Shw’mae bawb! I’m Poppy, the second of MFL Mentoring’s canine co-working duo (first’s the worst, second’s the best right…?!). I’m Ellie’s younger and, I like to think, better-looking sister – well I have less of the poodle curl, so I get less twigs and mud stuck in my coat at least! If Ellie thinks she’s getting all the limelight for MFL Mentoring’s social media campaign, then she better think again…I’m not called Poppalicious for nothing!

I’m fortunate enough to be Becky Beckley’s right-hand woman and there’s nothing I like more than a 9am Teams call – if it starts without me, I have serious FOMO. It’s a noisy home with the Beckley boys keeping me on my toes, they like to play frisbee with me and hide the sprout (it’s the Christmas gift that keeps on giving…). They’re also partial to doing the conga with me which is an interesting sight… I may share a photo for you to enjoy but I’ll let the anticipation build first!

When Becky is hard at the homeworking at the kitchen desk I either like to take a long snooze or to have fun in the back garden, there are so many birds and squirrels to chase, I was even lucky enough to find a dead rat once…. oops maybe Becky would prefer me not to mention that!

I’m often unsure as to whether I want to be outside or inside and I think it’s fair to say that Becky sometimes gets more than a little annoyed, as I often interrupt her pawing at the door to go out, or come back in.  Her absolute pet hate is when I paw the door to come back in and then I run away when she answers the door (cue evil laughter…). I wonder what she finds worse, the fact that I’ve disturbed her and she has to walk over to open the door, or the fact that she’s had to open the door for me and has consequently let out what little heat there is in the house in a cost-of-living crisis (cue guilty face…).

Anyway, all this got me thinking about what you would call this ‘game’ – the knocking on the door (or pawing – or even scratching in my case on a naughty day) and running away. Where Becky grew up in South Wales, they called it ‘cherry knocking’, but I believe it has many different names depending on the area where you live (anyone heard of Knock, Knock, Ginger/Ding Dong Ditch or Nicky Nicky Nine Doors?). Becky tells me I’m lucky I’m not human because if I were a human, I’d be breaking the law as cherry knocking is illegal under the 1839 law… it really is a dog’s life!

I’d love to hear your take on this so let me know what you call this over on Twitter/Instagram – join me there!

Learn something new today, take a look at this Knock, Knock, Ginger: The History of the Ding-Dong-Ditch Prank – Professional Moron