How did Charlie come into your family’s life?
We had a dog called Polly. When I started using Instagram, I’d say people were following me more for her than for me in the beginning!
She died young due to an accident - she was too young, only four and a half. We had had Polly for a couple of years and then the kids came along and she was really good with them, but then sadly she passed in June 2021.
A year later - it was actually on her anniversary - my wife Orna and I went over to the garden centre and ended up meeting a couple with a Cavachon, which are a mix between a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and a bichon frise.
Read more: Rosanna Davison's heartbreak as she and her family say goodbye to beloved Pomeranian dog
I was really against it, I was like no more dogs. I had to nearly go to therapy after Polly died. But we saw it and we loved it and we ended up getting Charlie because we saw that people were selling them only half an hour away from us.
Cavachons are adorable, what’s Charlie like?
He won’t even go near his bed in this house. He sleeps with us and hops in a bed every night, between the three bedrooms. He’s brilliant with the kids, that would be his best trait. He literally minds them, he stays beside them like a little guard dog. He runs up and down the stairs and in around the house with them.
Did you grow up with dogs? Do you think it’s important for your kids to grow up around animals?
Yeah, we would have always had dogs in the house when we were growing up. I think it’s great for kids and families to have dogs because I think it teaches kids responsibilities - that you have to get up with them and bring them out on a walk, you have to feed them, you have to mind them.
It’s clear from how you talk about Polly and Charlie that you have a deep love for dogs, why do you think you’re such a dog person?
What I always say is, dogs are the one person - because I think of them as people - that you can tell stuff to and they won’t tell anyone else. They won’t stab you in the back or tell your secrets! They’re like your little therapist. I find something very therapeutic about having dogs around and Orna feels the same. They can sense when you’re stressed and they can really help take it away and take care of you. Even with the kids, it’s like they have a sixth sense. My son Teddy was sick a couple of weeks ago and the whole night Charlie wouldn’t come out of his bedroom because he knew that he wasn’t well. It’s weird, it’s a hard one to explain because unless you have a dog you wouldn’t understand. The dogs are really part of the house and the family. Sometimes I think they’re better than people!
Would you ever get another one, for Charlie to have some company? Or would two dogs and two kids be too much?
We actually are getting another! We’re getting one of Charlie’s brothers in the next couple of weeks. We’re in a three bed house with four people, and a second dog on the way! But the great thing is that you don’t even notice Cavachons are in the house, they’re so quiet. Charlie just passes around the house doing his own thing, he barks at the bottom of the bed when he wants to get up or at the back door when he wants to go out but that’s the worst of it. He’s very good, he’s never had an accident.
This interview was printed in the October issue of RSVP Magazine
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