The history of Hamish

Continuing in the vein of speaking with friends who have inspired me and made me feel loved, I thought it might be good to hear some background on a funny, intelligent, happy BT who lives in Glasgow and who goes by the name of Hamish. Many people follow him which is not unsurprising. He is most approachable and always pleasant, polite and happy to woof with all furs. He is the epitome of what being friends is all about. From personal experience he has helped me out on a number of occasions where I have needed a shoulder or a wise ear to bend. I will never forget his kindness.

He was one of my first twitter pals, and though I haven’t yet met him, I wanted to find out some more about the brilliant fur he is. So sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy the ride.

When you arrived in your forever home as a pupster, were you adopted or bought? If you came from breeders, do you have famous posh heritage.

I was little 8 week pupster and I came from just outside Bannockburn. I was the tiny pup and my sisters were about twice the size.

You say you were the smallest, does this mean you were the youngest of the litter? Assume you were healthy and everything was good.

Yes I was healthy but the girls in the litter were definitely bigger. I remember I was so small that my first vaccines were the ones for a rabbit.

Do you know where all your litter siblings are? Do you still have contact with them?

I don’t know where my siblings are. There were 2 boys and 3 girls in the litter.

Have you always lived in Glasgow?

Yes, I like living here as I like the city and I can be nosey at all the people. Also Glasgow has got lots of big parks and green spaces so it all good for exploring.

When you joined twitter was it for fun or was there a background reason?

My mum joined twitter because she bought a job lot of candles and sold them on eBay!! Hence the yankee bit in our name. But then she tweeted a picture of me wrapped in a Scotland flag around time of referendum thingy in 2014 and Clapton found me. The rest is history as they say.

Ok, once you had joined Twitter and Mr Clapton “found you” did you change your approach? What I mean is did your picture appearing on your Mum’s page change her mind straightway to being more about finding out about BT’s, the breed and traits.

Yes my mum only had about 20 followers and didn’t really understand Twitter but then everyone so welcoming and we quickly got to know lots of other BTs and really enjoyed their adventures.

Are you the first dog that your mum has owned?

There were two Jack Russell Terriers in the house when she was growing up but she never had a dog of her own before I arrived. She knew she wanted a little dog and one that was fairly uncomplicated in terms of grooming and things. Then one day she was walking up at Loch Lomond and there was a couple with two little brown dogs walking in front of them. All day up and down hills their tails were wagging. Mum and her pal caught up with the owners when they stopped for lunch. The people said they were Border Terriers and they said they were the best dogs ever. So that was that and the rest is history.

When you decided to change your M’s twitter perspective, was it an instant decision to try and make it predominantly light hearted with some interesting stuff like #hamishdoeshistory thrown in?

I’m not sure we really thought much about the tone of our twitter we just thought we’d share our walks and trips.

Were you a naughty or a goodly pupster, easy to train or just have a mind of your own?

I’m not well trained: I’m not allowed off the lead as I have no recall. This is more mum’s fault than mine as she would worry too much that I might run away!

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Has Twitter changed since you have been on here?

We really like twitter. We have got to know so many nice dogs, cats, hamsters, humans that we would never have met in real life! We know so much more about different places now. The support from twitter and the shared fun and laughter does make us very happy!

You are the Quartermaster in the ZS. How did this come about?

Aw yes! Well we do love the zombiesquad and I’m not sure how it all started from my perspective. And I am in the BeagleBugClub which means loads! I’ve never had post from Argentina before! That was so special! Everyone is so kind and welcoming.

When you do #hamishdoeshistory do you feel like you are introducing people to your city?

Yes I think you are right about Hamish does history we try to show people things they might not see otherwise.

When I did the interview with Winston about his life and achievements, I asked him about the reason behind starting ZS. He said it was to bring together as many pals as possible to show that if everyone all got on and pulled together, then anything could be achieved. Is this something that you see? I only ask as you are a friend to everyone and always happy to help and lend an ear.

I dont think Winston, Clapton and others probably realise the difference they make to a lot of folk’s lives. We spoke about it at a tweet up. There are people who don’t have a dog or maybe for health reasons they don’t get out as much as they might like but through Zombiesquad or the BT Posse or Beagle Bug Club they have this community they are part of!

Hamish, apart from George Square where the Duke of Wellington is duly attired with his traffic cone hat, do you have a favourite place in Glasgow.

In Glasgow my favourite place is Pollok Park it a big country park with highland cows and Clydesdale horses.

Also do you have a favourite place in Scotland.

I love going to Loch Lomond which is just about 25 minutes in the car there lots of great walks and places to explore

If you could have a dinner party, who would you invite and why?

My dream dinner party would be a BBQ on Luskentyre beach on Harris and I’d want to invite all our twitter pals!

Is there a favourite #hamishdoeshistory place you have been to, and are there other places you haven’t yet visited but want to?

This my favourite Hamish does history it was recreation of ww1 trenches

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As for places I have never been, I would really like to visit London. We would pretend to be the dog on the monopoly board and go to all the places on the board.

Is there anywhere in Glasgow that you havent yet covered for #hamishdoeshistory ?

Well I’d like to sneak on the pitch at Hampden Park but that might be hard to achieve.

What three pearls of wisdom would you give a fur just coming onto Twitter?

I think my advice to folk joining twitter would be enjoy it! Be yourself and don’t worry if any troll type folk reply. Just ignore them as they soon get bored and go away.

You are allowed to meet one person, living or over the rainbow bridge. Who is it and why?

This is tough but the fur I would have loved to have met was Marley. He started something so special. It’s so sad that his life on this side of the bridge was so short but Clapton, TT and the wider BT Posse community do so much to keep his memory alive.

On that note I want to thank Hamish and his mum for allowing me to ask questions. It is an honour to know of Hamish and to chat with him. He is a wise and gentle fur, and a very good friend to all.