Jack’s successor was Karl. He was a brindle Boxer and was a rescue dog from the RSPCA “Dogs’ Home” in Wallasey. We didn’t have Karl for very long. He did go to Beeston during the winter of 1966/67 when we went to check on the boat but didn’t actually go boating with us as, tragically, he had to be put to sleep early in 1967 due to his having behavioural problems caused by mistreatment from his previous owner. We do not have many photographs of Karl due to not having him for very long.

The next dog, in 1968, was another Jack, similar to the previous Jack not only in name but in appearance as well. My brother, Jim, once told me that he was a relation to the previous Jack and was the canine equivalent to his grandson. As Jim knew the family that he came from who lived in Pool Road not far from us this was not beyond the boundaries of possibility. I remember seeing him as a puppy with his mother and siblings when we decided to take him. He was not as cantankerous as his namesake (but still bad enough) and he was to accompany us on many voyages over the next fourteen years. The Merrals, who owned the land that “Phial” was moored on had a pony called Dolly. Jack 2 had befriended Dolly and they spent many happy hours together playing and running in the field where she was kept. When the pony was in foal, their activities had to be curtailed temporarily in case she miscarried but after the foal was born normal services were resumed and what's more, the foal joined in as well! The Merrals later had donkeys but they did not have the same affinity with Jack that the ponies did and tended to ignore him. After Father died in 1978, Jack 2 stayed with Mother and was her constant companion during the summers she spent on “Phial” until his death in 1982 aged fourteen years old.

Jack 2 in 1968

(Photograph - James M Wood)

I got my own dog in 1979… Misty (later to be partly the inspiration behind the name of our first boat... “Misty Waters”). She was a cross between a Golden Labrador and a Cocker Spaniel... her father being the Labrador and her mother being the Cocker Spaniel. Whilst going on an errand for milk from a local shop I noticed a puppy behind the counter of the shop. The shop's owner told me that their cocker spaniel bitch had puppies and this was one of them. She initially went to a lady who found the puppy tpp much for her to cope with and gave it back to the shop's owners. I was asked if I knew of anyone who might like the puppy. I said that we might be interested and after a quick family discussion I returned to the shop and came back with the puppy in my arms much to the delight of my children. She possessed the best temperament of any dog I have ever known equalled only by Maxi and Ruby (more of whom later). The golden coat and intelligence of the Labrador coupled with the size and good manners of the Spaniel was definitely a good gene mix. During her long life she never ever bit anyone and was loved by all who came in contact with her. One night she awoke us barking loudly. I went downstairs to investigate and was just in time to see a burglar fleeing. If Misty hadn't have alerted us then the burglar wouldn't have been detected and stolen more than he did.

Misty when she was a puppy in 1979

She got on well with Jack 2 and I only remember her falling in the canal once whilst the boat was moving. This was on “Misty Waters 1” shortly after we had bought the boat when we were cruising down the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near Kinver in 1984. She decided to try and walk down the side of the boat but didn’t quite make it as the boat possessed quite narrow gunwales. One day, “Misty Waters II” was tied up near Moore on the Bridgewater Canal whilst I cleaned the hull. Misty was fast asleep inside. But after she went to sleep I had turned the boat around to clean the opposite side. When Misty woke up, she didn't realise this fact and got off as normal. It must have been a rude awakening for her when she realised that the towpath wasn’t where she had left it but the canal was and received an unscheduled bath.

Misty at the Audlem Mill Shop Dog Mooring - August 1985

Another funny memory that is nothing to do with boating but concerns a female kitten that my daughter Lisa brought home in 1984. The kitten was christened Tabitha or Tabby for short. When the kitten was brought into the house, Misty was curled up on a chair at home when the kitten jumped up beside her, curled up and went to sleep. When the kitten awoke it discovered Misty’s nipples and started to suckle on them. No milk came out but it must have comforted the kitten and it continued to do this until one day it must have given Misty a nip. Tabby was ejected from the chair in no uncertain fashion and didn’t attempt to suckle her again.

Misty being tormented by Tabby in 1984

Whilst on the subject of the Tabby, she used to come on the boat with us. I taught her to swim in a moored work boat at the top of Grindley Brook staircase lock that had some water in it but not deep enough for her to drown in. She quite often turned heads when people on passing boats saw this small kitten walking around the side of “Misty Waters”.

