On Saturday 21st January 2012 at approximately 6pm, Maisie noticed flames and smoke bellowing from a house in Limes Road, in the Hardwick area. Mr. Whitmore, the owner of the house resides there with some lodgers, as well as his wife and children. At the time of the incident, Mr. Whitmore was in his local sports and social club, before he was greeted by Maisie, smelling of smoke.

Maisie impressed local neighbours after running a total of 350 yards from the burning building to the local sports and social club. Maisie was in the kitchen of the building when the blaze started, which is said to have begun as a result of something being cooked on the hob. When Mr. Whitmore was alerted of the incident, he called fire fighters.

An hour after the beginning of the fire, the fire department put the fire out with the use of breathing equipment. Thankfully, due to the Yorkshire Terrier’s fast reaction, no one was hurt in the process. Although the bottom floor of Mr. Whitmore’s house was badly affected by smoke, it appears that only the kitchen really experienced the majority of damage from flames.

It was discovered through the research that dogs which came from ancient south-east Asia had a substantial influence on dog breeds in Europe, as well as in the United States.

Initiated by a team of researchers at the University of California (UC), Davis, a study looked into the theory that most of the canine breeds in the western world originally derived from dogs which hailed from the Middle East and also from early western civilisations.

It was found that this idea is unlikely to be correct, due to it appearing that pet dogs in Europe and in the US actually originate from breeds that were originally imported over from Asia after the silk trade.

Ben Stacks, who is the Director of the Canid Diversity and Conservation Group in the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, stated that previous theories regarding the origins of dogs “must be reconsidered”.

Additional research into dog breeds and popularity was carried out by the American Kennel Club, as they looked in to what was the most popular breed of dog in 2010. The results were that the Labrador Retriever was in first place, closely followed by the German Shepherd and then the Yorkshire Terrier.

It was also found that the Golden Retriever and the Beagle were the next most popular dog breeds in the study carried out by the club.

In early 2011, Louise Harris spent £20,000 on a wedding for Lola, one of her Yorkshire terriers, who got hitched to Chinese crested Mugly, the owner of the Britain’s Ugliest Dog crown since 2005.

After years of misplaced affection, she has now found a beau of her own – Dan Hill, presenter of TV show The New Reclaimers.

After meeting Dan at a fashion show, the two became smitten. In fact, Louise brought him to heel in record time. Although they have only been together for little over three months, she now dresses Dan in identical outfits to the ones she has for one of her beloved dogs, Larry. The two now have identical jackets, shirts and even tuxedos.

Rather than run like the wind as any sane man would do, 29-year-old Dan enjoys being part of the pack, and even expressed his anxiety at the possibility at not fitting in. He told the Daily Mail:

“I was concerned the dogs wouldn’t like me as that would be a major issue for Louise – it was like meeting the family for the first time!”

“But they’re great and I don’t mind at all that they’re very much a part of our life together.”

“At first I was a little daunted by it all – those dogs have a better wardrobe than I do! Louise is very image conscious, so if she wants me wearing an outfit that matches Larry’s I don’t mind.”

“He’s a good little dog. We’re mates already.”

Although it’s too soon to talk about marriage, Dan only has to look at Lola’s nuptials for an idea of what may be in store. The ceremony was held in the gardens of a luxury mansion in Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex. The venue swallowed up £2,500 of the budget alone. Louise, who owns the Doggy Diva salon for pampered pooches, fell for Dan straight away, but waited to see if her pets approved of him. She said:

“They all loved Dan straight away and jumped all over him.

“I think they could see how much I liked him, and decided, well, if mum is that happy, then we are too.”

Spurred on by his fearsome wife Sharon, the bat-biting, ex-Black Sabbath madman became embroiled in a battle to win the bid for a Yorkshire Terrier pup. Bidding started at an eye watering $5,000 (£3,000), but the adorable bundle of fluff (the dog, not Ozzy) soon persuaded the room to part with even more cash.

In the end, the reality show star trumped everybody else present with a bid for $10,000 (£6,000). He presented the pup to a delighted Sharon, who, in a flash of inspiration, called her new pet ‘Ozzy’.

