Page 69 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

They were sitting in the mouth of the tent, their sleeping bags, pillows, duvets and blankets already laid out behind them. Alex, the chef, had provided them with enough snacks and food to last them a few days, rather than just one night. They also had plenty of food for Snuggles, as Star had taken to calling him. Or any other animal that might come along – though the others would smell human and probably stay away. Or Snuggles would scare them off.

‘Well, I don’t think we should try to catch him tonight. We’ve got the food here in two places. One around ten metres from the tent and this one right here. If he’s nervous he might not come at all or he might only take the food from over there and not come near us. And then tomorrow night or maybe the night after we might persuade him to come closer. If he comes up to us tonight then he might be a lot more used to humans than we think he is, which will make him a lot easier to catch, but we still need him to trust us before we wrap a collar round his neck and put a lead on him. So tonight if he comes close we’ll try to feed him by hand too and we might even get to stroke him but then we let him go and try again tomorrow. But let’s play it by ear.’

Star nodded. ‘Mummy says we have to be really quiet.’

‘I think if we stand any chance of seeing any animals tonight, then yes we do, but a lot of the animals will smell us so might not come anywhere near us anyway.’

‘I had a shower today,’ Star said. ‘I don’t smell.’

Bear nearly laughed. ‘Animals’ sense of smell is really good, far far better than ours. It has to be to sniff out food. Where we just go to the cupboard or fridge to get food they have to hunt it out in trees and bushes. And they don’t just sniff out bad smells, they sniff out good ones too. We give out scents that we’re not even really aware of. But they will absolutely know we are here.’

‘Will Snuggles know we are here?’

‘Yes, dogs have a brilliant sense of smell. He will know we are here but there are lots of other humans who are walking around and staying in this wood so our scents will mix with those. The cat food will also smell really good so he might come regardless of smelling us if he’s that hungry.’

‘What do we smell like?’

‘I don’t know. But they will know that the scent is human and foxes and badgers will be able to smell Snuggles too and will stay away if they think it’s a threat.’ Bear took a swig of water. ‘You know tonight, me and your mum went to a place to meet some new friends and the lady who was running it told us that scent is a really important factor when it comes to choosing a new friend. You know how wolves mate for life and some humans do too? Well, apparently we choose the person whose smell appeals to us the most. I bet wolves are the same. So we had to do a lot of sniffing tonight to choose which friends we wanted to get to know more. Some people were sniffing each other’s neck, other people were sniffing a t-shirt other people had worn to see if they liked the smell or not.’

Star wrinkled her nose. ‘That sounds gross.’

‘I know, I thought that too.’

‘Did you and Mummy sniff each other?’

‘Yes we did.’

Star smiled. ‘Mummy smells nice.’

‘Yes she does, I thought she had the best scent out of all the other people there tonight. And she seemed to enjoy sniffing me too.’

‘Does that mean you two will mate for life?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe. But I think we have to figure that out for ourselves, without any interfering from you, missy,’ he poked her gently in the ribs and she giggled.

Just then there was a noise in the bushes and Bear put his finger to his mouth to indicate to Star she should be quiet. Although if the animal had come that close to them while they were talking, it clearly wasn’t put off by them.

They watched the bushes as they moved and suddenly Snuggles was standing in front of them. Star let out a little gasp of delight and then clamped her hand over her mouth. Snuggles was huge and he looked so wolf-like it was a little unnerving. But when he wagged his tail at seeing them, Bear relaxed a little.

They watched him eat the food that was on the far side of the clearing from them, and Bear noticed how gentle his face was and how completely unbothered he was by their presence. This was definitely a pet dog, or at least a dog that was used to humans.

Snuggles finished the food and eyed the other bowl right in front of them.

‘Hey boy, come on, it’s OK, we won’t hurt you,’ Bear said.

‘Come on Snuggles, plenty of food over here,’ Star said.

Snuggles hesitated for a moment and then picked his way carefully and slowly across the clearing towards them.

‘OK Star, don’t make any sudden movements. Just move really slowly.’

The way Snuggles moved towards them was really submissive, his head down low, his tail wagging. The dog was clearly as wary of them as they were of him.

Snuggles got closer and started eating the bowl of food that was right in front of them, watching them carefully.

Bear picked up one of the sausages that Alex had given them for Snuggles and offered it out. Snuggles stepped closer and took it gently from Bear’s hand. The dog had definitely been fed like this before.

‘Can I feed him?’ Star said, quietly.

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