Fergus came to stay for a couple of weeks in October which was great fun and got me out walking every day at least three times a day. You wouldn’t believe he’d had a stroke back in May.

He can be a little unpredictable with other dogs, sometimes wagging his tail and being all pally, and other times…..

Bruce is a rather fine pit bull type beast, rescued by a rather fine elderly lady after his owner, a tramp, had died. Bruce likes to chat and when you go up to him it’s like an orchestra strikes up as he relates his greetings to you. He is unusually for this breed of dog, very friendly to other dogs.

So Fergus and I are walking home along the Esplanade one morning at high tide, the water lapping gently against the sea wall about 4 feet below us, when he spots Bruce and a spaniel with their respective owners further along the Esplanade. He trots up tail wagging, drops the stick he was carrying home, and proceeds with his greetings. Bruce is delighted as Fergus is normally a complete bastard to him, and he wags and sniffs and frolics, at which point Fergus gruffly turned on him, growling fiercely, causing the poor dog to flip over in fear, trying to get away, whereupon his bottom end swings out over the edge of the Esplanade, a lot of flailing and grappling, and PLOP, he drops into the North Sea. Aaaargh! Fergus retrieves his stick and trots on blithely, a grin from one ear to the other and eyes sparkling with mischief.

Bruce’s owner is understandably beside herself and is on the point of jumping over the railing into the sea to retrieve him. I managed to stop her in time. There were steps up about 100m to our right and about 200m to our left. Bruce swam left! I tried to get him to turn however he just kept going, and then he found some footing against the sea wall where a concrete slope was peeking out of the sea. He managed to get a bit higher, and then a bit higher again, until finally I managed to get my hand on his collar and hold him there. The spaniel owner leant down and together we hauled him up. Huge sigh of relief, and that was just from Bruce!

I felt terrible and kept apologising as Mr F looked smugly on. Bruce’s owner kept saying it was Bruce’s fault as he should have remembered Fergus reaction to him and she was really glad it happened as now she knew Bruce could swim.

I haven’t seen either of them since! Hope he’s OK…. hope she’s OK…..

Fergus in the back of Boris the Morris after a run on the beach

Excellent sign from Tendring Council