Tabby in a more placid mood

Whilst we were moored at Llangollen in the summer of 1985, Tabby jumped ashore and went onto the boat moored behind us. It was an Anglo-Welsh hire boat that had bridge guards fitted over the foredeck. Hanging from the bridge guards was washing hung out to dry, with which, the kitten was merrily playing. The occupants of the boat were so captivated that they offered to buy the kitten there and then (for £20 if my memory serves me correctly). Needless to say, she wasn’t for sale. Quite often, whilst at Beeston and it was time to go home she would refuse to get into the car with Misty and the rest of us. She would then run away and hide until we had left. This meant that she would have to spend the week with my Mother until our return the following weekend. Tabby didn’t impress my Mother very much when she started catching field mice and water voles, presenting her with them on “Phial”. Later that year whilst at home, Tabby went out for a walk and didn’t return. I quite often wonder what became of this pleasant young cat but I will never know. Perhaps someone started feeding her chicken (her favourite food) and she decided to stay with them.

When we moved to Preston Brook Marina in the autumn of 1985, our berth was on one side of the marina and our friends Alec and Dave’s boats' berths were on the other side. Misty could be quite often seen sprinting around the marina with her nose to the ground when she smelt the bacon being cooked on one of our friends’ boats. She was loved by all who came in contact with her and had a long and healthy life. When Maxi came to live with us she became his mentor and would often pass on to him the wisdom she possessed. In later life she survived a stroke and lived to the ripe old age of 18 when, in 1997 she sadly died due to liver failure. She is dearly missed and the memories we have of her hold a special place in our hearts.

In 1987 we agreed to take a friend’s Irish Setter when he had to move and could not take the dog to his new home. His name was Prince or, as he was most commonly referred to... Prinny. He was a beautiful dog but not the most intelligent that I have known. Misty used to boss him around and, to be honest, he needed her guidance. She used to “beat him up” (in a playful fashion) when he was naughty or did something stupid. Prinny had a red plastic squeaky peg and delighted in chewing it making it squeak quite loudly. Misty didn't like the squeaky peg and one day Prinny was upstairs chewing at it and Misty must have had enough of the noise he was making. She calmly jumped down off the chair she was sitting on, went upstairs and took the peg off him. She came back downstairs with the peg in her mouth and climbed back onto the chair with an expression of self-satisfaction that I will always remember. One example of Prinny’s lack of intelligence was demonstrated when I was at work and received a telephone call from Ange my next door neighbour (the lady destined to become my second wife) who told me that the dog had hung himself from the net curtains on my front windows. He must have been after a fly and entangled himself in the curtains. Thankfully, he was unharmed by the experience but we still laugh about the incident over twenty years later. Prinny was not best suited to canalling as he couldn’t swim due to having a slim build, small paws and not being very muscular. Being dozy didn’t help either! Consequently, he fell in the cut quite often. I remember having to dive into the River Weaver adjacent to the Anderton Boat Lift when he jumped onto a boat moored at the wharf below the boat lift and missed! If we were to have him today we would buy a canine life jacket for him and make sure that he wore it.

Prinny in 1989

We did not have him from a puppy and the previous owner did not train him properly. Accordingly, he could not be trusted off the lead and usually had to be tied up when we moored in case he ran off and couldn’t find his way back. The solution to this problem was to provide Prinny with a long rope attached to his own personal mooring stake and even then he managed to tie himself up in knots. On the rare occasions he was off the lead, he usually found some mischief to get up to. Once, when we were cruising down the Middlewich branch of the “Shroppie”, he was trotting along the towpath close to Church Minshull with Misty and my daughter, Lisa, when he came upon a really fresh and smelly cowpat. He just couldn’t resist the temptation to roll in it. By the time Lisa had caught up with him his beautiful glossy red coat had turned green and he was standing there under the misconception that he smelt wonderful. It took three dunks in the cut accompanied by a good dowsing in Fairy Liquid and dog shampoo to return his coat to normal. Whilst he was receiving his multiple dunkings Misty barked at him, then looked on with an amused expression on her face and I am sure that she was laughing at him as he was receiving his repeated dunks in the canal to rinse out the detergent. Prinny's favourite pastime was licking his testicals and he would polish them with his tongue until they were very shiny much to the amusement of the children.

