Greg James’ wife Bella Mackie says she’ll ‘never love a kid more’ than their late dog Barney

Bella Mackie has penned an emotional article in tribute to her ‘perfect’ dog Barney, who she shared with her husband Greg James.

The couple were forced to put down their chocolate lab earlier this month, after which James, 40, skipped his Radio 1 show.

Their dog Barney, who they adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, had his own dedicated segment on the airwaves, titled Barney, Are You There?!, as well as an Instagram account with thousands of followers.

Mackie has now written an article titled My Perfect Dog Died. What The Hell Do I Do Now? in Vogue, in which she recalls their ‘love at first sight’ when adopting Barney.

The 43-year-old author wrote: ‘A good lesson in life – and one I only learnt this week – is not to get a dog in place of a kid. Oh I didn’t know that’s what I’d done of course, not at the time. But we had the dog before we made any big decisions about whether or not to procreate and this, I now see, was a mistake.

‘I love the dog so much I’ll never be able to love a kid more so why go through all of that difficulty: giving up wine, enduring sleepless nights, having to pretend rusk stains on my newly upholstered chairs are sweet?’

Mackie went on to recount how the couple thought they had ‘cracked it’ by choosing a dog over having children, but after ‘eight perfect years’ Barney suffered increasingly ill health and was forced to undergo several operations before being put down.

The author went on to quote Philip Larkin’s 1956 poem An Arundel Tomb, writing: ‘What will survive of us is love. I don’t imagine Philip Larkin would be thrilled that I’m applying his genius to a slightly overweight labrador called Barney, but here we are.

‘His love was wonderful, wonderful enough that one day we’ll get another dog from Battersea (I miss those smug points) and upend our entire lives in service of them. Until then, I don’t know what the hell to do.’

Sharing the news on Instagram earlier this month, James asked followers not to directly message him about the loss and disabled comments on his post.

He wrote: ‘I’m sorry to bring such horrible news, but we had to put our lovely Barn to sleep earlier today. I can’t really get my head around it.

‘But he was peaceful; we were with him at home in the garden in the sunshine, and I can’t stop crying. I know how loved this unbelievably daft farty brilliant dog was and I adored sharing him with everyone on here.

‘We’re completely floored by it, and I can’t believe our little mate has gone, and it’s very real and very raw and just so sad. He was the best.’