AS I drove out the farm entrance, I braked in surprise to see a neighbouring farmer’s wife, plus pushchair, with a Jack Russell terrier on the lead beside her.

Surprisingly, she was not walking at the normal pace one does with a baby in a pram, but rocketing down the lane at a jogging pace, with her little dog trotting beside her.

Although I had not spoken to her for a month or two, I was surprised to see she her with the pushchair.

Her two daughters are quite old enough to have children, but as far as I was aware were at university. If she had had a baby it had been well concealed under her jogging gear; and kept very quiet.

All was revealed when I stopped the car to peek into the pushchair. Cosily tucked up under the cot blanket was her other Jack Russell, who I had only just noticed was missing from the usual sporty trio.

“I know,” she laughed. “I’ve got everyone talking. They all think either I or one of the girls has produced a baby out of thin air.”

It turns out that the terrier has ruptured, if I have this right, its cruciate ligament, and this has resulted in progressive lameness making it very painful for the little dog to join my friend on her daily runs.

As the terrier does not like to be left behind while her sister is out exercising with their owner, my friend resurrected her children’s pushchair. Problem solved.

My neighbour is a regular sight on our lanes, out jogging, with the terriers on leads that are attached to a belt round her waist.

The dogs are her constant companions. More so because several years ago two others went missing in suspicious circumstances.

We have to keep a close watch on Millie our Jack Russell, as given half the chance she is off rabbiting or ratting. She has no road sense whatsoever and being a friendly little dog would happily wag over to any stranger who might stop to give her a pat or friendly word.

And my friend can only surmise her two terriers that went missing were tempted into a passing car. Despite radio appeals, posters, an article in the local paper, no trace of them was found.

A fortnight after they had disappeared, a lady rang asking details about the dogs and casually enquired after their names, which had never been put on the posters.

Both dogs were microchipped and it was only after my friend put the phone down that it struck her that this lady had the dogs, and was probably wanting their names to match to their chip records. She rang back, but the number had been withheld.

“Now,” she says “I never let these two out of my sight.” And off she jogged with her little invalid enjoying every pampered minute of the run.