My mission, which I occasionally adhere to, is to explain the inexplicable. There is simply no explanation for many of the weird and wonderful things which humans do and the intelligent dog is better off not thinking too much about some of their strange habits. One of the strangest is that by January 3rd each year they will have broken the New Year’s resolution which they were claiming at midnight on the 31st would change their lives forever.

What happens is this. The end of December comes and it seems like a good idea to get fit, get rich or be a nicer person. They get very excited and very happy and the brilliant idea of walking their dog becomes taking up running and then on midnight on New Year’s Eve they have made a resolution that they would run a marathon by the end of the incoming year.

If they had simply made a promise to take us, their dogs, on longer more interesting walks we would have all been happy. If they had have made a promise to always have extra treats in their pockets for us dogs on these walks we would all be ecstatic. However, New Year’s Day arrives and they have made a solemn promise that this year they are doing a marathon. If they are in luck it will rain on January 1st and they will not have to wait until the 3rd to abandon their resolution but it is often a beautiful day and some of them will go for a run and some of those who ran on January 1st will also run on January 2nd.

January 3rd is a very special day for humans as the official day to abandon their future marathon runs, find our dog leads and bring us out for a walk.