Sunday

The RSPCA hospital at Newbrook Farm is in need of all kinds of bedding,  so on Saturday I collect a single duvet offered as a pet bed by a fellow Birmingham Freegler.

We return home. I leave the duvet on the floor.

Isis glances at it in passing. I think again and place it on the hall chair.

In the evening I am sitting on the futon watching Inspector Montalbano when I hear a strange sound. Thump! Ker-lumpf, ker-lumpf, ker-lumpf!

“What the hell is she doing now?”, I wonder.

My musings are interrupted by the entrance of little Isis who is carrying the duvet in its large Marks and Spencer bag.

She drops the bag three feet from her bed and looks at it. I am astonished.

She waits as I remove the duvet from the bag and place it in her bed. Then she pops in after it, curling up in its folds. She looks very comfortable. And quite ecstatic. I am enchanted by my clever dog. Dear little creature. How sweet.

…………………………………..

Next morning I anticipate a long lie-in. But by 8.00 a.m. Isis is upstairs. She wants to go out and prances joyfully on the bedside rug. Sigh.

When I get up and carry her downstairs I discover a pile of stuffing by her bed. She has chewed a hole in the duvet. It will have to be sewn.

But then, none of us is perfect. She’s still a dear little creature.

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.com