William - The Grey Ghost

William the Weimaraner was the original mascot and constant companion of Sydney Ghost Tours — a silver-coated, soulful-eyed boy whose story is woven into the very founding of the company.

When William first came into my life he was, by any honest measure, a full-on doggy teenage delinquent. Not a bad dog — just a wildly intelligent, sensitive, high-energy soul with no outlet for his frustrations, and the world's worst case of canine separation anxiety.

His mother had originally worked from home, but when her job moved into an office, William simply could not cope. He became a world-class escape artist who could have taught Houdini a thing or two about chains and locked doors. He'd travel suburbs away, slip behind butcher-shop counters, and help himself to the choicest cuts of meat and sausages. The butchers would read his collar, ring his mother, and she'd arrive to pay for what he'd already eaten. After seven such incidents she was given an ultimatum at work: sort it out, or lose your job.

Around that time I saw a card in a shop window asking for help walking him during the day. I was about to start a fitness program — little did I know what I was getting myself into.

What began as daytime walks quickly became something much bigger. William was bowling over children and pensioners at the dog park, getting into scraps, and skirting close to being hit by a car or being put down. It was clear that without a more committed intervention, he simply wasn't going to make it. So we shared him like a toddler — me through the day, his mother in the evenings. If I was even five minutes late on the morning pickup, you could hear him "singing the blues" two suburbs away.

It took almost two and a half years of what we lovingly called "Doggy Boot Camp" — obedience class twice a week, daily practice, endless patience — before William could be trusted on and off lead. Even then, he tested limits like any good rebellious teenager, just to see what he could get away with.

Once I learned how to manage him and his quirks, William became an absolute joy and my constant shadow, coming with me almost everywhere I went. To make that life possible I had to become self-employed and build something that allowed him to be at the centre of my work and family.

That is how, in 2007, Sydney History Tours and Sydney Ghost Tours were born — with William as the founding companion at my side.

William passed from a stroke in 2015. He remains deeply loved, remembered, and missed — and a piece of my heart will always belong to him.