Until now it had been the best day ever.

He’d woken up to breakfast and playing, which had gone on for some time with the others. Every day some were still sleepy but there were so many that someone always wanted to play. Sometimes he wanted to sleep, which was fine because he could do that too. Sleep was brilliant. And when he woke up the world was full of things to do and places to go. He got food whenever he was hungry, and he got on with the business of learning about the world and enjoying life.

He’d made it out onto the patch of grass with shrubs and flowers around it. It was glorious. The ground was soft and cool and damp and he could roll all over it. The flowers moved when he touched them and sprang back and were surrounded by tiny little moving things. There was a pair of eyes staring back at him from underneath the shrubs. They were on a strange animal he hadn’t seen before. Almost as big as him, with a yellow beak and black wings. He barked playfully, after all it might want to be his friend, but it exploded in a flurry of movement and falling leaves before it shot upwards out of the bush and flew away.

It was the best thing he’d seen all day, and he leapt in the air a few times and barked some more to let the world know this.

Sometime later, it was hard to tell how much with everything centring around all the nice food and playing and exploring and sleeping, some new people would visit. They were fun, and he liked playing with the new people, as did all the others. Sometimes the new people would leave with one of the others, which was sad as he missed them, but there were always more and he got to run and play and sleep still.

As the days went past it got warmer and he went outside more. One day, when it was really bright and warm he was lying out in the sun after a tiring morning of running around, when he saw something in the shrubs to the side. He went up to the plants and pulled up just short, focusing with one eye, then the other, on the smaller creature contrasted on one of the leaves. After staring for a bit he barked right at it, in a friendly way, to which it flipped its iridescent wings a bit, then stayed still. That meant it was his friend and he leapt in a circle to celebrate as it was a wonderful day.

But today something different happened. As he was leaping up a figure he’d never seen before came through the doorway. He stopped and stared at this new person w just in case they wanted to give him food. Even better they bent down and reached out a hand, a gesture he knew from the times the food lady did the same. He ran forward and the new person started tickling him behind the ears. Someone shouted from inside and the figure rose up and said something he couldn’t understand and walked back into the house.

But that was ok.

It really had been the best day ever.

There weren’t many of them left now, and he struggled to remember the others. As he finished dinner he wandered over to his blanket, colder now as there were less of them to snuggle up to.

But tonight there was a visitor. He heard them walking in and raised his head to sniff the air, recognising the nice man from the garden! Even though he was tired he got up and wandered over. The man leant over again and stroked him again, saying something again he couldn’t understand. As he was cold he walked forward and curled up over the man’s shoe as it was nice and warm, which was ok as the man was obviously a friend. The man picked him up, which was even warmer, and he fell into the most comfortable sleep he could remember.

When he woke up it was on a strange blanket and a strange room and the others were nowhere to be seen. Most of the time though everything was fine. Gavin, the man’s name he thought, always looked after him. He had lots of friends in the park where he went every day, and he had his own blanket to curl up in. Not many people came to visit here, so he was surprised at one day when a lady he hadn’t met before came in. She was different smelling, but she stroked him and sneaked him treats, and most of all Gavin clearly cared for her so it was all alright. He liked it when she came round. There was always lots of fuss and attention and playing and Gavin seemed happy for the evening after she left.

In the times when the monster wasn’t there he didn’t think about it. In fact, he barely remembered it from day to day, as between the park, the scary cat next door and his favourite blanket he had much to occupy his mind. But then he heard the discordant and arrhythmic banging of something hard against the wood of the doors and skirting boards. There was always a silence. During this quiet he lay flat, ears pressed hard against his head, hoping that just this once the monster wouldn’t start up. But every time it did. The intense hurricane-like sounds, accompanied by rough scraping as the monster made its way systematically across the floor, no leaving even the tiniest part untouched, brought terror to him in a way he’d never dreamt. The sounds pierced through his home comfort and speared deep his mind with hot iron, spiking a fundamental terror he had never experienced as a pup.

He tried sometimes to overcome it, but as soon as the tremendous racket started he panicked and fled away, hoping to find shelter wherever he could. The monster was thorough though and moved systematically around the rooms leaving no spot untouched, getting under the furniture and banging against the doors and walls. Upon hearing it coming and he would freeze trying to flatten himself further on the floor as the furious sound got even louder and hoping that just this once it would leave him alone before it would find him. But it always did. No matter where he hid it would come closer, roaring all the while as he closed his eyes and waited for it to touch him. At this point the terror would spike and he would leap up with a yelp and flee, ears flattened and eyes wide until he could hide somewhere else until the appalling sound ended, marking the beast leaving. After it was all over, and when he was certain the coast was clear, he would sneak out and see Gavin in his favourite chair. Running over and leaping up with him slowly made the scary memories fade, but never completely.

