In his bar in Listowel playwright John B Keane tells the tale of Sonny Canavan and his talking dog Banana The Sixth.
Sonny Canavan from Dirha West in Listowel, County Kerry is renowned for making bodhráns. Playwright John B Keane relates an anecdote about Sonny Canavan's talking dog.
Sonny Canavan’s great-grandfather Tom Canavan was unloading merchandise when a black dog jumped on his cart. As he was a dog lover, he brought the dog home.
Now it transpired that this dog could make certain utterances which sounded human.
As the dog had arrived on a ship from Finland nobody in the area could understand what he was saying as they did not speak Finnish.
Time passed anyway and the breed of the dogs came down to the sixth generation and Canavan had a dog called Banana the Sixth.
Banana the Sixth had one great weakness he hated the clergy because
His mother was killed by an American priest home on holiday.
A time came when there was a female dog in Ballybunion who used to smoke a pipe. Sonny Canavan felt this dog was stealing his thunder somewhat so he asked Banana the Sixth if he would be interested in mating with the Ballybunion bitch.
No, said the dog, I’d never have anything to do with a bitch that smokes.
Banana the Sixth is dead now but there is a strain of the talking dog around today. This dog is only a pup but it is hoped it might speak one day.
This episode of 'Newsround’ was broadcast on 9 October 1977.
