I should know better

i`ve been recovering from three shows in one weekend, which have left me shattered, and my bad knee aching.

Two of them also featured Allegra, which adds to any strain considerably.

That`s not quite fair - at the first show, a major Championship one, she was tired from the overnight journey and just a little bit overawed. She showed off with sparkle. and won her class. Challenged by older puppies for Best Bitch Puppy and Best Puppy in Breed, she took off like a racehorse while the others trotted sedately and I tried desperately to keep up - this seemed to impress the judge and amazingly she was suddenly Best PapillonPuppy.

That`s probably why I was unprepared for her performance at the second show. It was a local one. She hadn`t travelled far. She wasn`t tired. And she had new-found confidence. To my astonishment I found I had a bunch of firecrackers on the end of the lead. She bounced. She jumped. She made it clear that there was much more fun to be had right over there in the Pug ring. She paid me as little attention as possible.

Clearly she will need, as the saying goes " a lot more work."

By the time we reached the Irish show I was too tired to enjoy it.

But I will long remember the journey back. It was Halloween, and the whole of Ireland was celebrating. We came back jup the M1 from Dublin along a corridor of bonfires and constant firework displays - an amazing sight. Belfast was also alive with fireworks. A few short years ago the loud explosions would have meant something quite different and infinitely more menacing.

It shows just how far we have come.