According to Susan Ottaway's biography of Gibson, which drew heavily on family records, the dog-whose-name-we-dare-not-speak was a pure-bred Labrador, acquired as a pup by Gibson and his wife Eve when he was stationed at West Malling with 29 Sqn. Ottaway says the dog "was a real character liked by almost everyone" and that his greatest fault was that he became a "hardened beer drinker", so that in the Mess no-one's pint was safe. Gibson's colleagues wouild often stand the hound a pint. The Labrador used in the film was an Army dog, trained in mine, rather than beer, detection