MANY thanks to former teacher June Clough for passing on a lovely story after my Dad At Large talk to Durham Friendship Centre in Belmont earlier this week…
A little lad, called Billy, was full of excitement when he arrived for school, announcing that his dog had given birth to a litter of puppies.
Eager to encourage Billy to engage more, the teacher shared his excitement.
“Oh, that’s great news, Billy – where did your dog have the puppies?” she asked.
“In a box in the pantry, Miss,” the little lad explained.
She went on to enquire how many puppies had been born, leading to Billy counting them on his fingers while he told her the colour and markings of each one.
Delighted that Billy had come out of his shell, the teacher told the headteacher at breaktime, urging him to ask Billy about his dog having puppies.
“Hey, Billy, I hear your dog’s had puppies!” the headteacher said to Billy when he saw him in the corridor.
“Aye, she has, sir,” replied Billy.
“What kind of dog is it?” the headteacher asked, pleased that he’d thought of a new question.
Billy paused, frowned and then delivered his answer in a thick County Durham accent: “Why it’s a girl dog, what kind d’ya think it was?”
