We have, as you will know if you’ve been around these parts any length of time, a toy problem. Well, it’s only a problem in the eyes of us peeps who have to pay for them! JD is a toy munching machine par excellence. He’ll munch his way through absolutely anything with alacrity and apparent ease. We’ve even bought so-called indestructible toys to no avail. They may hold him up for a couple of days but they still end up gone.

I don’t think that all dogs are like this. In fact, I have personally known dogs with their own toy boxes that have dozens of pristine toys that they cart around and love. Not so in our house. Here we bring them in and woof, they are gone. Tennis balls last longest but being brutally honest that’s only because we play with them then put them away.

So, imagine my surprise when we were ambling and gambolling across the moor this evening, enjoying the sunshine, warmth and fresh air, to discover this ball. I have not moved it. It was sitting atop this chunk of granite when we arrived and it is, to the best of my knowledge, still there. It’s by no means perfect and there are very obvious signs of chomping but not by JD. He’s not the only ball fiend in the world then.