I let Beattie chew away at her bone for nearly an hour.  By this time there was very little meat left and she was even cracking into the bone.  I decided that enough was enough for one day and I took it away without too much protest this time.

Meanwhile I was busy cooking dinner for A and her sister JT, who had flown up from Exeter for the week.  They arrived just about the time I took Beattie's bone away so she had lots to occupy her for quite a while...

Dinner was served.  We had just sat down when Beattie, very suddenly and very quietly vomited!  A huge pile of undigested lamb lay on the floor in front of her!  Great!  I hadn't even taken my first mouthful!  I grabbed some kitchen towel to clear up the mess when, bingo! a repeat performance in another part of the room!  Poor thing!  How could one little dog be so sick?  Just how much had she eaten?  Was it just the lamb or was breakfast there as well?  I grabbed another handful of kitchen towel and cleared up a second mess!

I remembered then that she had been off colour the last time she had lamb.  On that occasion she had widdled in her crate! (quite unlike her).  That was it!  No more lamb!  I telephoned AT to tell her what had happened. 

'Never mind', she said, 'Try her with a beef bone next week!'

Beattie seemed quite unperturbed by her experience, as if bringing up the entire contents of her stomach was a normal occurence!  Half an hour later she was clamouring for her 'dental stick' as if nothing had happened!

I had heard of the phrase, 'sick as a dog', but I had never seen it in action before that day!