Pet’s corner

Gideon looks like any other staffie-cross-Jack-Russell in the park.

He’s happily got a half-torn tennis ball in his mouth and explores corners of the park most humans don’t realise exist.

It’s amazing then that, just two years ago, Gideon underwent surgery to have a knee reconstruction.

On the day Southbank Local News caught up with him, Dave, his next-door neighbour, was pet-sitting Gideon.

Dave said Gideon went through some tough rehab but had come out the other end a strong little dog.

“He can’t chase the ball the way he used to, but he is strong and still loves playing,” Dave said.

As a neighbour, Dave said Gideon was a “legend.” He may think he owns the block they live in, but he is very accustomed to living in apartments and rarely barks while inside.

Dave also shared an interesting story of how Gideon came into the world. Both his parents were show dogs and his father (an opportunistic Jack Russell) didn’t let the cage that separated them during a show get in his way while courting Gideon’s mother.

Dave reckons his show-dog genes give Gideon a great blood-line. Followers of this column will know it has sometimes struggled to capture these wonderful pets looking at the camera.

Again this was the case with Gideon. But, given he’s an 11-year old small dog who’s still as lively as ever after a knee reconstruction, I suppose we can forgive him!