If there’s one thing that frays my nerves a little, it’s people who are obsessed with their babies and children and talk about nothing else. Imagine my horror when it dawned on me that I had become one of them, only, in my case with my dog! I’ve only had her for 6 months but already can’t imagine life without her. I suppose the one plus is that I’ll never need to worry about her throwing a tantrum in the middle of the supermarket or bawling her head off on the bus.

It’s a good 26 years since I got my first dog and I’ve always wanted another one, so I really don’t know why it took me so long to get one. Maybe I’m just a commitment phobe! Animals can be a lot less complicated than humans at times, so perhaps I’ve been barking up the wrong tree for the last quarter century if you pardon the pun.

Having been heavily involved in animal welfare for years and witnessing some of the most appalling suffering humans can inflict on animals, it’s really good to be able to give something back to the animal world and at least make one needy dogs life a bit happier.

When Holly first came to me, she was in a bad way. She weighed 62kg, the equivalent of nearly 10 stone, was shaped like a barrel, and could barely lift her head up. She would lumber and waddle her way round the block, trailing behind at every step, back legs bowed under the weight of her body and lying down at regular intervals. Her brow would droop over her eyes and she looked so forlorn, like everything in life was just far too much effort.

Watching her over the last few months, her transformation has been nothing short of miraculous. After initial blood tests showed she had an underactive thyroid, she was put on the relevant medication as well as a prescription diet (much to her disgust). Her exercise regime began with very short but regular walks that gradually increased with time. I’ll never forget, last summer, shortly after getting her, I tried a little longer walk with her at the beach down at Longniddry in East Lothian. Once we got back to the car, Holly was so exhausted she just lay down at the car door and had no energy to get back into the car. After 20 minutes rest and a phone call to mum to see if she had any bright ideas, we decided to try and coax her in from the opposite side of the car through the passenger door. Thank goodness, it worked, or that would have been me stuck at Longniddry Bents for the night!

Now, nearly two stone lighter, it is so rewarding watching the change in this lovely dog. She’s become cheeky and mischievous with a lovely personality and really seems to be enjoying life now. She now keeps me on my toes as she can move a lot quicker than before and has become quite sly. Only the other night, I’d made a curry and had just sat down with a bowl and a couple of chapattis, resting the plate on the arm of the couch. Out of nowhere, this big black nose and cheeky face appeared from underneath the plate and pinched one of the chapattis! Even on her first trip to the beauty parlour for a shampoo to help her skin, she whipped one of the toys off the bottom display shelf on her way out the door, leaving me to return, red faced apologising for Holly’s shoplifting. As it would have taken her all her effort just to walk out the door a few months ago, never mind exerting a little effort, even if it was to steel a toy, it was really quite amusing.

Along with this new found energy come some of the less appealing doggy traits. As well as the revolting fox pooh rolling incident, comes the equalling socially unacceptable trait of having her wicked way with her bean bag bed. This embarrassing doggy trait (which she kindly displays in particular when we have guests) was something I thought only male dogs did but apparently it’s quite common in unneutered female dogs. My friend bought Holly the loveliest giant ‘Scooby Doo’ bed, which unfortunately, Holly has never used – preferring the comforts of the couch. However, the bed often becomes the object of Her Ladyships hormonal desires as poor Scooby get dragged from the living room to the kitchen and back again on a regular basis as Holly gives Scooby the once over! At least it helps her burn a few more calories I suppose.

When she does eventually settle down on the couch in the evening, she will lie flat on her back, legs in the air, head hanging over the edge of the couch, jowls flapping. As she gets her tummy rubbed she gets more and more relaxed and slowly but surely slides off the couch to land on the floor! Up she gets, to start the whole process again.

She really hates the diet dog food and will only eat it if I mix some vegetables through it. The vet says this is fine and as she is now down to 50kg, it doesn’t seem to be doing her any harm.

It really is a pleasure and incredible to watch this dog transform. She has brought much joy to my life in a very short period of time.

One of the sweetest things I watched her do was during the recent bout of heavy snow we had. I had no idea if she had ever even seen snow, but I let her out in the garden to watch her reaction. She looked up at the falling snow flakes landing one by one on the tip of her nose and suddenly, with no warning, started leaping and bounding ecstatically about in the snow like a cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo, it was wonderful to see. Mind you, the last batch of vegetables I mixed through her food were Brussel sprouts, so it may well have simply been the sprouts propelling her round the garden, but I’d like to think, she suddenly knew what it was like to enjoy life at long last.