So we’re in August.

This is the traditional fortnight where businesses shut to give their staff a chance to bask in the summer sun.

It’s pissing down outside and the central heating is on.

Yesterday wasn’t too bad and I managed to have my trip to the village, in particular to have my break in the coffee shop. It was nice down there. It ws dry and warm enough that a coat or jumper were unnecessary. They gave me a bag of chicken pieces to bring home to Penny.

I’m having some fun with Penny. She is on antibiotics tablets twice a day. I can’t decide whether she likes them or not. The routine now is that I offer her the tablet. she sniffs and turns away. Repeat a couple of times. Same result. I put the tablet on the floor. She sniffs it and turns away. I move it half an inch and again she huffs and looks away. I move it another half an inch. She picks it up, happily munches it and then carefully licks up any pieces that have fallen on the floor, as if it is her favourite delicacy. She’s a weird dog.

The other new feature of life is that she is having great difficulty jumping onto my bed. One of the golden rules in Penny’s life is that she has to sleep on my bed. Other rules have exceptions but not this one. It is cast in stainless steel. The trouble is that a few times lately she has jumped up but hasn’t quite made the distance, whereupon she slides back onto the floor, usually landing on her back. The result of this is that she has lost confidence and now paces around the bed looking for a lower spot [which doesn’t exist]. It takes an age for her to pluck up the courage..

I have pondered this problem. Ramps are out. I don;t have steps that she could use. I can’t lower the bed. Finally I had a stroke of sheer genius [did I ever mention I’m a genius?]. I removed a drawer from the writing bureau and emptied its contents on the floor [mainly loads of VHS tapes that are probably interesting but I don’t have a VHS player any more]. I put the drawer upside down at the foot of the bed with a rug on it. Perfect! It’s an easy hop onto the new platform and another easy hop onto the bed.

The night before last I showed her my new arrangement. She looked at it with that expression of hers of utter disdain, went around to the side of the bed and hopped straight up, just to prove she is more intelligent. So my invention worked but not quite the way I expected.

Last night she showed her distress at the height of the bed again. I had some treats and enticed her onto the platform. Well, we got as far as two front paws on the platform and her rear paws remained firmly on the floor. She flatly refused to stand on the platform. I put a treat on the bed in the hopes she would take the hint. She did. She went around the side of the bed, hopped up without a bother and snaffled the treat.

I don’t know what the future holds. Will she eventually learn the purpose of the platform?

Or will she just continue to prove she’s the more intelligent?