Two Sundays ago, we took our little horse / big dog (depends on perspective) for a walk to a nearby beach. This was where a few fellow dog owners and we had previously held our own ‘Clean Up Hong Kong Day’.

Being a very hard beach to access, involving a trek down an escarpment, rubbish could only have been dumped from the side of a hill while our places were constructed or tossed overboard and washed up from the harbour.

In a few hours, we had a massive load of driftwood, at least a trillion odd shoes (ranging from thongs and slippers to some rather trendy brown brogues), drug vials, needles, dead fish, enough old rope to build one of those spider nets used for army training, polystyrene containers that when stacked would rival the Great Wall, drink bottles and some bits of clothing.

With the clean up as close to complete as what it was going to be, our puppy accompanied us on her first trip to the new play area.

I’m not one to anthropomorphise my pets – she beamed when she saw the empty beach stretching out before her. Her whole being seemed to say “Freedom” in a very Braveheart-like fashion. She promptly galloped a few laps before chasing countless sticks into the ocean.

Her next adventure was to follow Mr Shallot over some rocks near the edge of the water. In true puppy style, she slipped and blood began gushing from her right leg. She had cut through to the tendon.

As befits an emergency, this happened at 5pm. The exact time the vet closes. The emergency vet is on another island and would take at least two hours to reach.

Arriving home after a rather tricky climb, Mr Shallot cleaned her wound (I was now lying down. My light-headedness always comes back when my brain realises that the blood-loss isn’t life-threatening). Two band-aids and a bandage then did the trick.

Mr Shallot’s handiwork was praised by the vet on Monday morning. The puppy was given an injection, antibiotics and had her leg strapped beautifully. She looked like a lame racehorse. The real hit came being told that she could only go on a 20 minute walk each day. She hasn’t had so little exercise since she was born!

For the past week, she has had no appetite, little exercise and has been generally sad, bored and miserable. Two days ago her bandages came off. We now have our puppy eating like a horse, running around and being playful. Currently she’s running laps in the lounge with a toy in her mouth that she’s pretending is attacking her.

It will be a while before she tries rock climbing again.