Caladh and Doug, part of the Go Forth and Clyde team

Anyone who’s boated through the locks between the Falkirk and the Kelpies is likely to have met Caladh, an important member of the lock-keeping team at Go Forth and Clyde. Caladh is a nine-year-old chocolate labrador owned by Doug Hannah Wilson, deputy volunteer and lock-keeping manager.

Doug was living in Tighnabruaich main street, in Argyll and Bute, when he first got Caladh as a puppy. His home was just a 10-minute walk from Caladh Harbour, which is where her name (pronounced Cala) is from. Doug himself started with Re-Union on a 12-week employability course in October 2015 and never left.

He became a weekend supervisory, moving from part-time to his current full-time role. As he says, volunteering works and if you really want something, putting in the work is so worthwhile.

Doug says Caladh has a special affinity for folk in wheelchairs and wee ones in buggies and likes to stay close to them. She’s also helped new volunteers relax and gain confidence. She’s an instinctively kind and sociable dog and is friends with everyone – she loves company and being in a group of people. Doug went through a worrying time with her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer around her fifth birthday and was laid up for six months. Fortunately, she made a full recovery.

Like most labradors, Caladh enjoys her food, carrots being a favourite. When not ‘helping’ the lock keepers or meeting boaters, swimming is a favourite pastime. She’s also a great litter picker, collecting plastic bottles during her swims. In fact Doug reckons that in 2017 she fetched some 775 plastic bottles out of the canal.