I can now report that in a recent survey (yesterday in fact) 5 out of 8 dogs said they were not allowed on the sofa and 7 out of 8 were not allowed on the bed. It became clear quite early on in the survey that we were dealing with one very spoilt dog in the case of a certain Pekingese! 5 out of 8 of those surveyed refuse to stay when told to and 6 admitted to stealing food. I started to realise I wasn’t as badly behaved as I thought I was. As to spare time activities peeing on lamp-posts came very high up as did playing fetch and being pampered. The most peculiar activity was one dog that likes going on his master’s motorbike. When asked what they thought they were best at the answers ranged from begging to chasing rabbits. Unfortunately the one chasing rabbits used to share his home with 3 pet rabbits but one of them has recently come to an untimely end. It was sad realising none of them were able to read books although one or two of them said they shared in the bedtime stories that were read to the children in their houses and I even found that one of them was a fellow Miffy fan. In response to being asked about their biggest concerns I was depressed that these were so parochial. Not being able to open the dog biscuit cupboard came highest although on the whole they said they would rather open the fridge anyway. None of them talked about their lack of employment rights or the discrimination against dogs. Am I alone in caring about the big issues? It had never occurred to any of them that it was unreasonable for them to be left tied up outside the Post Office or that being refused entry to an airport was unfair. It seems that there is more to education than just learning to read and write.