Your memories: I helped Greyfriars Bobby get ready for red carpet

CHRISTINE Cadger, who has been grooming dogs in the city for almost 50 years, can still recall the moment that the original film Greyfriars Bobby came toddling into the parlour where she worked.

It was 1961 and the owner of Kenneth Gibb's dog grooming parlour on Shandwick Place had been asked by the dog's trainer to help the pooch look his best for the premiere of The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby, which was taking place at the Regal Picture House on Lothian Road a few days later.

Mrs Cadger, who was 17 at the time, was asked by her boss Kenneth Gibb to groom the Skye Terrier for the red carpet.

The 64-year-old from Cramond recalls: "The trainer came over from Los Angeles with the dog and a few people from Walt Disney.

"They wanted the dog cleaned up for the premiere. I remember the dog coming in with its entourage – it was a very nice dog.

"I bathed and dried the dog and trimmed it a little underneath, but they didn't want too much taken off because it was supposed to look shaggy like in the film. I had to leave it scruffy."

She added: "It was an exceptionally well-behaved dog and it loved being in the bath. The trainer stayed with the dog the whole time, they were in the parlour for a couple of hours. It would have cost two pounds and 10 shillings at the time."

Mrs Cadger completed a three-year apprenticeship in dog grooming at the parlour, where she started at the age of 15.

The mother-of-one has owned her own dog grooming parlour – Christine's – on Gorgie Road for the past 35 years, and has passed her skills on to daughter Emma-Jane Hunter, 32, who started grooming at the age of 17.

"My daughter always loved animals, she's been coming to the parlour since she was three weeks old," Mrs Cadger smiles.

Mrs Cadger, a grandmother-of-two, adds: "Greyfriars Bobby's trainer phoned the parlour beforehand to ask if he could bring the dog in, and Mr Gibb said yes.

"Kenneth Gibb's was one of the only shops that could groom dogs in Scotland at the time."

She laughs: "If I had made a mistake for the dog going up the red carpet, I would never have been forgiven."