The auction was the 13th Annual Design Care, which helps the Hollyrod Foundation support families in coping with Parkinson’s disease and autism, and took place last Saturday in Beverley hills. The puppy had caught Sharon’s eye before the show; she exclaimed that he was “divine”, and vowed to make him a part of her ever-expanding pack of pets.

The charity was founded by her co-star on Tv show ‘The Talk’, Holly Robinson Peete. However, she plans to take some time out with both Ozzys when her husband comes to the end of a mammoth 18 month tour. She commented:

“We’ve all worked really hard over the last year….I just need some real good quality time to be with my hubby.”

Of course, we at Dream Dogs honestly don’t think that the puppy will meet a grisly end at the hands of Ozzy’s gnashers – if their other pets are anything to go by, it can expect a luxury dog collar, mink-lined dog basket, and all the trimmings a celebrity pet can expect.

According to the latest figures released by the established authority on dogs within Britain, the number of West Highland Terrier pups that were registered in the UK last year fell by over 50 per cent to just 5,890.

The numbers of Yorkshire terriers registered slumped 44 per cent to just 3,767, with the golden retriever not far behind with a drop of 39 per cent to 7,804 pups.

The UK’s biggest breeds also saw a decline in numbers, with the popularity of the Irish Wolfhound floundering. The last year saw numbers of the dogs, once used to hunt wolves, fall from 601 to 323. The Great Dane, one of the world’s tallest breeds, saw their numbers fall by just over 600 to 1,306.

The Alaskan malamute is not the only breed of dog to have experienced a surge in popularity with UK owners. The whippet, which bears a strong physical resemblance to the greyhound, nearly doubled its numbers in the past year, with the Kennel Club showing the number of registered dogs as 3,246. Beagles are also becoming more popular, with a rise from 956 to 2,592, along with the pug, whose number stands at 4,769, an increase from 861.

The bulldog also saw a rise in demand, increasing 114 per cent to 4,217.

Hot on the heels of the malamute is the Coton de Tuléar. Rumoured to have been favoured amongst pirates, the popularity of this small dog has grown just shy of the malamute’s from just two dogs registered in 2000.

Despite being older than most cars on the road, older than most students and older than many parents in the UK, Billy (born in the 80s) has loads of energy and loves to run around all day. Sure, he’s lacking a few teeth and his sight has failed him in one eye, but he has another eye that works perfectly fine.

Betty Holdsworth, his 71 year old owner (who was in her 50s when Billy was born) takes him for a walk twice a day, which is more than most Yorkies get when they’re in the prime of youth.

She adds:

“He’s got so much energy.”

“He’s so affectionate and caring and he always wants to be near me. He just loves being spoilt.”

Mrs Holdsworth only recently adopted Billy after she found him at an RSPCA centre earlier this year. Billy was given to the RSPCA after he had outlived his previous owners, who had him as a puppy back in 1988!

Mrs Holdsworth continued:

“After my previous dog died, I decided I would like to get another one to replace it. I decided to go for an older pet because I don’t know how long I will be around and a puppy would tire me out.”

“They told me that they had this Yorkshire Terrier who was in a bit of a state.”

“But he is not frail at all. He still loves to play and he is quite vigorous about it, playing tug of war and chasing after things to bring them back for me.”

“He’s not showing any signs of slowing down. I think that is at least partly because of the quality of his life.”

To cement Billy’s place as the world’s oldest dog, the Guinness World Records just needs to rubber stamp his age and he’ll surpass the current old stager ‘Sako Wilde’, who lives in Australia. Sako Wilde is a spring chicken in comparison, at just 21 years of age.

In case you’re wondering about the oldest ever dog – his name was Bluey and he did way back in 1939, at the grand old age of 29!

Despite my indifference, soap operas are huge everywhere. Whether it’s a dour Mancunian grumpfest like Albion Market, the ten-gallon, shoulder padded exploits of everyday Texan oil barons or wigged out Mexican daytime soaps about doctors, inheritance battles and unwitting incest, there’s no mistaking their popularity. In salutation to the humble soap actor, we at Dream Dogs give you our top 5 UK soap star dog owners.

