My dog

So today, Sunday April 27th 2008 is International Day of the Dog. In celebration of that I thought I'd post a picture of my lovely dog and tell a little of his story.

Mido is now three and we have owned him for two years. We got him from a couple who were moving huse or splitting up or something. They were a bit vague about what was going on. We had Mido for a two week trial and, at the end of the trial we phoned to say we would be keeping him and they had goine. Subsequent investigations found out that they had disappeared overnight and their house was now empty. Curious. Anyway Mido was a thoroughly lovely dog, fortunately. I hate to think about what we'd have done if he hadn't been!

His previous owners called him Mido after an Egyptian footballer who used to play for Spurs. Brian, is a Spurs supporter, fortunatley. If the dog had been Rooney or Beckham or (horrors) Henry or any of his Arsenal teammates, Mido would have had to have a new name! Not that he's really fussy about his name. He answers to Frodo, Shadow, Odo, Hobo, Fido... anything really which rhymes with Mido (sort of).

Originally he had been found as a stray in Fishguard. He had terrible skin, suffering from mange and all sorts of horrid mites. His previous owners nursed him back to health and he grew all of his fur back. Mido knows all about scavenging and is adept at walking on his hind legs to steal whatever tasty snack has been put out on the bird table. He is a big fan of pizza too. There's a pizza takeaway in Fishguard and I can only assume that little puppy Mido was familiar with its leftovers. Pizza the only thing he has ever stolen off the work surface in the kitchen. He was so embarrassed that he had taken it that he found me and gave me back the bit of pizza.

A vet friend of mine had a close look at Mido and identified him as a Labrador-Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross. I always describe him as a mini black lab with a big grin! He has got a lovely quiet temperament and is endlessly patient with the children. He has never shown any inclination to bite and he doesn't really bark either. We have taught him to bark for a biscuit, but otherwise he's silent apart from a little quiet whining when he needs to go outside.

The only big problem we have with him is that he is car sick which makes taking him out to the beach a little traumatic, but, once we have finished this laborious process of changing the car I plan to take him out on little tiny trips to acclimatise him to travelling. I can't blame a dog who is on at least his third home for being a little stressed at the idea of another car trip.

Although one thing we should have thought about when we fell in love with a black dog was the fact that we have pale golden carpets. Oops! Never mind, we now have a fancier vacuum cleaner with a turbo brush which deals with the hair.