There were cries of dismay from the dogs end of the alley as realization dawned that the Big Dog was indeed present but wearing feline fur. As Kenny feebly practiced his meows, cries of "poor Kenny" echoed down the alley much to Dee's chagrin. Further confusion ensued when Dave said his good-byes as he was taking Joyce out for a birthday meal (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOYCE FROM ALL THE ALLEY RESIDENTS). Shortly after he left who should appear but Joyce herself. This coincided with a discussion on the absence again of Jamesgreywolf. Speculation abounded and I think the common theory was that Dave was up to some underhand trick for the dogs whilst Joyce and James went for a meal!

After 5 weeks of cat domination the dogs were really fired up for victory this week. This was fuelled by the absence(?) of their beloved Big Dog. (Small thought dogs, if he returns to the fold next week having been undefeated for the cats and the tables turn again what does that imply?)

As the scores came in at the end of the first round it was clear that this was going to be another close match. First one side then the other taking the lead until round one ended all square at 8-8. Unfortunately Rebos and Barbara had to leave us. They were replaced by J_lruh and Rueful_rabbit (thanks guys). This was another closely fought round but the cats slipped into a slight lead to end the round at 17-15.

The final round seemed to heading for a 6th win for the cats. The sudden reversal came out of the blue, perhaps Pob's hex had finally started to take effect. Dog win after dog win came in leaving them victorious with a table still out. Final score 35-29 to the dogs.

Next week Paul_in_UK is back. The following week Dee has her chance to prove chaos theory as she gets her feet wet by helping OldYank. All together now "Poor Dee". Good luck!

Seen lurking on the fire escape: debb26; roholte; bebe k; julie; ann ryl; hbear; kevinp64/old yank; felden; incognito; timothy the toucan

Big welcome to our latest newcomer Shrl8, we all hope you enjoyed it and that we see you again next week.

Supersubs were:- irish; pob; bobsgirlanne; and the keen kenebaby

Slams were bid and made by: alan/lynh 6S; puppyfinn/lorainew 6C(twice?); catwitch/canine cat 6NT; silver/LLb 7S; xb/jawall 7S

The trophy for purrrrfect 3-0 tournament goes to:

The dogs were: hudder/cooper; puppyfinn/lorainew; woof man veep/puppyvw; ih8cats/kalinka; psspill/bearr117; rsquirrell/seaweed; the glosses; shrl8/im rod; cath/joel; rebos/barbara(j lruh/rueful rabbit); delatagayl/fourwhlr; woo7nt/harrietcocker; softfire/poppeye q; xbrorsen/jawall; jean/arzcyl; amster/bearfm

The cats were:- midnight/kitty kir; silver/LLb; sugar/danclifford; suzy/the holy guy; harlequin smiles/roo; smilodonkiwi/yadenwise; bert & ernie; lorrobb/francylou; alanmitchell/lynh; catwitch/canine cat astrophy; producer/wombiepie; melkor vala/roblyn; bobmt/nanook; dittny/errikos; amateoxo/aleyer; rzzjohn/nitrox