Brenda and Charlie

When has he surprised you?

'He’s always surprising me, but something that really has surprised me is that since my husband died he acts like my sort of carer. If I go for a walk with my daughter, Andrea, I can only walk halfway and once he sees that I’m not with her he turns round and comes running all the way back to see if I’m alright. He does surprise me because he never used to do that. I think he thinks I’m being looked after by him. So, when I’m in the car and somebody speaks to me and I wind the window down I can’t hear anything because he barks at them continuously until they’re gone. He never ceases to give me a problem, but I couldn’t be without him.'

When is he happiest?

'Anywhere with us I think! He can’t bear it when we go out and leave him. We have to leave the TV on so he feels like there are people around, but I don’t think it fools him. We always go out and say, ‘we’re just going to the Co-op Charlie, we won’t be long’. '