Forget sticks, this dog prefers to fetch bricks!

1:08pm Tuesday 5th August 2008

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EVERYONE knows dogs like to fetch bits of wood – but that’s tame stuff for one macho pooch.

Young Haribo, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, has amazed his owners by developing a bizarre obsession with bricks and stones.

Vitor and Paula Varanda, who bred him from a pup, said he developed his strange habits at an early age.

The tiny King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, who weighs just 10 kilos, has always had a soft spot for fetching and carrying heavy objects which look too big for him to handle.

The Varandas are owners of the Plough Inn, in Wood Street, Walthamstow, and live, along with Haribo, above the pub.

The pub is currently being refurbished, meaning there is no shortage of rubble for Haribo to play with.

Mrs Varanda, 42, said: “Customers find it funny because they are used to his ways so they enjoy teasing him by hiding his precious stones.

“It is an obsession, he goes mad. He even picks up bits of asphalt when he’s walking down the road.

“He guards his stones, drags them around the garden, and barks at them if he cannot pick them up.”

Haribo loves his stones so much he takes them upstairs to the Varandas’ home.

The couple came to London 12 years ago on a three-week holiday from Portugal and decided to stay permanently.

They have been married for 19 years and have always owned dogs, but Haribo is the first of their pets to develop this unusual habit.

They even took him to a vet to see ifhis habits would be likely to damage his health, they were assured it would not.

The Varandas have tried to wean Haribo away from his bricks and concrete by buying him soft toys, but he is having none of it.

Mrs Veranda added: “He won’t rest until he has found a way of carrying them.”