Little cutie Opie having a beach ball

Name: Opie

Finest hour: Jumping up to bite bubbles

Likes: Pet rock, carrots, ribbons, hugs

Dislikes: Bins, plastic bags, headphones

MY name is Opie, but my owners have a lot of nicknames for me — Shmopels, Shmopy, Opels and Pupsqueek. However, my original owner called me Abby and people also like to call me Obi-Wan Kenobi. I am a King Charles/Fox Wire Terrier, and I am very cute, if I do say so myself.

On weekdays Caoimhe (my owner) gets up and her mum takes her to school which I am not very happy about, “what were they thinking? Leaving me to entertain myself!” But then she finally comes back and gives me lots of hugs and kisses, which I am very happy about.

At the weekends Caoimhe comes down to the kitchen and wakes me up, we go upstairs and she lifts me up on to her bunk bed and she plays on the tablet. After that, she goes down and feeds me breakfast.

They take me on lovely trips, and, at the moment, I am in a lovely, but distant land, called Castletownbere celebrating the end of the year, also known as the year of the dog, which has been lovely so far. I have been spending hours in my bed chewing on my bone that Santa Claus gave me for Christmas, and I am very grateful for it.

Yesterday we went on an amazing walk, where we went to an old castle. Near the castle, there was a beach and I was very happy about that — because I love the beach. Caoimhe and her dad were throwing sticks into the water and I would go in to fetch them. While I was swimming, the most peculiar creature popped its head up from the water. It looked at me, and I looked at it, and as soon as I had caught its eye, it had disappeared underwater. After what had seemed like hours, its long, black neck pierced through the surface again. When it realised that I was still there, it flipped over and vanished.

That’s when I heard Caoimhe’s dad say that it was a type of bird called a cormorant. Then I swam back and we went back to the house. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that the house we were staying in had my own beach. Well, I thought it was my own beach, until I got in trouble by trying to keep people off it… when I returned, I got the fright of my life because I saw another dog running around on my beach.

I did not want to get into a fight, so I just went over to him, said ‘hi’ and then we made friends.

Caoimhe Lindsay (10), Dublin

If you would like your pet featured in this column please send a story of 440 words and a photograph to snews@independent.ie clearly labelled MY PET