Pet Writing Competition Results Part 1

Our latest writing competition results are in!

Thank you to EVERYONE who sent us a story. They were all wonderful, and as ever, it was very hard to pick the winners.

Jana presents Four winning stories in our Pet Writing Competition.

But that's not all! Three more winning entries will follow shortly.

In this first batch, we have four lovely stories by

Andrea Meneghini
Bernadette Haines
Saphira Walder
Sophie Madeleine

And we will be back soon with three more!

Hello,

This is Jana and I’m here with 7 stories written by You!
Yes, the time has come to announce - and read out - the winning entries for our ‘Pet Story Writing Competition!’

Thank you so much to everyone who sent in a true story about their beloved pets. I’ve enjoyed reading through all of them! Thank you also for the gorgeous photos you sent in. We received so many entries… tales of cats, garden birds, canaries, chicks, hens, lizards, pet fish, a gerbil, a pony, but mostly dogs! Judging by your stories, dogs are definitely the most popular pets among our listeners! Astropup will be pleased to hear that. Though don’t tell him, there are quite a lot of cat lovers out there too.

It was ever so hard to choose from so many brilliant stories. Some were happy, some were sad, and some were hilarious. Originally, we said that we would pick 5 winners, but because we had so many entries, I had to choose two more. Each and every story was so lovely and as much as I'd like to, I'm sorry I wouldn't be able to read them all out.

And so, without further ado, in no particular order, here they are!

This time round we had more stories from girls than boys, however, the first winner is an exception. It’s from a boy, Andrea Meneghini aged 11 from Italy. Now Andrea has already written a winning story for us in a past competition - and although we do like to spread out our awards - I just couldn’t resist this super sweet tale about his little canary.

“Cippi - The Singing that opens Ears and Hearts.”

(Guitar tune played by Bertie - Canario by Carlo Calvi 1610 - 1646)

It was a Saturday morning last summer, and I was cleaning my canary’s cage, when I accidentally knocked down the cage and the door opened.

My canary got scared and flew out; unfortunately, the living room window was open and the bird escaped outside, into the garden and then into the street and somewhere else.

I was very worried because I thought my little bird, named Cippi, was hurt.

The same day me and my Daddy attached a poster of my lost yellow canary to all of the neighbourhood.

After three days no one had seen my little yellow bird, and all hopes were lost, when I heard tweeting near my bedroom window, and, on the windowsill, there was my canary watching me through the glass. So very carefully I opened the window and tried to grab it, but it flew onto my shoulder. I slowly turned and walked gently to the living room with Cippi on my shoulder, where I opened the cage door and Cippi flew into it.

My feathered friend drank fresh water, ate a slice of apple and a lot of seeds. Then, Cippi began singing long and loud! My ears were all open and my heart too!

After that day, I was always very careful when polishing the cage and I always will be because I love it so much my pet.

Well Andrea, thank you very much for your sweet story about your beautiful canary. I'm so glad he came back to you, singing his heart out!

The next story is written by Bernadette Haines aged 13, from Australia.

It is called:

“Jasper Meets his Brother.”

​Hi Storynory listeners, I am a brindle whippet named Jasper. I’m only a pup, but a very anxious pup. When I meet the things I fear, I get terrified, like fireworks AHHH! Microwave AHHH! Vacuum AHHH! I could go on with that list all day. Please do not laugh at my fears. For example, you might not think that microwaves (even the very thought makes me shiver) are scary, but dogs’ hearing is much better than humans so the sound of a microwave is like the sound of a volcano to us. My greatest fear however is not fireworks, microwaves or vacuums. It is being home alone without my masters. I do not have a doggy brother or sister at home, so if my masters go out then I am home alone.

When they are out, frightening thoughts chase themselves round and round in my head. What if my masters never come back? What if the vacuums and microwaves attack me? What if a firework hits the house and I die? And so on and on in this chain of worry and anxiety until .. creek bang, “my masters are home” and I jump around and wag my tail for joy.

​ My masters knew that I was an anxious dog and they wanted to help me. One day I heard one of my masters talking on the phone to a lady called Paula. I know that Paula is a whippet breeder because I was from Paula originally. My master was saying that she wanted to come to look for another dog. You could not imagine how happy I was. On the long drive, all I could think was that on the way back I would have a brother or sister. After driving up the freeway for what felt like ages and ages, we finally arrived at Paula’s house. I was put on my leash and taken out of the car. Paula firstly showed my masters and me a whippet called Figaro. Figaro was dark caramel with a few brown spots, but Figaro and I did not get on together. So my masters asked if Paula had any other whippets. She had just one other. Paula returned with a small, light caramel puppy trotting behind her. “Hello what is your name?” said the little puppy. “My name is Jasper,” I answered, “what’s your name?” “I used to be called Buddy,” he replied. “I used to have masters; a boy and his mother who got me from here. The boy called me Buddy. That night the boy wanted me to sleep in his bedroom, but the mother put me in the laundry. I am just a pup as you see and like most pups, I am not toilet trained yet so I did just a tiny poo in the laundry. The next day the lady opened the laundry door to let me out and she saw my poo. She called for her son to come downstairs and told him that she was taking me back to Paula’s today. So they brought me here and that was the last I saw of them.” “How long ago did this happen, Buddy?” I asked. “A few days ago Jasper,” said Buddy.
​“Jasper time to go.” It was one of my masters. They pulled on my leash. I was just about to say farewell to Buddy when another of my masters said, “you’re coming too, and they scooped Buddy into their arms. As I sat on my master's lap in the car a warm feeling spread from the tip of my tail to the top of my nose; I had a brother. When we got home, my masters were talking about what to call Buddy because they did not like that name. By that evening they had decided to call him ‘Indy’. As I lay in bed that night, I whispered to my brother, “Indy, welcome to a new life with my masters and me.”
THE END
Well done Bernadette and Jasper - that was really imaginative to write a true story from the pet’s point of view. But it seems you were not the only one with that idea.

