I've been lucky to know a whole range of characters, including Granny Clarke, and her dog, Ruff. But let me introduce Ruff properly with his own story.

When my youngest uncle, David, he was only eight years older than me, got married and moved out of the house, everyone decided Granny Clarke needed a dog to keep her company.

Granny Clarke put up a stout resistance saying she couldn’t take it out for decent walks and it would get fat. John, her last bachelor son insisted he’d take it walks for her and, since she could deny John very little, someone found a dog called Ruff, a kind of collie all-sorts.

Ruff moved in and began a platonic relationship with Granny. I’ve known many dogs who enjoyed having their heads patted or ruffled but Ruff was too liberated to be treated as a pet.

The rest of my first encounter with Ruff is among the short stories in Bees in my Bonnet but is on its own at - 

sullatoberdalton.com/pen-sullatober/short-stories/ruff-times-in-a-dogs-life/