Cheeky Alfie likes to make some noise

Name: Alfie Finest hour: After completing his training course, he slept for the rest of the day, guarding his certificate proudly Likes: Walks, food, barking Dislikes: Baths, bees and wasps

THIS is Alfie. He is almost one and he is a ruby King Charles spaniel.

He barks a lot. Whenever he sees a bird or a dog, he goes crazy. For some reason, he doesn’t bark at other King Charles spaniels — well, sometimes.

He is quite intelligent and knows how to get human food. While we are having dinner, he will sit at the door wanting to go out, then one of us gets up, he runs away from the door and tries to jump on our chair and get our food.

He has a really sensitive tummy and has to eat special food that is wheatfree and without beef.

Although Alfie is intelligent, he can be quite stupid, too, and gets frustrated at the smallest things, like light reflections —he tries to catch them. When the green man goes off for crossing the road, the noise drives him bonkers.

As I said, he barks a lot and his bark is no normal bark — he sounds like a seagull and some people stop and stare at him (you get used to it).

He was so crazy at first, we had to bring him to training classes. They were really fun and he is now a little more behaved — he waits until his food bowl is down then eats, and he can sit and lie down on command.

He loves walks and drags his lead around the house until we bring him for a walk.

He often escapes from the house and his harness, and we have to chase him. It is quite scary, because you don’t know if you will catch him or not.

We were a bit unprepared when we got Alfie. We kind of just jumped straight in. Everybody in our estate was getting dogs, and I wanted a dog since I was five, but my dad doesn’t really like dogs —eventually my mum convinced him.

Alfie also loves the swing ball and has broken two balls. He would play with it and chew it hours on end — it brings him great satisfaction.

Alfie sheds a lot and usually I go into school with hair all over my jumper. Almost a third of Alfie’s tail is fur and the same with his ears — he usually has leaves stuck to his ears.

He is great for snuggles and loves cuddling up on the couch in the evening. My mum calls him Piglet, because he snorts and coughs. We took him for a check-up and he had tonsillitis.

Alfie has his ups and downs. He may not be the most perfect dog (very far from perfect) and he gets looks and stares, but he is my best friend, bark or no bark. I love him. Lucy Gibson, aged 11, Bray, Co Wicklow

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