Unfortunately, a couple of years later, Prinny fell over backwards at home and damaged his spine paralysing him from the “waist” down. The vet could not suggest a treatment and said that the kindest thing would be to have him put to sleep. We have seen other dogs since that had a buggy consisting of a frame with little wheels on allowing full mobility and often wondered if this could have been done for Prinny. Had this solution been possible he would have most probably got it stuck somewhere or overturned the buggy. If it had happened these days I am sure that Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick would have been able to sort him out!

Another dog we had was for a short period of time in the early 1990s was Mindy. She came from the same source as Prinny but didn't go canal cruising with us. She was a cross between a cocker spaniel and a black Labrador... a similar mix to Misty. She had the most beautiful shiny black coat and the whitest teeth that I have ever seen on a dog. She was well mannered (as was Misty) but she did not stay with us very long and went back to her previous owner after about twelve months. We later looked after Mindy for a week in 1996 whilst her owner was in hospital.  We were sad (especially Maxi) when she had to return to her owner and we quite often talk about her, especially her beautiful white teeth, her glossy black coat and the effect that she had on Maxi who is discussed below.

Mindy in 1996

One of Ange’s brothers and his wife live in the Isle of Wight and the first time that I visited them was in 1994. At that time we were introduced to their Springer Spaniel who was called Max. I immediately made friends with Max and spent more time with him than the human members of the family. Later on, his owners’ circumstances changed and Max didn’t quite fit into the changes. We were asked if we would like to have him to which we answered yes without hesitation. At the time, Max wasn’t a very good traveller and had to be sedated for the journey from the Isle of Wight up to our home on the Wirral. Misty was still alive when we got him and, even though she was getting old, she still gave the guidance that she showed Prinny. At the end of the road where we live is a park that contains a large lake. When Max (usually referred to as “Maxi”) saw the lake for the first time he just had to jump into it for a swim, even though it was in January and there was ice on the water! Naturally, Misty told him off in her usual way, trotting along the lake's bank, barking at him as he swam. We captured this occurrence on video and it always brings a smile to our faces when we see that grand, wise old dog bossing a young and boisterous Springer Spaniel around. As the weeks passed, we got Maxi more used to going in the car and he eventually came to enjoy the experience, knowing that it usually meant an extra long walk for him.

Maxi cooling off in a cattle trough

Mention is made above of Mindy and the fact that we looked after her whilst her owner was in hospital. Maxi had "the hots" for her but Mindy would have nothing to do with him. She would be lying down on the other side of the room and would notice Maxi looking at her. She would then silently bare her brilliant white teeth at him to which Maxi would put his head down, look the other way and avoided eye contact at all costs. On one occasion Maxi was looking at her whilst he was standing in the middle of the room nowhere near her and was going through the motions of "humping". We put this down to him just "practicing". This occurrence was absolutely hilarious and it prompted us to ask the vet on his next visit about his sexual frustration and whether or not he should be neutered. The vet told us that what he never had he would never miss and as long as his temperament was okay we should leave well alone.

Whilst on a walk in the country on a hot summer's day in 2000 we came across a galvanised steel trough used by cattle to drink out of. The trough had not been used for a while and the water in it had turned stagnant. This didn't deter Maxi though and he jumped in to cool down much to our frustration. The photograph above shows the expression of joy on his face but what it does not convey is how he smelt when he got out. He had to be hosed down repeatedly before getting back into the car. Maxi had been by canals when he had accompanied us to Beeston Market (every Bank Holiday Monday) or come with us on one of our canal walks. He usually could not wait to sample the local water no matter how deep or cold it was. On one occasion we drove to Pontcysyllte and he was so scared of crossing the aqueduct that I had to carry him across both ways. His first introduction to boating was on “Cordelia”. At first, he was not too impressed by the vibration of the boat’s engine but as time passed, he became used to it and loved going to the boat, usually being the first in the car when we were preparing to go. Whenever I was doing a job on the boat I used to joke that Maxi helped me by handing me the tools or screws, and I’m sure that he would have so done had he been able to. Not long after taking over responsibility for “Cordelia” we attended a boat rally at Lymm Cruising Club. Due to a shortage of space we were moored in the arm outside Lymm Cruising Club’s headquarters with three boats behind us, boats moored on either side and five boats moored across our bows. Maxi wouldn’t jump across to the adjacent boats in order to reach dry land (due to being a bit of a coward) and so I had to lift up this five stone dog and carry him like a baby as I stepped across to the next boat’s foredeck and then onto the canal bank, avoiding mooring ropes as I went. The process had to be reversed when getting back on the boat.

