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Week 5 Story: The Dog and His Toy

Once there was a dog named Kyler, and he was perhaps the best boy in the world. He could protect his owners from all sorts of perils, such as random people delivering paper, visitors that had to pass a rigorous security check, and even cleaning devices that projected so much noise that they could cover up the sound of approaching intruders. Kyler was great at his job, and every time he had done a good deed, he would be rewarded by getting to play with his favorite toy, a little plush reindeer. But Kyler also remembered what happened when he was a bad boy, his toy would be taken away.

One day, Kyler was napping, paying little attention to his surroundings when he saw a movement out of the corner of his eyes. He stood up from his shady perch under the tree, and trotted over to the tree, where he saw a squirrel. The squirrel, being up to mischief, pelted an acorn at him. This brought a challenge to Kyler's territory, and he started shaking the tree in an attempt to get the squirrel down. The squirrel fell, and Kyler chased him off. But as he ran off, there was a cry for help from the squirrel, and suddenly, hundred's of squirrels descended down on Kyler, pelting him with acorns and charging him. Kyler had never felt such a challenge, but he stood his ground, barked as loudly as he could, and ran as fast as possible, scaring all of the squirrels off.

But it was all a ruse. The squirrel king had seen the threat that Kyler posed when a messenger squirrel came back and warned of such a warrior. The squirrel king consulted with the raven's and they hatched a plan to steel the plush reindeer from Kyler. However, Kyler had not been able to protect his reindeer since he was off fighting the squirrels.

The king ventured off, having captured the reindeer, and Kyler returned home to find his beloved toy missing.

Authors Note: I changed up the story where Rama fights off the rakshasas and Ravana steals away Sita from him by making Rama a dog, and Ravana a squirrel king. The original story can be found here.


The protagonist of our story, a common tree squirrel. Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography: Ramayana by Sister Nivedita

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Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 19, 2018 at 1:15 PM

    Hi Sean. I enjoyed reading your story. IT is always a good idea to include dogs, as you will capture the attention of all dog lovers (which is everyone, right?) Your first paragraph made me laugh. It is so funny how dogs bark at everything such as mailmen and vacuum cleaners. I have always wondered what they think when they are barking at these things. Great job!

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  2. UnknownSeptember 20, 2018 at 11:30 AM

    Hi Sean! I thought your story was a really cute and fun way to tell the story of Rama, Ravana, and Sita. Dogs + Squirrels are a great combination in my book. Your story was entertaining, but also really easy to understand and read! Great job and I look forward to reading more of your stories! Good luck this semester.

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  3. UnknownSeptember 20, 2018 at 7:16 PM

    Hi Sean!

    I really like your story. It is so clever, and unique. As a fellow dog lover, I to always wonder why they bark at random stuff. So I am curious, what kind of dog is Kyler? Does the squirrel king have a name? Do the ravens ever join in? What if they dive bomb Kyler? It is such a good a story and could go in many different directions.

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  4. Gimpy379September 22, 2018 at 6:44 PM

    Hi Sean! First of all, the idea behind this story was amazing. I was immediately interested and I couldn't stop smiling - my roommate asked what I was looking at because I was smiling so much! It was also really comprehensible and it helped make even the Ramayana version that much easier to understand. I could totally picture the whole thing, though I imagined Kyler to look like my Yorkie!

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  5. Eric CueSeptember 24, 2018 at 11:14 AM

    Hey Sean! First off, the character in my story is named after my dog! So I can relate to your k9 twist to the story. I really enjoyed the introduction to Kyler's daily life and how he is always guarding his humans (I imagine that we are hoomans to dogs). I thought it was great that his prized possession was his favorite toy and that he was happiest when he had his toy. My dog will bark constantly at the closet where his toys are until he can get his bouncy ball! I liked how you brought in ravens to help the squirrels, who are obviously a dogs arch enemy. You made it relatable to the original story in ways that also had humor, and that's always a plus to me! I have to ask, what kind of dog is Kyler? Maybe next time you could bring in a dog friend for Kyler? The story was great! Thanks for bringing a dog story into my day!

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  6. UnknownSeptember 24, 2018 at 11:54 AM

    I am a huge dog lover so this story was so much fun to read, i love how you modernized it and made it applicable to today's life. This story had me smiling the whole time and the ending was fun and interesting. I like how you related to what most dogs in real life, which is to bark at everything because I know mine does!

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  7. Arti PatelOctober 14, 2018 at 9:59 PM

    Hey Sean! I'm so happy that Kyler survived being attacked by the squirrels or I'm not sure how I would have reacted. It would be really cool to see more details about him fighting off all of the squirrels and what moves he did to manage to get all of them off of him. I think it would also be cool to add a tiny bit of suspense when the first squirrel runs off. Maybe Kyler could think that he was finally safe and then all of a sudden, he hears the squirrel call all of the other squirrels and they rush to him and start circling him, ready to attack.

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  8. CathyNovember 11, 2018 at 10:27 PM

    Hi Sean! Your story was adorable. The squirrels kind of reminded me of the squirrel in Ice Age. He perseveres to get his little acorn and they kind of did the same with the dog. It is sad that his toy was not there anymore. It is cool that you made this cute little story from the original and still made it similar.

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