For a while I have been concerned that Isis may not be warm enough downstairs when the heating goes off at night. Both Dogwatch UK and Hannah, who did my home-check, warned me that Spanish dogs feel the cold in the UK winters. Obviously this will apply to Portuguese dogs too.

I also notice that The Hairy One seems unhappy when I prepare to depart upstairs at night.

On Tuesday the temperature drops and I leave the stair gate open.

Shortly after I go up, Isis follows. I fetch her bed from downstairs. She explores the bedroom, then settles on the rug.

When I next check she is fast asleep in her bed. I doze off too.

At 1.30 a.m. I hear a pathetic whimper. Isis is standing at the bottom of the bed, her head raised meaningfully towards me.

I get up and lift her onto the bed where she quickly settles. She sleeps peacefully

until I wake her in the morning  and carry her down the stairs (which are too steep for her to get down on her own).

But I forget to close the stair gate and after her walk and a quick breakfast she disappears upstairs.

Silence.

After half an hour I climb the stairs to check on her, reminding myself as I do so  that I must put a box by the bed so that she can climb onto it on her own.

But it appears that I needn’t bother ……….