PLAY It Again Sam is the last tune Joseph O'Shaughnessy wants to hear at the moment.

Sam, his black Scottish terrier, is driving him mad with his non-stop howling to classical music, theme tunes, adverts and his favourite programme, Star Trek.

His owner, Joseph, 51, of Donwell, Washington, Tyne and Wear, has tried everything he can think of to stop the wolf-like wail, including shouting at him and squirting water from a squeezy bottle in his face. But the only solution appears to be banishing five-year-old Sam to the garden or, if it's raining, locking him in the kitchen.

Joseph said: "If the television's on at all, he's alert and ready to start howling.

"His tail wags and his ears prick up. But it's when Star Trek comes on that he goes really silly.

"He's been like this since he was a puppy, but as he's getting older it's getting worse and worse. It's driving me round the bend.

"I've asked people and I've tried everything I can think of without being cruel.

"The vets haven't a clue what to do - I think he just likes singing along."

Joseph, a retired senior building clerk of works, added: "When he's really bad and I'm trying to watch something, it's just so annoying.

"But I wouldn't part with him for the world."

If anyone has the answer to Sam's wailing, Joseph can be contacted by e-mail on retjoeewin Dolphin, which owns s