I am, frankly, impressed.

Phoebe the dog, as remarked previously, is highly intelligent. She may be one of the cleverest dogs I've ever met, in fact. She has proven this twice recently.

A few days ago, some milk had gone off, so I poured it down the sink. Phoebe shot out through the dog-flap immediately. When I looked to see why she was in such a hurry, she was lapping up the milk from around the drain. That's right: she knows what happens to stuff when it's poured down the sink. The sink is invisible from the drain, and vice versa. Pretty clever.

Nothing compared to what she did today, however. Monty the stupid bad dog decided to raid the kitchen bin yet again, and strewed its contents all over the kitchen floor. Not only did Phoebe bark to alert Vic to what had happened, but she also did exactly what we'd have done. Vic came downstairs in response to the barking to discover... well, a huge bloody great stinking mess, obviously, but also to discover Monty sitting out in the yard looking sorry for himself. Now, this is unheard of: Monty doesn't think of himself as the outdoorsy type, and will avoid going outside unless he absolutely can't hold it in a second longer, returning to the warmth and comfort of indoors the very second he's finished. If it's raining, as it is today, he just clenches harder. He would never sit out in the yard if he could avoid it, not while there were humans to be slobbered on indoors.

That's right: Phoebe had punished Monty by, somehow, chucking him outside and refusing to let him back in. Saving us the trouble.