My ‘little girl’ had a funny turn today and we had to rush her to the vet.

She’s a fit as a fiddle normally, can out-run almost any other dog I’ve ever seen and is always on the go. When she just keeled over in the sitting room at lunchtime today it was so out of character that I thought at first she was playing.

Not so, she was in a heap on the floor, legs akimbo, dribbling and clearly struggling. I thought she was having a stroke because she looked so much like Tobes did when he had his stroke.

DM called the vet and they agreed to see her straight away. We dashed down in the car, me on the back seat nursing her and panicking about the health of my baby. By the time we got there she was able to stand but she still looked very flaky and miserable. Her tail, normally at full-tilt wag all the time, was glued between her legs so you could almost believe she’d been docked.

We saw a fantastic vet who gave her a really thorough check over, including some pretty undignified stuff if you get my drift. He declared her to be in rude good health other than looking a bit pale of gum and clearly still shaken. We were told to give her a quiet day with no walks, which was something of a blessing given the weather!

He couldn’t explain the reason for her funny turn but he said these things sometimes happen. We’ve been asked to keep our ancient second-hand video recorder handy and if it happens again we’ve got to film her, check her gums, eyelids and her heart rate then take her back and report our findings to the vet.

She’s my baby and I am really concerned about her well-being. I’m supposed to be somewhere else now but I just want to sit and cuddle her.

Two years ago, I was photographing ice on the window and last year, the Strawberry Bush was getting my attention!