Patsy Palmer

The 38 year old actress, who found fame playing Bianca, the freckled foghorn and bedeviller of cockernee thickie Ricky in EastEnders, owns a Shar Pei called Layla. Although you may think that she’s only ever been in the soap, she’s also starred in Grange Hill, Drop the Dead Donkey and The Bill, but ‘let’s face it, who hasn’t been in The Bill? She also played a teen with a face like a welder’s bench in a Clearasil advert.

Kym Marsh

Marsh, 34, from Merseyside, recently hit the headlines over adopting an abandoned Labrador called Oliver in January. The hapless pup was left in a cardboard box outside a pet shop in Surrey, but found a home with Marsh. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Oliver didn’t get on with Charlie the Chihuahua, Marsh’s other pet pooch, and was banished back to the dog pound.

Ironically, Oliver had previously featured in a program about abandoned dogs. Luckily for him, he was soon re-adopted and Marsh was said to be embarrassed about the whole episode.

William Roache

Coronation Street stalwart Bill Roache, known to the nation as Ken Barlow, had a bad experience with his Labrador after it attacked and killed a neighbour’s Yorkshire Terrier. The actor, who successfully sued The Sun newspaper because they accused him of being boring (go figure), initially denied that his pet of eight years was involved in the incident, but when the local constabulary got involved he had the aggressive Lab put to sleep. He appeared on the Richard and Judy show to explain why he had to do the responsible thing.

Rob Kazinsky

The EastEnders hunk, who played Sean Slater, recently got a two month old German shepherd pup. Having a devil of a time naming her, he turned to Twitter and asked his followers to come up with a name for his new pet. Kazinsky, who is said to be currently penning a series ‘inspired’ by Sex and the City, named his pet Roxy, after the EastEnders character with whom his was romantically involved.

Gemma Merna

The Hollyoaks star, who plays Carmel McQueen in the soap, recently said that she has no plans to become a mother as her time is taken up looking after her pups. Speaking of her pets, she said:

“Phoebe’s a curly-haired Westie and Cole’s a St Bernard. They take up most of my time – it’s like having two kids. They like to play, but can be quite hard work.”

Keep your ear to the ground for tomorrow’s top 5 list…

Old age pensioner pooch, Yorkshire terrier Sammy, is 23 years old, has lost half his teeth and can hardly hear or see.  He is 161 years old in dog years and is already two years older than the current Guinness World Record holder for the oldest dog, which is currently held by a 21 year old (147 in dog years) Dachshund from New York called Chanel.

The Sun newspaper states that owner Doug Percival, 73 years old from Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, has only taken him to the vets once since he got Sammy at two years old and he told the newspaper he puts Sammy’s ripe old age down to the two of them looking after each other and treating themselves to the fish and chip shop twice a week.

Before the Sun tried to teach Sammy anything, the retired truck driver Doug told them:

“I’d say you’ve got no chance.  He looks after himself and he knows he has to be here to look after me. But he has slowed down a lot.  I’m not holding up much hope.  But I couldn’t think any more of him than I do now. He is my mate and that’s all there is to it.”

UK dog trainer Jill Hopkins spent a little time acquainting herself with Sammy and despite Sammy’s lack of senses he was following a few orders in just one hour with Jill.

Doug is housebound so although Sammy has the full use of a large garden, he isn’t used to a lead but once he got used to Jill’s lead, Sammy was happy to walk and run with her.

Using chicken slices as reward and gentle commands, Jill taught Sammy to sit, stay whilst she walked round him and to keep his paw out and Sammy replicated his new skills with Andy Crick, a representative from the newspaper.

Jill said: “He did amazingly well.  Considering that his sight and his hearing is relatively poor, he is just reliant to his senses of smell and shadows. He has not been on a lead for many years and he took to that nicely.  He sat and stayed still for us, we managed to sit him and move around and he stayed put. He also gave a paw for food.”

Proud Doug said: “I’m very surprised.  But he’s proved the old saying wrong. He’s brilliant.”

You can read the full report at the Sun website, Sun teaches old dog new tricks