Lula always likes me to go with her to the end of the lane. She loves a bit of a cuddle and a lick or two before the school bus comes. ‘Oh Russ’, she whispers. ‘A horse. It’s all I want for my birthday.’ And I’m thinking – ‘Scuse me, but what’s so great about a horse? Isn’t a dog good enough.’

Michael’s story is an energetic romp through a dog’s busy day on a farm. Russ, the sheepdog, herds sheep and cows and plots against Tigger, the farm cat. He covers Lula, his master’s daughter, with lots of slobbery licks but when she gets a special birthday present, he worries that she might love it more than him…