NOBODY will ever hear John Goodhead complaining of having a "rough" time at work.

Mr Goodhead MBE, who joined Birmingham Dogs Home in 1969, has "loved every minute of his time" at the centre, of which he is now manager.

Mr Goodhead, of Blakedown, was instrumental in helping to raise £1.75 million to enable a move to a new three-storey dog refuge in Digbeth, which opened in 1987.

He said: "I joined others in organising fund-raising events for the money, and did things such as give talks and help with the actual building itself.

"It was a lot of hard work but extremely rewarding to know you had done something which has helped the dogs here.

"Many of them can be in a distressed state when they come to us and it is great when you can see the improvement in them as time goes by."

Mr Goodhead will always go the extra yard to ensure the 350 dogs at the home have every comfort from central heating to air conditioning. He even introduced a doggy turkey dinner at Christmas some time ago.

Sixty-six-year-old Mr Goodhead, who lives with his wife, Margaret, in Churchill Lane, said he still has to pinch himself to believe he was a recipient of an MBE for services to animal welfare in June this year.

The grandfather of seven added: "I would never have believed it possible for someone like me to receive such a wonderful honour, and I still read the letter from the Queen now."

Mr Goodhead has been an animal lover since childhood, but his special affinity with dogs began while in the army with the Royal Engineers when he was put in charge of "war dogs" trained to sniff out ammunition and take part in rescues.

He joked: "For two years I lived, ate and slept dogs so I don't really have much choice but to get on with them!"

After leaving the army he worked for the RSPCA in Birmingham from 1956 to 1969.

Mr Goodhead, who was educated at Station Road Secondary Modern School, in Harborne, Birmingham, does find time to enjoy his favourite hobby of sport.

He said: "I love cricket and football and I think it's about time Birmingham City rewarded me for my lifetime of suffering by winning promotion to the Premiership this season!

"It would be great to be celebrating in May but I suppose we will just have to wait and see."

Mr Goodhead and his wife, Margaret, are now on the lookout for more hobbies in the district. He said: "We only moved to Blakedown 15 months ago so we are still finding our fee.

"We enjoy taking our two dogs on walks in the beautiful countryside for the time being but will look to join some new clubs once we have settled in. I don't believe in committing to something unless you can properly dedicate yourself to it."