ILK the Labrador might have failed as a guide dog, but he is proving a hit in his new role as a pet-dog for terminally ill children.

Ilk, six, was adopted by Michael Plews, a nursery nurse at the Butterwick Children's Hospice at Stockton, a year ago.

Michael takes Ilk to work with him every day, where he is very popular with the children.

Before moving to Stockton, Ilk was a guide dog for a blind man in Newcastle.

Michael said: "I suppose he is a failed guide dog, but not through his own fault.

"Most guide dogs know where their owners want to go because they go there a lot - but Ilk's previous owner went to a lot of different places all the time, and Ilk got confused.

"There was a rumour going around that he had led his owner into a lamppost but I think that was just Chinese whispers."

When Michael first went to meet Ilk a year ago, he took one of the children along from the hospice.

"She fell in love with him straightaway," he said. "I had to take him after that.

"He is absolutely brilliant with the children. He never gets tired of playing with them. It is a sort of pet therapy, because many of the children don't have animals at home and they really love coming to see him at the hospice."