CANINE companions are being treated just as well as their human owners at Sainsbury's in Calne, which is to start providing a bowl of water outside the store for shoppers' panting pooches.

A fortnight ago, regular customer Barbara Pirrie, who has lived in Calne for more than 40 years, sent a metal dog bowl, a length of chain and a letter imploring the store to put out water in the summer months so shoppers' dogs could have a drink.

Mrs Pirrie was delighted when she heard that the supermarket, based at the Pippin, had decided to place a larger bowl than the one she sent in, which will be attached to handrails outside the shop front.

"I got the idea from seeing the dogs waiting outside the shop," she said. "They looked so hot and bothered."

The store's deputy duty manager Paul Johnson, said: "We thought it would be quite a nice idea."

Mrs Pirrie, of Horsebrook Park, in Calne, who is retired, no longer has a dog of her own, but loves animals.