Rescue dogs.

Every dog we had when I was a child was a rescue, not necessarily from a rehoming centre. Usually we got them because a friend or neighbour didn't want them any more.

So when Steve and I decided to get a dog I chose a rescue, we looked around several local centres but most of them had only large dogs. As we lived on the boat at the time there wasn't room for anything too big.

I also knew Steve's interest in any dog we got would be fleeting at best, so I decided a smaller dog would be ideal. I did think he'd be a better owner than he has proved to be. He has never fed Beano and only walked about four times in all the time we've had him. He is constantly aggrieved because Beano prefers me.

Beano is more comfortable around women than men when he first meets them. He is scared of teenage boys and some young men. This can be the problem with rescue dogs as they can have suffered in their earlier lives. My daughters dog had been badly abused when he was a puppy but he is a happy dog and seems to have no memory of the abuse he suffered.

When I took Beano out for his first walk this morning there were council workmen felling a nearby tree. This meant I had to persuade Beano to take a different route to the usual first walk of the day. To my surprise he was perfectly content to walk in a different direction. Mind you, it's been so cold today that Beano has done every walk at a fast trot.