For all the fun and love she’s brought us, Beanie has also put us through the wringer emotionally on numerous occasions. I thought I’d lost her for good on The Merrick when she somehow managed to break free of her lead; I thought I was going to lose her when she had haemorrhagic gastroenteritis, and for the last year or so we’ve gone through several cycles of “she’s not long for this world, oh wait she’s OK”. Well, right now The Beanster is definitely OK. We still take her royal carriage – which to commoners looks much like a doggy pushchair – with us on longer walks, but it’s weeks since she’s actually needed it.

I think she’s been giving Poppy lessons on how to keep us on our toes however, because Poppy has now hit us with a quality medical drama of her own.

Remember that incident a while back that we assumed was a bee sting? Well it wasn’t a sting, it was an epileptic seizure. She’s since had two more. Canine epilepsy can happen for all kinds of reasons, but in Poppy’s case I strongly suspect it’s hereditary.

Way back when Beanie was a youngster, epilepsy hit a number of Beagles we knew – all fathered by a particular hound. All those dogs ended up being euthanised at an early age as the condition became uncontrollable. It turns out that Poppy shares the same bloodline. It could be coincidence of course, and in any case one would hope that the intervening generations have weakened whatever genetics might make the dogs susceptible to seizures, so we’re hopeful that Poppy won’t suffer the same fate as those dogs from Beanie’s youth.

We’re trying to avoid the traditional medication route for Poppy – potassium bromide and all the rest of it – as the side effects (and the cost) can be pretty rough. Instead, we’ve switched her onto a keto diet (there is some evidence than this can help with epilepsy in both humans and dogs) and we intend to give so-called “golden paste” a try; this turmeric-based mixture is thought to help with a number of conditions in dogs, including epilepsy.

Both of these measures can take a few weeks to have an effect, so only time will tell if they’re going to help keep Poppy’s seizures at bay. Fingers and paws crossed!