OK I'm ready, let's go!

Toots weighs 5.2 kilos. She has had her own car seat for 8 years since our neighbours lad grew out of his first seat. Her body harness keeps her, her filth and dust confined mostly to the chair; however more importantly it prevents her from killing us.

This tiny doglet, if unconfined would change from 5.2 kilos of cuddly fur to 52 kilos of neck breaking hound if we had the misfortune to hit the anchors hard. When I still drove I had to brake severely on several occasions, Toots invariably remained fast asleep in her seat restrained by her harness, rather than being hurled through the gap in the seats, thereby damaging us.

It makes people laugh to see her staring at them as they overtake us, that changes to disbelief if I reach across and wave her paw. I shudder when I see small dogs on parcel shelves; they are, by no fault of their own, a disaster waiting to happen.