Another unseasonably warm day. We had visitors this afternoon, a lone Dalmatian who ran in and ate all the cat food, followed 5 minutes later by his apologetic owner. He knows where the dish is in the hallway now, having discovered it a few weeks ago whilst investigating the neighbourhood, and now it seems as soon he sees our open front door, visible from half a mile away, he ignores his owners entreaties and charges down the hill, through our front door. He can eat a large dish of dried cat food in a few seconds. We have been debating for months about whether to get a puppy, given that we are committed to stay here most of the year now we have six cats, but it does seem that no dog can be relied upon not to run off and do its own thing. The French just chain their dogs up or lock them in a kennel, they don't seem to allow them inside the house, though that could be because they are mostly hunting dogs in this area, in the UK hunt dogs are kept in kennels and runs too. Ideally we would like a dog that can climb mountains but won't chase or kill livestock, but those qualities don't seem to be mutually exclusive. A farmer shot dead a neighbour's border collie a few weeks ago after it had killed several of his sheep. In fact everyone around here has horror stories to tell about local dogs attacking humans as well as animals. I will do some more research to find the ultimate breed of dog.
13th November