Back when I lived in London, I took my last Siberian Husky, Silverbear everywhere I could. He was a regular at The Old White Bear, the greatest pub we could have asked for, until it tragically closed due to developer greed. He also frequently joined me at CrossFit Thames, a short walk from Canary Wharf station.

Silver was pretty well behaved, especially compared to our current Husky, Roli (the fluffy menace). There were, however, a few things that Silver could not resist – bread, found toys and pigeons. He could sniff bread out a mile away, even if it was stale and tossed into a hedge. A tennis ball found in the woods would be carried for miles. If he saw a pigeon, he would run at it full speed causing it to fly away. I never thought he had a chance.

Well, one day I arrive on Canary Wharf and as we come out of the tube station, Silver makes a run for a pigeon. “Sure buddy, have at it.” To my shock, the pigeon does not see him coming and just goes on pecking at some crumbs. “Oh no, he is going to catch a pigeon in front of crowds of people!”

Strangely, it also did not occur to Silver that the pigeon would not fly away and he ran right by it! By the time he turned around, the pigeon came to its senses and flew away. I was left wondering how I would have explained to all the families with small children why I let my dog kill a pigeon.

A near-miss is enough to remind you that sometimes you get lucky.