It's fair to say that mum was a dog person, but not at all fond of cats, especially disliking them coming into the garden after the birds.  Her first doggy love was Blackie, the pet of her great grandma who incidentally lived in a cottage with a rope ladder for stairs, well into her nineties.  Then (from her photo album) there was Nell and Bonzo and Chiefie and Pogo, all the dogs of friends - she finally having a dog of her own when we got Donut in 1983.  Whom Susan was going to walk, train and feed, though in time more of that fell to mum, especially after Susan got married - Donut was a fussy eater and liked to be fed by hand.  Then of course there was Susan's family dog Boss.  Mum was a little nervous at first - Staffies do have a reputation - but soon she realised that he was as 'soft as muck'.  She loved to give him treats, and always tried to get him to 'shake paw', but he was always very wily and more often than not managed to get the biscuit from her hand without performing the trick.