Dog roll

As a voracious canal blog reader, I can’t help noticing how big a part dogs play in blogs. And not just in blogs of course, but in the very weft and warp of narrowboaters’ lives. So to celebrate our canine companions, here’s my dog roll.

An honourable mention must go first to Molly and Bess of Snecklifter, who last year swapped towpath for Peak District. These were the first dogs of bloggers/diarists that we’d met and while Bess kept herself to herself, dear old Molly was (is!) a classic Parsons who was forever trying to launch herself through the side hatch and would run so fast down the boat that she’d meet herself coming back.

Next up are Lucy and Meg, the classic Collies owned by Sue and Vic of No Problem. We met them last year on the Staffs and Worcs, resplendent in their bandanas and sitting obediently at heel. And that was Sue and Vic!

Continuing with those pooches we have met, we must give a gold star to Bendigedig’s Ben who remained cool, calm and collected in the fuzzy face of Contented Soul’s Mutley – or was it Baxter? Those naughty Tibetan terriers, they make up for in personality what they lack in size!

Then there are all those hounds that are just friends we haven’t met yet. There’s Seyella’s Meg, who seems to be very well-behaved because there are rarely any tales of doggy misdoings. There’s Petroc’s Ellie the Labrador, who is suffering a little with arthritis and who is always a primary consideration when it comes to mooring spots. High banks don’t do it for Ellie.

Jo and Keith on Hadar have their morning and evening constitutionals in the company of Paddy, who strikes me as a very faithful hound and is now the chaperone of moggy Marmite.

John on Marmaduke currently has two doggy pals, Monty and Cassie, but it is their late lamented Duke that they have poignantly remembered in their boat’s name.

And then bringing up the rear we have the Edwards brothers, Khayamanzi Andy and K2 Steve. Now Andy might be winning the blogging war, but Steve is edging him in the dog stakes. Steve has the beautiful Tally the golden lab and the far too cute Shilah the beagle to decorate his tug deck, while Andy can only muster a single – but stunning - Simba. But then again, Simba is a highly experienced deck/dog hand, a calm and obedient type who remained suitably unimpressed when some greyhounds, who shall remain nameless, caused havoc and chaos on the Ashby canal one afternoon. So I think honours even there, lads. What’s it to be next? Munro-bagging?