Our next story is written by Saphira Walder, aged 11 years, from Auckland, New Zealand. She says:
Dear Storynory, thank you so much for an amazing 5 years. Yes, I have been listening for 5 years. I’m now 11 years old and my little cat called Buddy is almost 4 years old. I love Storynory so much and people say I’ve got an English accent even though I’m from New Zealand. I am so happy to be able to take part in this competition and my name is Saphira. Thank you everyone at Storynory for making me who I am. Bye for now.

Hello, my name is Buddy. I’m a cat. I’m 3 years old. So, my story starts like this. One day I was lazing around on a Sunday morning when my human came over to me and scooped me up.

I meowed protesting loudly. She made a feeble attempt to calm me down, but of course I wasn’t going to calm down. I was so scared, you will never believe it, she plopped me into a cardboard box (the shame of it!) and the next minute we were driving down the road. I peeped out one of the breath holes and horror of horror, I saw the vet building out of the car window.
I complained pitifully. Then the car stopped and my human muttered something before picking up the box I was held captive in and started walking towards the door of the vet. My head was full of horrible things like barking dogs or sick parrots. A few minutes later a tall lady came, and the tall lady said, “Buddy, come on in”. My human got up and picked me up with her. She took me through a door, into a small room.

And then my human opened up the box. I was trembling. I leapt out and made a run for it. I hid under a small table and saw the vet coming towards me. I was totally petrified. Then she picked me up with her rubbery blue gloves. I tried to scream, but instead, let out a high-pitched “meow” and she plopped me back on the table. Then my human took hold of me and began to calm me down.

Just as I thought I was ok, the vet came back over with a long pointy thing. I took no notice though, but then, ouch, I felt a sharp prick. But it was soon over. Then the humans chatted about me and then back in the box I went. I soon fell back asleep and then sometime later I woke up back on my bed and I saw my human reading a small red book. Then I fell back asleep. A few hours later I woke up and trotted downstairs and guess what. There were my favourite food kibbles that tasted heavenly. I was overjoyed. And that is where I leave my tale for now.

Ouch! I hate needles too. Well done Saphira and Buddy.

The next story is written by Sophie Madeleine, aged 9, from England.
She says:

Thank you Storynory! Sometimes when I have trouble falling asleep, I listen to the songs here. My favourite one at the moment is the Pet Competition song. It doesn't help me to sleep though, it makes me dance.

“A Touch of Magic.”

My big sister was desperate for a puppy to care for and love all her life, so she would ask Mummy many a time for a puppy of her own, but the answer was always no. You see, my mum is not very fond of dogs, never has been, and always says they're too big a responsibility. She's just not a dog person.

Well, that didn't stop my sister from looking or hoping for a dog. She used to search online for her favourite breed until one day Marni found some Cavapoo puppies advertised for sale. She immediately showed Mummy and literally begged to go see them. Not sure how my sister persuaded her, but to our surprise, Mummy said we could go have a look at them but not to get high hopes. Marni rushed everyone in the car before Mummy changed her mind. Off we sped to the advertised breeders' house which luckily wasn’t too far. We arrived at the house and I swear I could hear my sisters’ heartbeat dancing with excitement. As we rang the doorbell, we could hear cute little barks coming from inside. We went in and saw lots of little black fluffy pups excitedly bouncing around. There were other people there too so we needed to a t fast if you know what I mean. It was rather crowded but the breeder let us hold and cuddle the puppies, but said most of them are spoken for so better be quick. The breeder handed a little confident pup to Marni, and in that moment, a bond was made. After a lot of cuddles, Mummy said we had to go and would have to think about it. But as we were walking towards the door, a little pup that would soon be named Alfie, followed my sister out. The breeder laughed and said none of the litter have followed anyone out before. He winked and said, “I think this little fella has chosen his Mummy.” After much talking can you believe it, my sisters begging paid off!

But before the deal was made, Mummy very firmly said the dog was not her responsibility and made my sister promise that she’d look after and train him properly herself. So excited we were! Marni ran back inside, with the happiest grin on her face. The little pup was waiting behind the door. After more chit chat with the breeder about vaccinations and other important stuff, it really was time to go and take our new baby home.

Somehow the little pup knew that he was coming home with us because he waddled straight to the door following my sister, with his rear dancing from side to side, and tail wagging excitedly. Even though he could hear his Mum crying, he didn’t look back. It was meant to be.

Alfie is the happiest, bounciest little thing, and greets anyone who comes to visit with playful love and cheer! And do you know, the most surprising thing that happened? My sister and I caught our mum red-handed having her morning coffee on the sofa … with Alfie on her lap! Both looking very contented. In fact, she made that part of her morning routine.

So it just goes to show that dogs really do have a touch of magic! And Alfie's magic dust certainly worked on our mother!

THE END.

Thank you, Sophie, yes I think you're right. I've heard dogs choose their masters. And I do believe they have a magical or healing touch about them.

And that’s all the stories that I’m going to read for now, but there were so many great stories that I want to read as many as I possibly can, so I will be back very soon with a few more tales written by YOU. And again, a great big thank you to EVERYONE who sent us your wonderful stories.
For now, from me Jana, Goodbye!