This morning I was interested to observe how much trouble Isis took to check on the shape of the door opening. The car was close to the fence and the door not fully open. It took her four or five minutes of sniffing before she ascertained that she could jump out safely.

I had parked next to the main shrubbery and she popped through the gap in the railings in seconds.

I used to think that she wanted to dash into the shrubbery in order to escape the sunlight but now believe she has other motives.

There must be dozens of little creatures traversing the park at night. Isis’s extremely enthusiastic tracking suggests that they all visit the shrubberies.

These are her favourite park places and very useful to me as it is usually possible to begin our walk in the shrubbery and then cunningly divert her into main park areas.

She loves snuffling among the pine needles and often emerges with one or two dangling from her chin.