Posting days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The sun has been extraordinarily bright for several days now so we have stayed at home. I miss meeting my dog walking friends. But there is no point in taking Isis to the park when she is so afraid of the strong shadows.

On Thursday she plays happily in the garden. It is good to see that she spends much less time twirling nowadays and much more pursuing ‘normal’ dog activities: trotting around, breaching boundaries, fighting pruned branches and twigs, following scents and running up and down.

This is good. I’m bored with tearing up compost bags.

It is almost dog’s tea time. Suddenly, she races into the kitchen twirling and pawing frantically at her mouth.

She has been digging and her beard and whiskers are filthy. They are coated with soil which has formed thick clumps around her mouth. Are the clumps irritating her? Has she been stung? Her mouth is open. I can’t see anything inside. I  soak a cloth and wipe around her mouth. She bites me – hard.

As I pause to tend to my dripping index finger, she continues to claw at her mouth frantically. She is obviously frightened and in great discomfort. After another couple of minutes, she stops. Just like that. Can’t have been a sting then, can it?

Five minutes later I offer her her meal. She eats it as though nothing has happened. Perfectly calmly.

I am still whimpering over my bitten finger. She walks up to me and stops and looks at me for about a minute before going outside.

Then I see it. A bit of stick on the kitchen floor. I pick it up to examine it. It’s straight and strong and about seven centimetres long. The bark has been chewed off. It’s wet and sticky.

The stick must have been jammed in her mouth. No wonder the poor little creature was so distressed. Fortunately there’s no blood on it and she seems fine now. Maybe the force of biting me dislodged the stick. Clearly, I have my uses.

I have thick gardening gloves in the car in case of canine emergencies. I must buy some for use in the house too.

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