My mother must have had something of St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals. She loved animals, and more importantly, they loved her. Some were strays she had rescued but others just wandered into our home and stayed forever, like it was some sort of YMCA for animals.

One of these was Cany, abbreviated from Canis major, found by mother abandoned as a puppy. Dappled black and white, he looked somewhat like a husky. The family loved Cany and he returned the love abundantly with what felt to us like stable, steady affection, loyalty and a wolf-like protectiveness.