London, Aug 22 : A Barnsley student couldn't score good grades in his subjects, courtesy his pet dog who ate his homework.

Ben Parker managed only a D in English and an E in history after his Boxer Ruby chewed up a USB memory stick containing thousands of words of coursework.

The two-year-old dog destroyed hours of the 26-year-old student's A level and NVQ work in the space of 10 minutes.

"I was out at the time and when I came home my mum said: 'You know your USB drive? What was on it?' I said 'Everything! Why,' the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.

"She hadn't actually digested it, just chewed it to bits. It was up on my windowsill in my bedroom so I don't know how she got hold of it.

"I was severely annoyed to say the least. I thought about finding a good taxidermist to get her stuffed, but it's hard to stay mad at those puppy dog eyes for long," he added.

He took the mangled drive to PC World to see if they could retrieve the lost work, but there was nothing they could do and the drive was thrown away.

Parker, who had been travelling around Australia and the USA before he began his two year course, added: "When I told the teachers the dog had eaten my homework they rolled their eyes at me and said it wasn't a valid excuse and they wouldn't give me an extension.

"I'm staying upbeat and thinking that, in the circumstances, I am just delighted that I passed. I had already forgiven Ruby so I'm not going down that road of being angry at her again. I know she didn't do it on purpose," he added.

ANI