Max was looking forward to Rosie having pups. Every day her tummy grew bigger, and the other morning he’d even noticed a bead of milk on one of her teats. Since she’d gone to the vet with Leon nearly two weeks ago, Max had been looking after her. He’d made a bed for her in the shed and he put out her food every night: two cups of dry kibble. It couldn’t be long now till the pups were born, and this time he wasn’t going to miss it.

‘Hey, Mum,’ he said. ‘Can we get a muzzle for Rosie so she can’t eat her pups?’

It was just before dinner. Mum was at the kitchen bench, cutting potatoes. She frowned. ‘I wouldn’t worry about that.’

‘But she did it before. Dad said she did.’

Mum stopped cutting and stared through the window. It was dark out there. Max couldn’t imagine what she might be looking at. She sighed, but no answer.

‘Mum, please. I want to see the pups this time.’

She scraped cubes of potato into a pot, half-filled it with water and set it on the stove.

‘What if she has her pups up in the forest?’ Max asked.

‘Yes,’ Mum said. ‘That would be a problem.’

‘I want her to have them at home.’

Mum sighed again. ‘I’ll tell Dad to leave her here instead of taking her to work.’

But later that night Dad was cross when Mum suggested Rosie should stay home. ‘The dog guards the ute,’ he growled. ‘She always comes to work with me.’

‘Maybe she shouldn’t,’ Mum said. ‘It’s not as if you’re carrying anything worth stealing. And look what happened to her last time.’

‘That wasn’t my fault.’

‘Of course it was. If you’d tied her up properly, she wouldn’t have fallen off and cut herself.’

Dad had nothing to say to that. Max knew he was still angry at Leon for getting Rosie stitched up.

‘If you leave her home, I can look after her,’ Max offered.

Dad scowled. ‘Are you two ganging up on me?’

‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ Mum said, laughing.

‘When do those stitches come out?’ Dad grunted. ‘I’m not paying for it.’

‘Leon said it was all covered,’ Mum said.

‘Do we have to take her to the vet?’ Dad asked.

‘Leon will take her,’ said Max. ‘But he can’t if she’s up in the forest.’

Dad was mad then. He stomped around the house cursing Leon. ‘If I wanted him to take my dog to the vet, I would have asked for it.’

‘You’d never take a dog to the vet,’ Mum pointed out.

‘I don’t want to owe him anything.’