The lady hadn’t come round for a while, although Buster wasn’t sure how long as one day was very much like another. But then one morning he suddenly perked, tail wagging with gusto, when he heard her voice coming up the stairs. He scampered over to the entrance and saw Gavin and her struggling with some large, new contraption. It was concerning enough that his tail stopped wagging. She’d never brought something like this before. As the people manoeuvred this clanky wheeled thing into the hallway he backed off, wary as to what this could be. He didn’t much like how machines turned out, often noisy and disruptive to his little world.

This one was smaller, periodically noisy and had a cornucopia of smells.

He backed off and watched them manoeuvre the object into the front room and was surprised to see a large pair of eyes looking from it directly at him. He’d never seen anything like this before. It smelled like everything, but mostly like milk, the lady and a lot of poo. He gave a tentative little bark to test the waters, but the new thing made a crying sound a Gavin came in and shouted at him. He quickly ran and hid in his blanket and considered what was going on. This was something different. And as it made buster a bad dog, it was obviously something important. There was no escaping the reality – he would have to adapt to this change.

The next time the lady came round with the new person he tried a different tactic, walking up very slowly and nudging it with his nose. It made a sound again, but a different, happier sound, and Gavin and the lady seemed happy. So he rested his head on the little persons legs and pondered this change in arrangements.

But the heard the sound. That clattering and clanking which always signalled the arrival of the monster. The huge beast was rampaging through the room, clattering and banging against every piece of wall and furniture there was. He wanted so much to flee, feeling his legs tense and gut go watery. The route to his best hiding place, under the bed in the cardboard box on its side, was free and clear. He could feel his ears flattening down, the fur standing up and his haunches tensing, instinct urging flight. A few seconds was all it would take and he would be safe and hidden in the one place the monster had never found him. But the new little one was out. And he was staring at the noise in the corridor, wide eyed and scared, but was strapped into his small chair and couldn’t escape.

Buster heard the clatter once more and saw a flurry of movement through the door. The monster had finished in the other room and was coming in. He darted round the sofa and pressed himself against the side, staying out of its sight line. He poked his head round the side of the sofa. The little new one looking at it with its face widened in understandable shock, staring with widened eyes at this clattering, voluminous titan working its way towards him. It may have been shouting, but the noise was so intense he couldn’t have heard it.

Buster quickly darted out in front of the smaller one. He only turned his back on the creature for a few seconds and grabbed the boy’s arm gently but firmly in his jaws. He tried to pull but the boy was strapped in his little chair, laughing and kicking his little legs now at this new game. Not to give up easily, he turned to the straps holding him in, but pulling on them resulted in no give at all. As the sound behind him somehow got even louder he tugged with all his might, but the straps were too tough and the chair too heavy to shift.

Hair standing up on his back he turned once more to face the foe and stood his ground. The monster was close now. He could see its true form for the first time. It was much bigger than him and was dominated by the red colour of its armoured hide and by the long neck which gave it the means to reach everywhere. And above all the wide, dark mouth through which it roared a terrible wind. Busters’ ears flattened against his skull as his haunch sank beneath him. His legs tensed automatically, almost springing him to flee, but he held his position.

The smaller one looked afraid, and even if Buster did not like it or understand it, the smaller one was important to Gavin. He had fled for too long and now had to face this thing down and be a good dog.

The monster was so close now, so loud Buster could hear nothing of the world except an unending roar, filling his vision entirely. Busters’ legs were shaking now but he refused to run and hide. He could see that Gavin was saying something but couldn’t remotely hear it. He stared the monster down, fixing his gaze right at its huge wide mouth, lost in the moment that seemed to extend forever.

But, at the very last, the monster stopped its advance. The noise kept going, as deafening as ever, but it stopped moving forward. Buster’s claws dug into the ancient carpet, his rear legs still shaking but regaining their strength now. The monster kept the noise up but didn’t move, all clanking and sweeping along the floor stopped. He briefly looked up and saw Gavin saying something else, something swept away in the noise, and he could only think he was congratulating Buster for doing what he could not.

As a final act before his small reserve of courage was used up, Buster took a half-step towards the monster and gave a few sharps barks towards it. He saw Gavin look towards the lady and shrug, and the monster did the unthinkable, pulling away and moving back towards the hallway. The sound decreased steadily until, out of his sight, it went completely. Buster turned to the little one and saw it was looking straight at him, laughing and waving its arms. He used the last of his strength to go up to him and rest his head on the little one’s chest. It put its chubby arms around his head and laughed again, and Buster felt relieved as the wave of exhaustion caught up with him and he fell into a deep, comfortable slumber.

He dozed well on the little red blanket that Gavin laid down on the floor in front of the small chair. He knew now it was his job to guard the little one, so that’s where he stayed whenever they were around. Gavin and the lady realised this too. Ever since that day the monster had never come near the little one again. But he had to be sure and so held his post against its possible return.