A post should appear each Sunday!

Sunday July 25th 2021

We have had two weeks of very hot sun. Unheard of. We don’t do very hot sun in Britain.

Poor Isis does not fare well. One day in the first week I take her to Highbury. We’re there by nine but she isn’t happy. Already it’s very warm and, it seems, getting warmer every minute. The trees cast very dark shadows. The ground is striped with bright light and deep shade.

Isis is downcast. Her tail is tucked so far under her that it’s not visible at all. She creeps around restlessly, ducking and flinching.

We meet Y and Blitzi. Blitzi is very happy. He’s spent the last hour on a loop, leaping into the pond for a swim and scrambling out for a shake.

I stop for a chat. We’ve not been in the park for an hour yet, but Isis slinks off towards the car park. She wants to go home.

For the next three days she doesn’t want to leave the house. She’s even reluctant to go into the garden.

I try taking her for a road walk in the evening. She refuses to walk.

I take her out into the lane and give her a squeaky toy. After a few minutes, she wants to return, but I don’t open the gate. She brings the toy and lies as close to my chair as she can get.

That’s where she stays. After half an hour we return to the house.

Well that wasn’t exactly a rip-roaring success.

I can’t blame her. I don’t feel like doing anything either, and succumb to a doze on the day bed. As the evening draws on, I am aroused by loud clunks and clanks. What the hell’s going on, I wonder.

It’s Isis throwing her toys around the room.

This is a dog who needs exercise.

I must make a sacrifice for my hairy podengo. A big one.

I must take her out very early in the morning.

The next day is Monday, and I wrench myself away from my Emma mattress at an hour too obscene to name.

We’re going  to Kings Heath Park. This is her home park, this is where, years ago, she eventually learned to feel safe outside the bounds of her own back garden. It’s a default go-to place for her when she’s having a bad time.

We arrive soon after seven. It’s cool and fresh. The sun is already quite bright, but not yet strong enough to make black shadows.

Isis is jumpy and wary, but her tail is unfurled part way, and she lingers to sniff the new scents. After an hour, she suggests that it’s time to go home, and that’s fine.

We go to Kings Heath Park on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. Isis copes quite well, but still thinks an hour is enough.

On Thursday Bev suggests that we meet up in Clowse Woods. She was there with Rufus and Nancy the previous day, and tells me that the woods were shady and cool. And, as an added bonus, almost all of the mud which accumulated during our weeks and weeks of rain, has dried out.

What an excellent idea. Soon after we arrive, Hairy One’s tail unfolds, and she’s eager to follow all the scents she comes across. Since there are hundreds of tempting scents, we amble rather than walk.

We are in the woods for almost two hours and Isis doesn’t show any signs of being desperate to leave.

On Friday it’s quite dull and Isis is fine with a slow wander around Highbury. On Saturday It’s overcast, and she is keen to hop out of the car. She can smell rain on the air. Only a few tiny spots materialise, but she leaps up to greet them.

We have a very enjoyable walk.

This is more like you, my dog.

Isis came from Aeza cat and dog rescue in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@azea.org or go to http://www.dogwatch.co.uk.