Click here Roddy The Rooster Contest Answer three simple questions (all answers at this site) to enter a monthly draw to win Roddy The Rooster & Friends video, cd and colour-in book and consolation prizes. Story #24 A Puppy's Tale If you would like to have Roddy's Story of the Month sent to you each month by e-mail, subscribe to Roddy's Story of the Month Mailing List! You can also read previous months' feature stories, one for each month since August 1997. Most have a picture, so have a look! - Other Farmyard Stories

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Written by Roddy Lee It was a sunny morning when Roddy The Rooster and his friends peered out from the barn to see the farmer's city cousins leave Tumbledown Creek farm in their loaded up station wagon after an overnight visit. Roddy The Rooster could see the farmer waving goodbye as the station wagon disappeared from sight. The farmer then returned inside the farm house. Roddy and his friends always hid in the barn when the farmer's city cousins came to visit because the city cousins were many in number and they always played in the farmyard and nearby paddock. Now it was safe to return outside and all the animals filed out of the barnyard to enjoy the warm morning sunshine. Penny & Pixie Piglet headed straight for their pig pen to snuffle about in the dirt, as all pigs love to do! "You never know," said Penny to Pixie, "those city cousins may have left some food scraps in the pen!" When Penny & Pixie arrived at their pen they were amazed to hear a small whine. On closer inspection they found a small dog - a golden haired puppy. "What's your problem little puppy?" asked Penny. "Whine!" came her little voice, "I've been left behind by my owners." And the little golden puppy began to cry. Pixie tried to console the puppy. "What's your name?" she asked. "I'm called Lasilaura, I'm a labrador, and my city owners have left me behind!" Next moment Penny & Pixie were leading Lasilaura to Roddy The Rooster. "He'll know what to do!" they assured Lasilaura. When Roddy The Rooster heard Lasilaura's story he could only surmise that the puppy had been left behind to become a working farm dog. So Roddy and his friends started to teach Lasilaura the running of the farmyard. Lasilaura soon worked out that all the animals had jobs to do that they had to be responsible for. Yet every job Lasilaura tried to do ended up a miserable failure. First Roddy asked Lasilaura to collect Mrs Hen's eggs. But every egg Lasilaura tried to carry in her mouth cracked - and broke into pieces on the ground. Then Mr Horse asked Lasilaura to help him paint the barn door but the clumsy little puppy knocked over the tin of paint and Lasilaura found herself covered in the blue paint. When Desmond Duck took Lasilaura down to Tumbledown Creek to clean up she had to be rescued for she wasn't a very good swimmer and she almost drowned. A short while later Lasilaura was drying herself out in the sunlight in the barnyard whilst Roddy The Rooster and his friends painted the interior of the barn. Lasilaura cried again. It seemed she was hopeless as a farmdog! Suddenly there was a scream from Mrs Cow's paddock. Lasilausa bounded over to the paddock and found Mrs Cow had fallen down Old Mr Wombat's hole and now she was stuck - and Mr Wombat's muffled cry could be heard from the surface, "Help I'm caught in here under Mrs Cow," came his urgent plea. Lasilaura raced back to the barn to raise the alarm. Roddy The Rooster and his friends were all busy painting away when Lasilaura bounded in. "Quick, Mrs Cow needs help! She's fallen down Mr Wombat's hole trapping him inside!" Roddy The Rooster told Cassie The Carpetsnake to grab her pink boa and all the farm animals raced down to the paddock. Mrs Cow was rescued when Roddy tied Cassie's pink boa around Mrs Cow's neck and all the animals tugged on the taut pink boa as hard as they could freeing Mrs Cow and Mr Wombat. Back in the barnyard Lasilaura was a hero. Roddy The Rooster announced, "On behalf of all my friends here I would like to thank Lasilaura for alerting us to Mrs Cow's dilemma and would like to make her the official Tumbledown Creek farm guard dog." All the animals cheered as Roddy placed a red collar around Lasilaura's neck. Lasilaura spoke up, "Thankyou everyone for making me feel so welcome. But truly I want for nothing more than to return to the city. That's where I belong, for I was bought by my owners to be a guard dog for their children - once I grow up, that is!" Suddenly there was a "Toot! Toot!" from outside the barn. Roddy and his friends peered out of the barn to see the city cousin's station wagon returned. "Lasilaura! Lasilaura!!" came the call from the car. Lasilaura looked at Roddy The Rooster, "They've come back!" Roddy smiled, "Off you go, see you next time!" Lasilaura gave a quick look around, "Thanks everyone!" and she bounded off toward the car. Lasilaura climbed into the back seat and in a cloud of dust the loaded station wagon took off. Roddy and his friends waved goodbye, happy that Lasilaura was able to return home to where she belonged but a tear appeared in Mrs Cow's eye, and they all agreed - it was sad to see her go but Lasilaura will be back again next time the city cousins visit Roddy The Rooster's farm. More Roddy The Rooster's Farmyard Stories #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 #36

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