Robert Burns had his Twa Dogs, Caesar and Luath. The two dogs of Fleur Adcock’s poem have also characterful names and dispositions. You can make their acquaintance in her latest collection, Hoard (Bloodaxe Books, £9.95). This distinguished poet and translator was born in New Zealand in 1934 and emigrated to Britain in 1963. She received an OBE in 1996 and the Queen’s Gold medal for Poetry in 2006 for her Collected Poems 1960-2000.

               OSCAR AND HENRY

If you must have a dog, have a golden retriever

and settle for the lumbering devotion

of one like Oscar, so hugely fixated

that, his master having failed to convey

~

the concept of ‘temporary’ or ‘back in a month’,

he fell into a canine depression

and developed eczema, which mustn’t be scratched;

thus causing him the humiliation

~

of having to walk around for weeks

with his head in a bucket, or at least stuck through

the base of a bucket, the sides framing

his face like Dog Toby’s Punch and Judy frill.

~

But perhaps it’s not a breed for the city

where the temptations can be so corrupting –

think of Henry, who at the faintest sniff

of freedom through a not quite latched front gate

~

is off towards the High Road, across the traffic lights,

and in at Budgens’ automatic doors

to snaffle up another chocolate bar

from the impulse buys at the nearest checkout.