‘Yes!’ She sank down into the empty chair, dilemma forgotten. ‘I can’t bear it any longer. Every time I take Mr Howard’s dogs out, I see more animals having to put up with owners who don’t know what they are doing. It should be illegal to buy a dog without taking some sort of examination. You aren’t allowed a car without a licence. A car has no feelings, no brain! Yet anyone can take responsibility for another living creature.’ She groaned, shaking her head in despair. ‘I am doing my best, Ollie, to help these stupid people, but they just aren’t interested! Yesterday, when I told a man at the park that it was his fault his dog knocked over a small child, he was very rude. When I explained that even a bad dog owner like him could easily learn to control his dog, he got more angry. I learnt three new swear words.’

‘You told him he was a bad owner?’

‘I wanted to encourage him, that even he could learn how to do it, no problem.’

‘Yasmin, he probably didn’t appreciate being called bad.’

‘Well, his Yorkshire terrier probably doesn’t appreciate being called Big Dog. Or having an owner who cannot be bothered to learn how to look after him. Now, can you look at my flyer ideas because even thinking about this is making me upset.’

After a quick look at the flyers – Let the Dog Mother train you how to stop being a bad dog owner – I decided that having a look at other dog trainers’ websites would be an excellent way to develop Yasmin’s reading comprehension skills. After the fourth website, it finally clicked that a more positive, supportive approach might work better, and I suggested we take a look at professional dog-training courses to see if there were any she could sign up for.

When Trev arrived, ten minutes early, she was just getting started.

‘Don’t mind me.’ He blushed. ‘I’m happy to keep myself busy until it’s time to switch over.’

Yasmin looked up and gave a brief smile, before reabsorbing herself in the computer screen.

‘I’m going to get a drink. Would anybody else like one? Ollie, you look like you could do with a strong coffee. Yasmin?’

‘I would love a coffee but the machine is still broken,’ Yasmin replied.

‘Oh? I might be able to do something about that. I think I’ve got… yes… here it is.’ Trev rummaged around in his rucksack before taking out a screwdriver. He took off his cap and went over to where the coffee machine still bore a sign declaring that it was out of order. He turned it around, pulled open the moveable compartments and poked about inside before picking it up to inspect the underside.

‘Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing?’ Irene huffed, clomping over. ‘Can’t you read?’