Posting days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Saturday

Isis has spent more time in the garden than in the park this week as the weather has been so changeable.

On Sunday it’s dull and threatening rain so she enjoys Highbury Park. She only has to be carried when we are beneath an especially dark and threatening  avenue of beeches.

On Monday we have to return home from Kings Heath Park after a few minutes because the sun is unobliging and pops out without warning from behind a cloud.

On Tuesday canine trauma. I park on Vicarage Road so that Isis will not have to come face to face with the area of yesterday’s sun blast.  With encouragement, she walks along the path and onto the big field. Sadly, just as she is beginning to enjoy herself,  the sun strikes again. But this time, of course, the car is far away on the road. Poor Isis tugs desperately towards the car park. Even when she finds no car there she refuses to leave. She is very frightened. In the end I have to carry her back to the car.

On Wednesday one of the walkers, who has observed her from when she first ventured into the park, is delighted when she allows him to stroke her head. Mind you, he is eating a packet of crisps.

Yesterday and today I have been busy at work on my third attempt at tunnel protection. While I am working I watch Hairy One to see how she will respond to Snake 1 which I have placed on the grass for her to find.

After a while she retreats under the table seeking shade. When she emerges, she treads on the snake. She gives it a couple of pats and then goes about her business. Impatient, I move the snake and place it in a pile of twigs. About twenty minutes later she returns to the place she first found it and searches for it, patting the grass with her little fat feet. I don’t expect her to find it but she soon sniffs it out. She pulls it from the pile, carries it off and puts it down in a hollow patch amongst other toys.

Tomorrow I hope to re-install her tunnel. Watch this space!

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