IS there any wonder that we talk about the weather so much in this country? T-shirts one day, hail and snow the next. However, according to met office records snow in April is not as uncommon as we may think.

Back in April 1989 snow showers fell across parts of Southern England and last year in Aberdeenshire, there was snow at the end of April too.

I did find it a little surreal, though, walking the dogs through a winter wonderland, with the birds singing their hearts out to attract a mate, and maybe wondering where spring had gone at the same time. But the birds weren’t the only ones confused. Youngest granddaughter Maisie was convinced that it must be Christmas and kept bursting into sporadic renditions of Jingle Bells throughout the morning.

One other reason that April 2016 will go down in the record books is that this is the month that it became a legal requirement in the UK for all dogs and puppies over the age of eight weeks to be micro-chipped.

Failure to comply with this legislation can result in a fine of up to £500 and despite a few murmurings of discontent in some quarters, on the whole I think that most of us would agree that micro chipping is a good idea. My pony, both cats and two of my dogs had all been "chipped" some time prior to the act, which meant that only one of my gang had slipped through the net, in a manner of speaking, and that was Brigadier.

I must confess that there is really no justifiable excuse on my part for this omission, unless, of course, you take into account my own personal needle phobia which, I do acknowledge, is no real excuse at all.

Fortunately, my pony had already been chipped when I bought her, both cats were micro chipped under anaesthetic when they were spayed and likewise the two Cavalier girls both had their chips implanted during small surgical procedures, i.e. dental work in Izzy’s case and the removal of a small cyst for Jennifer.

I had intended to have Briggy chipped for quite some time and had the need for an anaesthetic ever occurred, this procedure would undoubtedly have been carried out. I had been assured by well-meaning friends and family members, on numerous occasions, that this was, in fact, a relatively painless procedure and that the actual microchip was no bigger than a grain of rice, but to my way of thinking, that is a fair sized foreign body to be injected underneath the skin and certainly not something that I would relish myself.

None the less, eventually common sense prevailed and an appointment was duly made for the dreaded deed to be carried out.

On the day itself, I decided to take all three dogs along so that Brigg wouldn’t think anything was amiss and then, by means of recompense, I thought that afterwards we could all go somewhere nice for a lovely, long relaxing walk.

Well, I am pleased to say that plan "A" worked and Brigg didn’t even start to look concerned until he was actually on the table. At this point I administered an emergency biscuit, a supply of which live in the pocket of my dog-walking jacket, and thankfully this had the desired effect. From that moment onwards, Brigg’s concentration was firmly focused on the biscuit pocket and the jab was duly administered by vet nurse Jenny, without him so much as turning a hair. The injection site did bleed a little afterwards but that, I was assured, was quite normal and by this time Brigadier was far more interested in scoffing biscuits, with his nose firmly entrenched inside my pocket.

So, happily I am pleased to report that all of my gang now comply with current legislation and should the unthinkable ever happen, we would hopefully all be happily reunited, without unnecessary consternation or delay. Phew.