SPANIEL TAKES TO THE WATER

For the three-year-old, who belongs to security worker Colin Bassett of Old Malling Way, Lewes, thinks nothing of a daily swim from Willeys Bridge to Harveys Brewery and back '“ regardless of which way the tide is going.

And when he finishes his half-mile round trip, he dries off with a couple of laps around Malling recreation ground.

The only condition Colin imposes is that the tide should be high; otherwise Charlie comes back covered in mud and weeds.

'I got him when he was six-weeks-old,' said Colin. 'By the time he was two months he was in the water.

'Gun dogs take readily to water but Charlie is special.

'He leaps from the banks of the Ouse and goes straight in. I walk alongside the bank to keep him company and when we get to Harveys I whistle him back the other way.

'He doesn't care whether the tide is coming in or not.

'If we even get remotely close to the river when I am driving, he starts barking with excitement.

'He also been in some rough seas off Newhaven and Seaford. On one occasion it was so rough he had to jump over the waves like a surfer.'