Woke up yesterday morning and all seemed well, sun was shining and I thought the signs were good for a long walk in the woods. Then a van pulled up outside the house and two men in white coats got out. I’ve heard about men in white coats and I knew they must have come for T. This was a moment of truth for me, what to do? Defend her or let them take her? Both options had their advantages, long walks in the woods with T if I defended her but if I let her go just think of the peace P and I would have. On balance, the walks in the woods won and I decided to defend her and keep the men from getting into the house.

P went out to talk to them and there was a lot of pointing and looking at the house. I think that P was warning them that T might put up a fight or how she might make her escape. P could be mean at times; he must have called them as he seemed to be expecting them. T should be able to count on her family to protect her, not give her up. She hasn’t been that bad lately, nothing to deserve this.

T was still in bed and had put the blinds down on the windows; she was obviously hiding from the men. Not much point when P was clearly on their side. The men must have been expecting a fight as they had brought ladders – I know about these as our window cleaner uses them. They put up the ladders against the back of the house and were clearly going to try to get into the bedroom where T was. I rushed upstairs and started barking at the windows, they might not be able to see me but I made sure they could hear me. My barking worked as they stayed up the ladders and kept away from the windows, I think they were scared to come down. I stayed close to T but she didn’t seem particularly grateful, I am not appreciated in this house.

The men must have thought it safe to come down after a while as they moved to the front of the house and again put up their ladders. Obviously a new line of attack. If they thought they would catch me unawares they were very much mistaken as I rushed to the front and started to bark again. It did the trick and the men didn’t get in. This went on for the rest of the day; I have to admire them for their persistence and T for staying so calm. She didn’t go out, wise move in the circumstances; instead she chose to paint the kitchen. This might have been to steady her nerves, she does like decorating but how she managed to concentrate at such a stressful time I don’t know. P was hanging about and offering to help T which is unheard of, perhaps he felt guilty about the men.

Finally, the men gave up and went away, T was safe and I could relax. P saw them off and appeared to give them money (I've seen pay the window cleaner), concrete proof in my mind that he had called them. He stood for a while and looked at the house and then T went out to join him, she also looked at the house. When they came in T said to me “You can relax now the painters have gone”.

Painters? Why didn’t they tell me?