For the love of dog

The picture on the front of the Animal Blessing Service programme featured a dog, a cat, a rabbit, a goldfish, a cockatoo, a hamster, a snake and a ferret. In the event, the congregation was confined to people and dogs, including my two cockers.

We sat in a circle in the shady courtyard of St James’s Church, Piccadilly as the Reverend Lindsay Meader, resplendent in a rainbow stole, led us in prayer. If a passing tourist wanted to understand British people and their animals, they had come to the right place. A few sightseers did wander into the square and watch for a while.

St James’s is a dog-friendly church where members of the congregation regularly attend Sunday communion with their pooch at their side. It is a lovely idea, and the annual animal blessing is now in its third year. The builder boyfriend and I took Cydney and Poppy with some trepidation, for they are not the most well-behaved dogs. They are both black working cockers — called working because they were bred to be picking-up dogs on a shoot. In truth they have never done a day’s work in their lives.

While Poppy is unintentionally frenetic, Cydney is the enfant terrible. The BB predicted she would wreck the place. ‘That one needs an exorcism, not a blessing,’ he said as we walked through St James’s Park with Cyd straining at her leash towards the ducks and attempting to throw herself over an iron fence at a pelican the size of a small pony.

We needn’t have worried. The congregation looked to be an eclectic mix, probably as daft as us. We sat down beside the spreading branches of a magnolia tree and the pups jumped on to our laps.