Dog days

I'm sure that people who have never owned a dog are unable to appreciate just what an effect they can have on one's life. It's pretty obvious if we think of an assistance dog, but the bog standard family pet can make a big difference. We have owned dogs for more than 40 years, since a year after we were married. The first was a collie cross which we got from a rescue centre. I can still remember how proudly she seemed to walk along the road with us after we left the centre as if she knew full well she was "rescued". Although very friendly generally, she was a tremendous guard dog. We had had her a little more than four years before our first son was born but she immediately adopted him as a surrogate puppy. If Mrs S wanted to pop into a shop, she left the pram outside with Sandy tied to it and woe betide anyone who had the temerity to so much as look into the pram.

Our next dog, Rags, was a flat-coat retriever and just about the soppiest dog you could meet, although as he was big and black, a lot of people gave him a wide berth. Our daughter learned to walk by hanging onto his tail and on more than one occasion he was found lying on the floor wearing a jumper and covered in the dolls' blanket. His biggest treat was to meet the children from school when just about every child would come and make a fuss of him. Later, when the children were old enough to come home by themselves, he knew just when they should be home and would be sitting by the door waiting. After school activities really worried him because the children were not home on time. I remember that one winter, after it had snowed, we took the children and Rags across the golf course. The children had extra-strong plastic sacks to act as sledges and we soon found a spot where children were sliding down a steep hill into a bunker. Rags insisted on sitting on my younger son's sack as he slid. When they reached the bottom, he (Rags) jumped off the sack and ran back to stand in the queue for another go. He was just that sort of dog - completely mad and almost untrainable, but as big-hearted as they come.

Then came Bramble, a golden retriever. Another gentle dog but not a madcap like her predecessor. She had a strong maternal instinct and even allowed motherless lambs to try and suckle. One year we looked after just such a lamb for a farmer friend. I built a pen on the lawn from chicken wire and the lamb was supposed to stay inside it during the day. Unfortunately, Bramble learned how to open the pen and on several occasions we found the lamb rushing about the garden eating the wallflowers while the dog sat in the safety of the pen. Our garden attracted all the local children, each of whom wanted to give the lamb its bottle. Not only that, but Mrs S took the lamb to her cub pack on one occasion. The lamb went in the back of our estate car and was then walked down the road on a lead, just like a dog. A passing motorist nearly crashed when he saw it.

We ran up vast vet's bills with Bramble as she had a sort of stroke when she was 6 and was paralysed from the neck down. Eventually, steroid injections got her back on her feet and she made a full recovery. A few years later one eye had to be removed, then a year after that, the second one as well so she was completely blind. This didn't stop her, and she would rush headlong across the field when I took her to 39 Acres.

The current canine companion is Fern, an English springer spaniel. She is well-known in the various parks we go to as a happy dog with a tail that is constantly wagging. She thinks that children were put on earth just for her pleasure and absolutely adores them. If she spots a child in the park she rushes over, never touching the child, and drops her ball before retreating a few feet and lying down to wait for the child to throw her ball.

Yes, a dog is a tie and one does have to think before just heading off for a day out on a whim. In fact, one doesn't do that. But there is something about coming home to a house that is not completely devoid of life and having a dog come to greet you, and at least one can tell a dog one's troubles without it seeming to get bored.