CORKY (1965 – 1973) Dog. Resentful, perhaps, on being named after a cartoon cat, my great aunt Teeny's Scottish Terrier exhibited such pronounced symptoms of maladjustment that it should probably have been destroyed as a puppy. Aunt Teeny, unfortunately, was a slave to sentiment, a trait common to many dog owners, and attributed her dog's anti-social behaviour to ‘character'. Corky, an habitual snapper, succumbed to his bloodlust on Christmas Eve, 1972, subjecting me to a terrifying ordeal that was only curtailed by a fusillade of smacks from Teeny's slipper. My aunt, who consequently refused to acknowledge me or allow me into her house, opposed Corky's execution. “What was Hamilton doing in my room in the first place?” she demanded in a contemptible attempt to turn the victim into a perpetrator. Her efforts were, thankfully, in vain. In recent years certain members of the family, equally terrified of Corky at the time, have embraced the revisionist argument that he was, in fact, ‘a great wee dog.... full of fun.' See also: DOGS; WILSON

 

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