie Nell laughed. “No, sorry, it’s just biscuits. Very boring. But they like them. Now they’re old enough for their new homes, I’m weaning them off the milky stuff.”
    “Are they really big enough to leave Maisie?” Ruby asked, peering round the kitchen door at the seething mass of brown and black puppies wriggling around in their pen. Maisie hopped elegantly over the board in the doorway, and headed back to her babies. The puppies saw her coming and flung themselves out of the pen, then scampered across the floor to their mum. Ruby giggled. She was sure that she saw Maisie duck her head and dig her paws in as she was hit by a wave of puppies.
    Auntie Nell nodded. “A couple of people have come to see them already.”
    “Six babies,” Ruby murmured to Dad, as she crouched down to get closer to the pups. “You always say me and Anya are enough!”
    Dad nodded. “Quite enough!” 

    “I think she’ll miss them when they’re gone,” Auntie Nell said. “But right now I don’t think she’s going to mind that much. And I am keeping one puppy.”
    “Oh, which