Posting days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Monday

Intent on giving the garden a makeover, Isis sets to. Not for her a gentle prune or a tender pluck. Hers is a root and branch approach.

After three or four days, the lawn is receding, leaving behind bare earth; the daffodils have been razed to the ground and the bluebells are horizontal. Even the hellebore is looking wan. Raspberry canes, separated from their roots, are scattered over the remaining grass and the strawberry plants are on the brink of surrender.

Never one to act before it is absolutely unavoidable, I belatedly gather armfuls of my neighbours’ leylandii which I am pruning back from the fence, and make a roughly woven ‘wall’ around the strawberry bed and another in front of the long border.

The next day I look out of the window to see Isis triumphantly prancing up and down the garden waving aloft a small branch of leylandii. She has breached both ‘walls’.

Sigh.

I decide I must be philosophical. My garden would never have won any prizes. The lawn has always needed digging up and returfing. At least Isis is digging it up without charge – and flattening out the mounds.

Isis is a healthy young dog with boundless  energy. She is never happier than when running free. She will dash about for hours and is still ready for her two walks. I will fence a small part off for me and let Hairy One keep the rest.

Sigh.

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