Harvey's First Day

Once upon a time... A long, long, long, long, long, long, long time ago... There was a big dog called.... Harvey.

Now, although Harvey looked like a big, mean and scary dog to most, he was actually the nicest, kindest dog you could ever meet.

One day, Harvey woke up from having the most wonderful dream, to his daddy calling him to get ready for his first day at school. Harvey had never been to a big school before, he'd only ever been to the playgroup with his little friends. School seemed so scary and he really didn't want to go so he pulled the covers up over his head and tried to hide.

'Come on, Harvey. We're going to be late.' called his dad from the bathroom.

Harvey got out from under the covers, because he was a good lad, and went into the bathroom.

His dad was was standing there with a toothbrush in one paw and a big hairbrush in the other.' Now brush your teeth' he said, 'and I'll brush your hair. We don't want you turning up for school looking like a big scruff'

'But, Dad!' Harvey said as his dad started brushing. 'You're doing it too hard, you're hurting me.' But his dad carried on anyway, making sure that every single hair was perfect.

Harvey finished brushing his teeth and went downstairs to find his breakfast already on the table. 'But, I'm not hungry' he said 'and I've just brushed my teeth and..' his dad cut him off 'you need a big breakfast before a big day so get it all eaten up and we can go to school.'

Harvey still didn't want to go to school so he ate his breakfast as slowly as he could. 'Come on, come on!' his dad said as Harvey put the last biscuit into his mouth and put on his nice, shiny, new school coat and off to school they went.

On the school playground, Harvey stood as close to his dad as he could. He still didn't want to go. 'Look at all the other dogs' his dad said, 'you'll be the biggest one in your class.' Sure enough, Harvey looked around and saw that all the other dogs looked tiny compared to him. So why was he so scared? Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a funny looking, small sausage dog staring right at him. Harvey tried to get even closer to his dad and ended up stepping on his paw. 'Ouch!' shouted his dad, 'what's the matter?'
'That dog over there is staring at me' cried Harvey.
'He's probably just admiring how good you look with your nice brushed hair and your new shiny school coat.' said his dad.
But the funny looking, little sausage dog just kept staring. Then Harvey saw there were other dogs staring too. Harvey started to cry.' look,' said dad,' I'll take you in and introduce you to your teacher. I'm sure she'll look after you and help you settle in with all the other pups.

The school bell rang and all the pups went running in through the door. Harvey went to run the other way but his dad caught him quick and turned him back around. 'Come on,' he said, 'let's go and meet Miss Teachapup.'

'Well, helloooooooo' said Miss Teachapup as Harvey and his dad got to the door, 'and who do we have here?'

'This is Harvey.' said dad, 'He's a little scared because he's never been to a big school before. Would you mind keeping an eye on him today and introduce him to some of the other pups?'
'Of course!' said Miss Teachapup, 'I'll introduce him to Billy and Barney and Dexter and Millie and Lexi and our little sausage dog, Splodge'
Harvey had a little titter. Splodge. What sort of a name was Splodge? He smiled and went into the class.

Everyone was sitting on the mat calmly waiting for Miss Teachapup, all except for Splodge, who was already into the squeaky toys. 'Splodge!' called Miss Teachapup, 'you know better than that. Come and sit down a moment, please.' But Splodge didn't come over. He just kept on squeaking. 'Do I have to send you to Mrs Barkalot again?'

Mrs Barkalot was the Head teacher and was the nicest teacher in the school... Unless you were naughty.

Splodge came and sat on the mat.

'Now everyone, this is Harvey. I want you to all make him feel welcome and show him that we can all play together nicely.' Miss Teachapup said.

They took the register then went out to play. Harvey was still very nervous so went to play on his own with a little blue ball that he found in the corner.

'Look at that big, dumb dog' he heard one of the pups say. 'We don't want him in our class' he heard another.

Harvey turned around to see Splodge and another pup staring at him and sticking their tongues out at him.

Harvey ran away and started to cry but they followed him. 'big, dumb dog!' they called again and again and again.

Harvey was so upset that he ran even faster and ended up getting stuck in a corner. He faced the wall, crying and heard someone coming up behind him.

'What's the matter? Are you OK?' It was Miss Teachapup.

'Oh, Miss' cried Harvey, 'it was Splodge and his friend. They were calling me a big, dumb dog and didn't want me in their class'

'Now that's not very nice is it? They'll have to go to Mrs Barkalot. We can't have pups being bullies at school.'

So Splodge and his friend got sent to Mrs Barkalot. Only 10 minutes had passed when they came back. They looked so ashamed of what they had done and both had tears in their eyes. They came up to Harvey, who was still standing with Miss Teachapup. 'We're so sorry' they both said together 'we didn't mean to make you cry. Can we be friends and all play together?'

Harvey looked at Miss Teachapup. 'It's OK' she said, 'I'm sure they won't be mean again, will you boys?'
'No' they both cried. 'we really are sorry.'

So off the 3 of them went and had the most wonderful day playing together. They played ball and played in the sand and the water and became really good friends.

The bell rang for the end of the day and they all ran out to their parents.

'Dad!' shouted Harvey, 'I've had such a great day and made some new friends and we played ball and sand and water and I want it to be tomorrow right now so I can be at school and play some more!'

Harvey's dad laughed with a proud tear in his eye. 'That's good then' he said 'let's go home and tell mom all about it. It'll be tomorrow soon enough.'

And they walked home together with a spring in their step and all lived happily ever after.

The end.