Nala was born in Romford on 3rd May 1998. She was a total Essex Girl. We picked her up from a pub car park and she cost £375.

The first day I had her she was playing with James’ parents’ labrador and fell in into the pond. She never liked water after that and would only paddle up to her belly in really hot weather.

She had her own doggy friends with whom she would play quite happily. James’ parents dogs were always welcome in our house but Nala was not to be trusted with unknown dogs. Like most Staffies she could be aggressive and although I knew most of it was just for show I could never really trust her off the lead out in public!

She was wonderful with Emma though and very protective of all of her family. When I was pregnant she would nap on the sofa with me and refused to go out with anyone else and when Emma was a baby she would sit with her if I went to the other end of the garden and ‘look after’ her until I got back.

She had a very nasty habit of catching geese, sadly they rarely survived the experience. James’ Dad had a few tame Canada geese on his lake and despite my efforts she gradually worked her way through them all. She also caught a fawn once, which later died of shock, so she was no angel. She once tried it on with a badger that she chased out of our garden but when it turned round and snarled at her she shot back into the house and sat shaking on the sofa.

Her favourite things in life were food, sleeping, car journeys and rolling in muck.

She also liked snow for a while until her paws got too cold, then she would look at me as if I had made her go out in it.

She died at the vets on Monday 2nd June after having fits which we think were caused by a brain tumour. She was only unwell for a couple of days. The vet sedated her after a full blown fit and she never regained consciousness. We all miss her like mad even though she was a bit of a pain in the arse.