My stolen dog

Vy, DL Student, Cabramatta

Hi everyone! I’m Vy and I am 22.  I come from Vietnam and have been in Australia for over two years. It was difficult at first for me to speak English with confidence so I started studying Distance Learning through Navitas College in Cabramatta. Thanks to my teacher, Frank, my English has improved over the past few months and I am starting to feel a bit more confident in English now. 

I’m now going to tell you a story about my dog!  I have a fluffy white dog and his name is Lucky. He’s nine years old and very intelligent. His responsibility in my family is catching mice in the house. After he catches a mouse, he runs around in circles and barks proudly.

He is the essence of my childhood. Every early morning, he would stand in the middle of the front door and wait for me to take him to the beach. He hates touching water but loves running around on the sand. He’s also my best friend. Whenever I feel sad, I talk with him and he looks me in the eyes. Probably he can understand my emotions. I love him so much.

One Sunday morning, I was washing my clothes in the backyard when I heard some loud shouting coming from my neighbours. Immediately, I went out to check what was wrong. I was shocked by what they said. They said my dog Lucky had just been stolen. There had been two men riding a motorbike. They had thrown a slip knot onto Lucky’s neck and by dragging him onto the street, had taken him away.

It was so terrible and cruel that I cried and shook with fright in the toilet. I was terrified and didn’t know what to do to get my dog Lucky back. In Viet Nam, there are a lot of bad people who steal dogs and cats for meat or for ransom. They steal someone’s pet and lock it up for a period of time. If the owner doesn’t pay a ransom for the pet they will sell the pet or kill it for meat. I was always worried about my dog Lucky.

All that morning, I cried. My Dad asked me to stop crying in the toilet. Then he went out. After the longest hour in my life, my Dad came home with Lucky. We had to pay 400 thousand VND to get him back. Lucky was badly injured. His eyes had changed to red. The skin of his bottom-paw was gone. His white hair was covered with dust and blood, but he wagged his tail happily and soon recovered!

Now I’m living far away from him and miss him so much!


Thanks Vy for sharing your beautifully moving story.  It is a great example of a narrative text.

• Have you ever had a pet that you had a special connection with?
• Why do people keep pets?
• What is the hardest thing about having a pet?

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