Meet Roy --:
                  
                           
                           Roy loved playing outside in the garden

I do not have a pet at the moment  but I  had a dog once. This is an old picture of him when he was alive.It was taken in the snow. I scanned it on the school scanner. I called him Roy, after Roy Keane, the famous footballer with Manchester United and Ireland. The real Roy Keane is from Cork city in Ireland. My Roy was a Jack Russell. He had a white body and a black face. My Dad bought him for us. I say he ‘was’ because I do not have him anymore. He was a great pet when I had him and I miss him terribly. I got him when he was ten weeks old. My Dad bought him from a farmer. He paid sixty pounds for him. We had him for about a year. My Dad made a kennel for him in our back garden. We put down some straw and an old blanket for him.I gave him a bowl of fresh water every day.

My Mum bought tins of  “Pedigree Chum” dog food for him. He eats from a plastic bowl. I feed him myself, twice a day at dinnertime. When I was going out to play with him he used to get very excited. He used to jump around the place, jump on me any get on my nerves. I am a little chap, as well, so he could knock me down easily. One day my Mum went to our back garden and to her horror there was my dog swinging out of her good sheets. She was hopping mad, as they were her new sheets. She had to throw them away. She kept saying he would have to go as he was driving her mad. This was one of his bad habits. Sometimes Roy would bite our toes if we had no socks on. He didn’t really hurt us. He was just being playful. My Dad trained him on a lead. He did not like it at first but he got used to it.

Mum bought him a nice collar and lead. Roy needed a lot of exercise. Dad used to bring him out into the fields. My brother and myself used to walk him around the block. One day my Mum went to let him out but he wasn’t in his kennel. Somehow he had got out. We searched everywhere for him. We rang the dog pound but he hadn’t been picked up. He was missing for four days. One morning my uncle Nicky spotted him in Kennedy Park, which is just around the corner from the school. He picked him up and brought him home. We were all excited and delighted to see him safe and well. Roy won first prize in a dog show in Limerick. Sadly we had to give Roy away as my Mum got a new baby and Roy didn’t really like her because he used to up on her. I really miss him but I am sure my mother is glad that he is gone. She can now hang the washing out and not worry about them getting ruined. Maybe I will get another pet someday soon.

Our teacher says that a pet stone is a perfect pet as it costs nothing to buy or look after and will not mess up the house. Maybe I will get my own pet stone.

Anthony Dunphy
Third Class