<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236">Usually, if I report evil basset behaviour to the Drool, the perpetrator is Rolph.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236">However, quiet and usually well-behaved Clara has been challenging him for his OEBE title this week.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr">It started when I cleared the tomato plants for compost. As they were just outside the kitchen, I plucked the last few green fruits and put them on the kitchen table, ready to be ripened on windowsills. As Rolph was with me, making the odd grab at fruit I had missed, I wasn't overly worried, until I stepped into the kitchen to find half the number of tomatoes on the table and Clara, lying on her bed finishing the missing fruit.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr">A couple of days later, we kept an early morning vet appointment for her annual check-up. She came through with flying colours - just a little arthritis in her hips and halitosis. She was not amused at being taken out at 8.20am for anything that wasn't a walk and showed her displeasure by pooing in the waiting room.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr">Finally, my two-year-old granddaughter was round on Friday, so we set to making Halloween cookies etc. As usual, the shark named Rolph was stalking the table, so I carefully put all the cookies up at the back of the counter, well out of reach, when we left the kitchen. I returned ten minutes later to see the last of the Jack'O'Lantern's scalp being gobbled up by a completely unrepentant Clara.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr">Rolph is slipping.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1446470146092_5236" dir="ltr">Sally, with Pw Rolph OEBE and Clara, UK</div></div></body></html>