A dog bedtime story: Barney and the super nose

Ages 3 to 7 · 4 min read aloud

Barney and the Missing Rabbit

In a little house with a green front door lived a dog called Barney. Barney had floppy brown ears, a waggy tail and a red cape that Ella had given him. Because Barney wasn’t just any dog. Barney had a super nose.

With his super nose Barney could smell anything. A biscuit inside a closed tin. A sock under the sofa. Even a flower on the far side of the street. Whenever something went missing, Ella would say, ‘Barney, super nose on!’

That evening Ella brushed her teeth and put on her pyjamas. She climbed into bed and felt under her pillow. ‘Where’s Flop?’ she asked. Flop was her toy rabbit, with long floppy ears. Without Flop, Ella couldn’t settle down to sleep.

Barney pricked up his ears. He straightened his cape. ‘Super nose on,’ Ella whispered. Barney sniffed the air. Sniff, sniff. He smelled soap, and toothpaste, and very faintly, somewhere far away, the smell of Flop.

Barney padded quietly down the stairs. In the kitchen he smelled the soup from supper. In the hall he smelled Dad’s wellies. But Flop wasn’t there. The smell was coming from outside. Barney nudged the back door open with his nose.

The garden was dark and still. The moon shone on the grass, and the flowers were already asleep. Barney walked slowly past the swing, past the sandpit, past the big old tree. Sniff, sniff. The smell grew stronger.

Under the hedge he spotted something pale. It was Flop’s long ears. And next to Flop lay a little hedgehog, snoring softly, its snout snuggled against the soft rabbit. The hedgehog had found Flop and was using him as a pillow.

Barney didn’t want to wake the hedgehog. He thought for a moment. Then he picked up a big, soft leaf in his mouth. Very gently he slid the leaf under the hedgehog’s head, and eased Flop away.

The hedgehog snuffled once and carried on sleeping, on its new leafy pillow. Barney wagged his tail softly. With Flop in his mouth he walked back through the garden, along the hall and up the stairs.

Ella was sitting up in bed. When she saw Flop, her face lit up. ‘You found him!’ she whispered. She hugged Flop tight and gave Barney a kiss on the nose. ‘Thank you, super nose.’

Ella lay back down, with Flop tucked under her arm. Barney turned round three times on the rug beside the bed and then sank down with a big, deep sigh. His cape lay over his back like a little blanket.

Outside, the hedgehog slept on its leaf. Inside, Ella breathed slowly in and out. Barney rested his head on his paws. His super nose sniffed the air one last time: everything was just where it should be. Then his eyes closed. Goodnight, Barney. Goodnight, Ella.