Last year, for the first time, I was to entertain the entire family to Christmas dinner.

Like any hostess, I had spent days preparing for the event, and this included planning how I was going to keep my kleptomaniac Basset Rolph, and his partner in crime, Clara, away from the food.

My home is pretty-much open plan, but I had bought them new bones and was going to give them to the dogs in the hallway, behind a baby gate, so my guests could eat without surprise attacks on their dinner plates.

My family are largely animal friendly, but none of them are Basset savvy and in the past I have had incidents of snatched burgers at barbecues and kind visitors not understanding the need to put chicken carcasses right at the very back of the kitchen counter - or better still on a high shelf. And they certainly don't understand that a meal without Basset hair is underseasoned.

So, I felt I was fully prepared.

The time came when the turkey would be ready. I went to the kitchen with my older daughter, Thea, being careful to close first, the baby gate and then the kitchen door.

The bird was cooked to perfection. It looked like something Delia would have been proud of. I put it on the counter to rest while I made gravy and my daughter placed the vegetables in dishes, chatting and laughing as we worked.

Suddenly the back door flew open and out of the corner of my eye I saw Rolph leaping across the room. As I turned, I saw Thea, who is only 5ft 2ins, grappling Rolph with one hand and the turkey with the other, screaming “Help me!”

Of course, this brought the entire family pouring into the kitchen, just in time to see the turkey hanging in mid-air between the work surface and the floor, with Rolph firmly attached to one leg and Thea to the rest of it.

I grabbed Rolph and the leg peeled away from the bird. In the consternation that followed I managed to remove the leg from his mouth and shove him back out in the garden. Thea did a brilliant job of reassuring everyone that the rest of the bird was unRolphed.

It turned out Rolph had begged to go outside seemingly for a pee. Once out he had hurtled round to the back door, but to this day I don't know how he opened it.