Caroline, a holiday park owner, from Dorchester, Dorset, said: ‘I have to put his skateboard on the table at nighttime so he doesn’t chew it to bits.

Symptoms include lethargy and vomiting, with dogs also likely to have lesions or ulcers on their tongues or lower limbs (Picture: Wessex News) It affects dogs of all types and ages (Picture: Wessex News)Since the disease reached Britain from America in 2012, the highest number of deaths have been in Greater Manchester, Dorset and the New Forest in Hampshire.

To this end PetsPyjamas, the online bespoke dog-friendly travel company, helped me devise an active mini-break of soft cycling and easy hiking in West Sussex and Dorset with pampering and luxury creature comforts for myself, my husband, our two sons and our miniature schnauzer.

We test-drive the future, 28 August; Letters, 1 August) as I was driving a Nissan Leaf from Northumberland to Dorset and back. • Clockwork cars may be a wind-up for some (Letters, 6 August), but here in North Yorkshire they are for real. • Join the debate – email [email protected]