Maxi on the front deck of nb Total Eclipse in 2001

Springer Spaniels are inherently intelligent and require constant mental stimulation. We used to play several games with him such as "Go Find" and "Which Cup". With "Go Find" Maxi would be sent out into the hall whilst a chew stick was hidden somewhere in the sitting room. Sometimes he would try and peep around the door to see where the treat was hidden. When we saw this he would be told to go by the foot of the stairs and the treat re-hidden. Maxi would be sitting patiently but making the occasional "huff" and stamping his feet. When we were ready we would call him into the room with a "Maxi... come and find it" to which he would run into the room and sniff frantically all the usual hiding places such as beneath the sofa cushions, by the side of the television or beneath a strategically placed magazine or newspaper. Needless to say he would quickly find the treat with a satisfied expression on his face and sat waiting for us . "Which Cup" required as the name suggests three cups turned the upside down whilst Maxi was out of the room with a treat hidden beneath one of them. He would come in and inspect each of the cups and always chose the one with the treat beneath by putting his paw on it. We would then mix the cups up and, as previously, always found the correct one.

Maxi - Loved by all who came in contact with him

Unfortunately, Maxi suffered (unbeknown to us) from a fatal liver and kidney problem and he went to sleep for the last time in the May of 2002. When we were going to the boat he was always the first in the car. He was overcoming his initial wariness of boats (like he did with the car when we first got him) and would have ensured wet paw marks and muddy carpets for many years to come. We were devastated when Maxi died and vowed not to have another dog as it is too painful emotionally when something like this happens to them. We were very fortunate to have known Maxi and blessed to have had him as part of our family. He was friendly, humorous, loyal and very good company. Over thirteen years on we still miss him greatly (and I suspect, always will) and will most certainly never forget him such was the impression that he made upon us.

My brother has always had a bog (or two or three) but eventually they all passed away for various reasons... usually old age. I remember well accompanying my brother to the vet when one of them had to be put down. Not long before my brother died they got another dog. He is called Max and is a cross-breed Staffordshire Bull Terrier. He has a lovely nature and is quite vocal. We quite often look after Max and he has been on the boat with us as well. He fretted quite a lot (as we all did) when my brother passed away and since then we have seen a lot more of Max. We know that we cannot replace Jim but hope that we have become occasional "surrogate" parents to Max and he seems to enjoy staying with us. We look forward to many more years of his company.

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Friends' Dogs

All the dogs mentioned up to now have been our dogs but there are some that belonged to fellow boaters that demand mentioning. Bobby belonged to Phil "Ladybird" who occasionally cruised with us during the 1980’s when we were moored on Preston Brook Marina. Bobby’s claim to fame was that he barked at his own reflection in the canal. It was humorous at first to see (and hear) this dog looking at his reflection and barking at it for quite long periods of time. In the end the novelty wore off and Phil (who has a broad St Helens accent) would shout “Bobber... shurrup Bobber!” Bobby is sadly no longer with us and Phil, along with his wife Cathy (who used to work for Dave Reed and used to crew for him), has sold their boat “Ladybird” and gone to live in Lanzarote but we will never forget them.

In 1986 the Gourdjis (Rakaia) bought a dog in the shape of “Trudy”... a Cairn Terrier. She was, as this breed is normally, a snappy little thing and when on board the boat “Rakaia” resided in a cupboard with a curtain on the front. When a stranger or someone that she didn’t like walked past she would dart out of her cupboard like a Conger Eel striking at its prey and attack their ankles. Her dislikes were not exclusively directed towards humans either... she didn’t like other dogs as well. She had what I refer to as “Small Dog Syndrome” which is something that a book I have on dog psychology puts down to small dogs having an inferiority complex. We were cruising around the Cheshire Ring in 1987 and were negotiating Bosley Locks on the Macclesfield Canal when Trudy decided to have a go at Prinny... our Irish Setter. My eldest son Michael waded in to separate the two dogs and ended up having to be taken to the local hospital for stitches. After that Michael gave the evil little bitch a sly kick at every opportunity. Over the years Trudy didn’t mellow with age and she was still as cantankerous and snappy when she died in 1991.

Unfortunately we don't have any photographs of Bobby or Trudy.