Rufus Meets Annie

One day Rufus was playing in the living room when Tom came up and spoke to him. Tom said "Nic and I are going on a little holiday to Italy, so we're going to leave you with your Granny Frani for a few days." Rufus was sad that Tom and Nic would be away for a few days, but he was very excited about going to stay at Granny Frani's house.

Tom and Nic put Rufus in the car and they all drove to Granny Frani's house together. Granny Frani had a really big garden that Rufus loved to play in. There was an apple tree and a beech tree. Rufus loved to pick up the sticks that fell from their branches and play with them.

Granny Frani's garden also had lots of little nooks and crannies that Rufus loved to explore and sniff. He had great fun playing in Granny Frani's garden.

The next day it was time for Tom and Nic to go on their holiday. Rufus and Granny Frani waved them goodbye and then went to play in the garden together.

Tom's brother Ed also lived at Granny Frani's house. Ed loved Rufus very much, but he wanted to have a dog of his own. Ed said to Rufus "we're going to go to the rescue shelter and find a nice dog who will come and live here. You can play together whenever you come to visit."

So Rufus, Ed and Granny Frani set off to the rescue shelter together. There were many animals at the rescue shelter, all waiting for someone who would be able to give them a home and lots of love. There were brightly coloured birds, some of whom could shout "hello!" There were mice running in wheels and there were fluffy rabbits bouncing in their pens.

The biggests animals were the cats and dogs. The cats were of all different colours. Some were fluffy, some had very short fur. Some were old and some were young. All of them looked out of their enclosures and said "meow!"

Finally they got to where the dogs were staying. Like the cats there were all different kinds, but instead of saying "meow" the dogs all said "woof!"

Ed stopped in front of a pen with a big, black dog curled up inside. The big black dog was very quiet and shy. Granny Frani and Ed said "we like this dog, shall we take her for a walk?"

Rufus wagged his tail, so a nice lady took the big, black dog out of the pen and they all went for a walk.

Rufus ran up to the big, black dog and said "hello! My name is Rufus! Do you want to be friends?"

The big, black dog replied "my name is Annie. I'd really love a new home and some people to love me."

Ed and Granny Frani said "we like this dog, lets take her home to live with us!"

Rufus was so excited that Annie was going to live at Granny Frani's house and be loved that he ran around the grass and jumped really high, right over the top of Annie! Everyone laughed and they all got in the car together and went back to Granny Frani's house to start Annie's new life.