Lenny The Lazy Puppy

Chapter 1

“Come on, Lenny! Fetch!” shouted Wiz. “Fetch the ball!” She threw the ball up into the sky in a wide arc, and it bounced down onto the grass. Lenny, who was lying in the sun, opened one eye and yawned. Then he closed it again, not interested.

“I thought he was supposed to be a retriever,” exclaimed Wiz’ best friend, Anna.
“He is,” Wiz replied with a grin.
“Well, that means he’s supposed to run after toys and balls and bring them back, doesn’t it?’ Anna pointed out.

Only when I want to, Lenny thought lazily. He yawned again. It was quite a long walk from the Smith’s house to the park and now they’d arrived, he wanted to have a snooze. He didn’t want to run up and down after a silly old ball. Besides, he knew that Wiz would run after it and bring it back anyway, if he didn’t.
“He’s supposed to retrieve things, but he doesn’t,” said Mr. Smith, Wiz’ father. They were strolling along a broad path between some beautiful rose bushes.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lazier puppy!”
What a cheek! Lenny thought indignantly. I’m not lazy. I’m just saving my energy.

“Come and play piggy in the middle, Dad,” Wiz called, running back with the ball in her hand.
“Er… no, thanks, love,” replied Mr. Smith quickly.
“I’ll just sit on that bench over there and read my newspaper.”
Lenny sat up when he heard that.
“And he says I’m lazy!” he barked.
Wiz went over and stroked her puppy’s golden coat.
“Sure you don’t want to play, Lenny?”
Lenny licked her hand. He loved Wiz, but he really didn’t want to run around and get all hot and out of breath. He wanted to snooze in the warm sun. Wiz and Anna ran off together across the park and began throwing the ball to each other. They were quite a long way away from Lenny but he could just about hear what they were