Rioch, Chico, Bonnington, Bob & Fatty…
My mother-in-law’s dog had been named by her daughter Jenny, who chose the surname of her favourite Aston Villa player at the time and thus the pooch became Rioch…
That was fine, except that the dog was a bitch…
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| RIOCH WITH ME IN THE RIDGEWAY GARDEN, BEFORE A TRIP TO WEMBLEY... |
Rioch was a strange creature especially after she bore puppies, becoming rather nasty after an operation to make her infertile. Three of the puppies come to mind even now, for one was to become my family dog which I named Chico after my favourite Villa player at the time, Ian ‘Chico’ Hamilton. Chico (the canine version) would live in my marital home until he passed away but he really wasn’t very bright at all…
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| CHICO & RIOCH, LOOKING LKE A DOG WITH TWO BODIES... |
Another of the puppies was constantly climbing out of the container they were all being kept inside and one of my future sister-in-law Josie’s kids decided its name should be Bonnington, after the famous British climber Chris Bonnington. I liked that…
Josie took on another puppy which I’m sure she called Bob and it lived next door at Josie’s house as it and Chico got bigger. This was before I was married when Chico would move to Tamworth with Jenny and me.
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| ABOVE & BELOW: WITH CHICO IN TAMWORTH, AFTER I HAD LAID A LAWN. MY MUM IS ON THE IMAGE BELOW... |
Unfortunately, Josie too often allowed her dog to escape, whilst also leaving mother-in-law’s rear gate open too, so that Chico would disappear with Bob onto a main road, The Ridgeway in Erdington. On the opposite side of the road was the high brick wall of Witton Cemetery and The Ridgeway was so busy that it was surprising that the two rather wild dogs didn’t end up buried there…
Chico was actually run over once and he often barked at and chased cyclists along the road, then for many months he actually went missing, only for Josie to discover that he was living with another family not too far away… Crazy…
Neither Chico nor Rioch would retrieve a ball thrown for them, although both would give chase, reach the ball, sniff at it then lose interest and wander, or more likely run off…
On one occasion Chico attended a Sunday football match I played in but despite being on a lead, he still managed to cause some hassle. Firstly he peed on a fallen goalkeeper near one of the uprights, then after the match he tried to mate with a huge Great Dane, which of course Chico couldn’t reach a connection with, despite his rabid mongrel attempts, before he was dragged to safety, licking his wounds…
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| THE FUR ON CHICO'S EARS FELL INTO RINGLETS WHEN IT WAS WET... |
Chico didn’t have the best of times in Tamworth however, mainly because he was mostly left behind at home when Jenny and I travelled into Birmingham to teach. He made quite a mess of the kitchen on occasions but in truth it wasn’t his fault. We only stayed in Glascote, Tamworth for two years though and things became easier for Chico in Hodge Hill, back in Birmingham.
One brilliant moment involving Chico in Tamworth though happened during an evening walk when he was off the lead… He spotted a cat and chased it like he hadn’t eaten for a month but when the cat sprang to the top of a six-foot fence, it should have been the end of the incident. However, Chico simply leapt upwards and hooked his front paws over the top of the fence, hanging there for a few moments unable to haul the remainder of his willing body to the summit. It was incredible…
He then dropped to the ground looking shaken…
A memorable incident involving Rioch arrived when my father turned up at mother-in-law’s house early one Saturday afternoon. He would usually park his car outside the house and we would all walk from there to Aston Villa’s home games. My dad had been an ‘insurance man’ and had often dealt with his clients’ dogs and when dogs were unfriendly he would offer them sweets from his pocket to pacify any growlers.
So when Rioch snarled at him on that day he offered her a sweet which the dog cautiously approached and deftly took from my dad’s open hand. My over-confident father thought that a friendship had been cemented, reached out for Rioch to stroke her and she immediately snapped at him, forcing my defeated father to take evasive action… I loved that because just for once, he hadn’t won…
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| SHARING A BIRTHDAY WITH ME... |
Rioch didn’t like brooms much either and on one remarkable day, after I had done some gardening for my mother-in-law, I attempted to sweep grass from the garden path. However, a snarling, heavier, infertile Rioch took the brush of the broom between her jaws and simply wouldn’t let go. I began tugging and as I turned to swing the broom from her grasp, she left the ground and I began to move in a circle, shocked to see the dog airborne and flying round and round like a circus performer, or taking a scary ride at a fairground…
It was quite hilarious but she would not let go…
Chico was always a strange dog but an unfortunate one, for he never really recovered from his wild formative years.
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| ABOVE & BELOW: WITH CHICO IN HODGE HILL... |
I regret how I dealt with him…
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| HODGE HILL AGAIN... |
Fatty?
Ah, Josie’s son Robert was doing some work on my car one day outside his house at the bottom of Marsh Hill in Erdington on a main carriageway. However, his mum’s dog raced from the house straight across the road between vehicles towards Witton Lakes and Robert suddenly bellowed: “FATTY… GET HERE…”
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| WITTON LAKES, EARLY 1970s... |
The dog ignored Robert but some passers-by gave him the evil eye, thinking he was referring to them…
Brilliant…
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