This is Jakie and me in my back garden in the Peak District. Jakie is an English Bull Terrier – and a rescue dog who was found wandering around Bolsover on Boxing Day nearly eight years ago.
Before Jakie, I had Buster, who was a cross between a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and an Alsatian and he died of old age when he was 15.
The day Buster died was the worst day of my life and my wife Maggie and I said we’d never have a dog again – until we decided we couldn’t live without one.
We visited several local dogs’ homes just outside Worksop then heard about this puppy called Jakie, who had no friends except for a rubber toy.
We saw this handsome, yet depressed little dog who looked rather put upon.
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He’d clearly had a bad time somewhere. I thought, ‘He’s got a friend now and we’ll look after him.’ The funny thing is that before we got to the rescue home, Maggie and I were sure of three things about our next dog: we didn’t want a thoroughbred, or a white dog, and we wanted one who did a lot of walking.
Jakie however, did not meet any of these requirements.
At first, we noticed that he had no idea about going for walks; he was even frightened of going up and down the stairs. It was difficult to make him comfortable in those early days because of his background.
All I wanted was to get him organised, give him reassurance and make him secure and happy. Now he’s very perky.
Derbyshire has plenty of countryside and moorland and I have five regular walks I enjoy, but Jakie always wants to go walking somewhere I don’t.
We’re careful on walks because if he sees another dog he gets bad-tempered. We’ve travelled together by car from Derbyshire to London and he’s a marvellous passenger because he gets inside and goes to sleep straightaway.
When we arrive in London, he loves to walk around Vincent Square, not far from Westminster Cathedral.
I would describe Jakie as a very needy dog and he wants a lot of loving. He enjoys sitting by my feet with his head leaning against my knee when we’re watching television. If I’m talking to someone about him and he’s there, he’ll turn around as if to say he knows we’re discussing him.
If I’m with someone, he’ll look at me with great disapproval because I’m not taking any notice of him.
He always knows when I’m talking about him because that’s when he wants me to scratch him behind his ears.
I talk to him and there are plenty of words he understands like walk, lead and tea. He knows from the tone of people’s voices whether they’re being affectionate or aggressive.
He also has these adrenalin rushes where he suddenly runs madly around the place. For example, he’ll take off upstairs where we have a large drawing room with sofas on either side and he’ll jump on them both for two minutes and then go off to sleep – often in his own little place in the kitchen.
After we lost Buster, I thought my life wouldn’t be the same again, then Jakie came along and rescued me so to speak. Jakie and I are very close: we’re friends and he has never let me down.
He makes me happy and just seeing how he behaves and what he does gives me the knowledge that I make him happy. When I look at this photograph, I think how lucky I am to have Jakie. He’s fine with politicians – irrespective of their party and there’s never been a human being whom he doesn’t get on with. Jakie loves people.
In fact, he loves people so much that if a burglar turned up, he would roll around on the floor and kick his legs up in the air”
Roy’s book, The Catholics: The Church And Its People In Britain And Ireland From The Reformation To The Present Day, is out now (Chatto and Windus, £25). See Express Bookshop on page 81.