September 2022
Pets on the Cut Lorraine and Jackie Chan
A FEW months back, dog- loving Lorraine Howe, the Caen Hill Marina manager, invested in a new canine companion. It’s a male, predominantly grey in colour with blue eyes and he goes by the name of Jackie Chan.
Already, and as young as he is, wherever one sees Lorraine they can be sure Jackie Chan will be close by. He’s not a big dog and due to his lineage, I doubt he’ll ever grow into a big dog; however, and even now at his young age, he’s displaying a ‘big dog’ attitude.
His devotion to Lorraine is already noticeable, which is noble. I guess at this point too, it’s worth noting Jackie Chan’s lineage because it’s interesting. Lorraine informed me his mother was a Jack Russell x Staffie which is fine, but then the mental image became a bit confusing as to how Jackie Chan and his siblings were conceived when Lorraine informed me his father was a Chihuahua! Given that Jackie Chan was sitting alongside me on the couch and watching me intently while I was chatting to Lorraine, I didn’t embarrass him by bursting into laughter after hearing about his parentage. What’s more important is he’s adapted well to narrowboat life and like all pups he’s growing up quickly. He’s also proving friendly towards other marina dogs when they stop by at the marina office and he’s also cat friendly. Both these attributes are definite pluses in the relative confines of a marina.
Dyed- i n - t he- wool Bristolian Lorraine has been a dog lover since girlhood and a few years back, before she became Caen Hill Marina manager, she had a lovely fluffy little dog called Lucky. He too was a dedicated narrowboat dweller and when I first met Lorraine, she informed me Lucky was a Jack Russell terrier-cross. Seemingly, the JR genetics weren’t the dominant gene in Lucky’s DNA because to me he appeared to be a ‘cuddly’ sort of fluffy dog rather than wiry-haired as in JR.
To that end and hazarding a guess I’m sure Lucky’s father was a soft curlycoated travelling salesman of the canine sort, who had stopped by to woo Lucky’s mother. Folk who knew the narrowboat loving Lucky said he reminded them a lot of puppeteer Bob Carolgees’ canine puppet Spit the Dog.
Sadly, around two years ago and after 12-years of being a devoted canine friend to Lorraine, Lucky passed away due to cancer. In the wake of Lucky’s passing Lorraine understandably felt she wasn’t quite ready for another canine companion.
However, and over the ensuing months those of us who know Lorraine well always felt something was missing, more particularly so whenever we saw her out and about while busying herself with marina management issues. It just wasn’t the same seeing her without a dog of her own close by, although we often saw her walking dogs belonging to various friends of hers.
And then, suddenly, one morning a few months back the persistent yapping of a six-week-old puppy could be heard emanating from the office. When entering, one could see Lorraine had a mischievous smile on her face, and it wasn’t long before we all knew Jackie Chan had arrived. And was definitely here to stay.