The other day when I told the Polymath that I wouldn’t attempt to take Isis for a walk again until she asked, wise friend said that wouldn’t happen. Well ………….

When I get up today, Isis is more confident. She is still sleeping soundly on the futon.

We wait on the back doorstep for ten minutes but she will not emerge for a daylight pee. When I carry her out to the back garden, she goes about her affairs (as my mother would have put it) normally. She doesn’t display anxiety although she is happy to trot back into the house once her duty is done.

This afternoon I put my shoes on ready to go to the cashpoint down the road. Isis comes up, looking interested, and sniffs the shoes very carefully. The more she sniffs, the more excited she becomes. She trots on the spot and wags her tail vigorously.

I can’t believe it. I fetch her harness and present it for her to smell and she pushes her head into it. We approach the front door. Isis pops out as though this is the most normal thing in the world. She pauses to sniff the pile of rubble on the front lawn. (The wall is being rebuilt.) She sniffs her way through the gate, investigates the legs of the builder and the pools of cement on the pavement and continues down the road.

I try not to walk with my mouth wide open.

She sniffs and sniffs and sniffs and marks her passage until she has no pee left. We cross three busy roads, visit the cash point and return home by a new route. All the way, she is calm and happy.

Well, well Isis. You are full of surprises.