AS regular readers of this column may know, I don't like dogs. Perhaps it has something do to with the fact that I was savaged by a huge red setter when I was a child.

It didn't help that his doting owner laughed when I screamed. And as the brute lunged at me, baring its teeth, he chortled: "Don't worry, he wouldn't hurt a fly, he's just a big softie."

Since then, over the years countless excitable, slavering dogs, sensing my fear, have leapt at me. And countless, insensitive, over-indulgent owners have chortled about what big softies they are.

As you can imagine, I didn't have much sympathy this week with the devoted owner of Dino, the German shepherd sentenced to death after biting a woman.

After a long and expensive legal campaign, where the main argument for the defence appeared to be that Dino was just a big softie who wouldn't hurt a fly, the dog was acquitted.

But surely even those readers who like dogs must be questioning the judgement of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which referred Dino's case back to the appeal court.

The CCRC was set up in 1995 to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice. As a result many innocent people, jailed for crimes they did not commit, have been set free, sometimes after many years.

This is all very laudable. But hasn't the CCRC got more important things to worry about than Dino's fate? I would hate to think of innocent people languishing in prison, wrongly incarcerated for a crime they did not commit, while the CCRC has been wasting its time, and taxpayers' money, on saving a dog that bites.

Still, in a country where vets complain huge numbers of animals need to be put on diets because doting owners are pampering them too much, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

I HAVE always hated the sickly sweet stench of air fresheners. They are nothing like the much more subtle, natural smells of real pine forests, spring meadows or freshly squeezed lemons. Strong, overpowering perfumes just smell of a concoction of noxious chemicals that irritate my nose. And supermarket lilies that have been sprayed with artificial scent are repulsive. As adverts try to convince us that, unless we use their highly perfumed products, all our friends and neighbours will be complaining about the smell behind our backs, we have lost confidence in the natural smell of fresh air. Thankfully, at last, a survey has discovered that all these sprays are bad for our health. Fancy opening a window, anyone?

PROOF, if ever we needed it, that our examination system really must be getting easier. The 18-year-old Newcastle girl who tried to sue the organisers of a Duke of Edinburgh award scheme when, surprise, surprise, she got sore feet on a 50-mile walk, is now studying medicine at Sheffield University. The case was, rightly, thrown out of court. But what's much more worrying is a medical student incapable of working out that a long walk can give you aching feet. Is this the calibre of trainee doctor to be unleashed on the public in a few years' time?