Welcome Sid, winner of Woof Factor 2001, to THE DOG FILES. In this interview we get behind the headlines to find out more about this dog star…
NAME: Sid
AGE: I can’t remember quite how old I am. My vet says I must be about 10.
My Woof Factor 2011 prize-winning portrait!
BREED: Lovable Labrador
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE WOOF FACTOR? It’s a photo competition run by the wonderful Oldies charity, which finds lovely warm firesides for us old boys and girls who haven’t got a home of our own. I won some lovely prizes, including one from Merry Dogs!
SO WHAT’S YOUR RESCUE STORY? Two and a half years ago I woke up in a vet’s, and I can’t remember anything before that. Apparently I had been in a dog pound for six weeks, becoming more and more poorly – I had pneumonia… A lady rescued me from the pound and took me to her vets. She was my guardian angel! I spent five days there on a drip, and they didn’t think I was going to survive.
But I did, thanks to their care. My guardian angel asked the Oldies Club if they would care for me, and they took me to my foster home. I had to share this house with two of the oddest looking dogs I have ever seen – they’re called Bassets. Anyway, my fosterers joined that popular society, the Failed Fosterers Club, and here I still am, two and a half years later, with the odd Bassets and my dear family.
On arrival at my new home - still looking poorly...
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR NEW HOME? Good food (especially the homemade stuff), long walks and lying on my bed in front of the wood-burner.
WHO IS YOUR BFF AND WHY? Well, the Basset girls tend to gang up together – so I am friend to all the fosters who come to stay, big or small. It’s very sad when they leave to go to their new homes – but I know another confused soul will be along soon who will need my companionship. I do have a furry pheasant that I am very fond of – does he count?
WHAT WOULD BE YOUR PERFECT DAY? A cooked breakfast, a stroll in the countryside (with horse-poo treats for sustenance) and the pub for lunch. Home, nap, afternoon tea, nap, dinner, cuddle up with pheasant for nap. I wuf naps!
Running about enjoying myself!
ANY DISLIKES? Having my ears cleaned and my feet washed – yuk!
WHAT WELL-KNOWN SONG COULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN WITH YOU IN MIND? My family chose this – ‘Simply the Best’ by Tina Turner. It’s made me blush..
WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT HAVING YOU AROUND? The fact that I am just perfect! My family love it when I join them on walks, and I have a large repertoire of tricks. Oh and I follow commands (the bassets are rather wayward!). They cannot understand how I ended up in the pound.
IF YOU WERE HUMAN, WHAT JOB WOULD YOU HAVE? My family always insists than I have been in the RAF – one of the loyal hounds who sits beside the runway counting the planes out and back in again. I even have a cartoon of myself in uniform, and very dashing I look too!
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