Faithful hound

Sir, – What a delight to read Paul Howard’s celebration of his friendship with his beloved Humphrey (“I never loved an animal as much as I loved Humphrey. For 13 and a half years, he was my constant companion”, Life, June 30th).

I had a tear in my eye when reading of the sense of loss and grief when his canine pal had passed away. And then came a good hearty chuckle at the account of Humphrey’s antics as the “wisecracking sidekick’”.

Friendship with another animal is such a wonderful and powerful thing, and it has rarely been so touchingly evoked in these pages. – Yours, etc,

PETER O’SULLIVAN,

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Brussels.