With his two labradors, Teddy and Iolo, sat by his feet, Jules muses over our relationship with man’s best friend as he looks forward to Ludlow Dog Day 2016

These days it’s hard to avoid becoming a statistic. In the modern hi-tech world we’re studied and appraised in virtually every area of our lives by advertising companies, on-line browsers and of course Her Majesty’s Government. Nor is Her Majesty exempt from study; she’s part of the statistic that says one in four of us now owns at least one of our nearly nine million canine companions here in the UK.