My latest obsession is a show about dogs.

The Dog House is basically like a dating show where instead of being matched with other people, they are matched with four-legged friends at a rescue centre.

It’s premise, and the way they film it, is not dissimilar to First Dates.

You meet the potential couples, human and furry, and in this instance only one actually speaks, obviously, about what their hopes are.

Then they are introduced and there’s a sometimes awkward moment where you aren’t sure if they are going to hit it off.

The next stage is to learn if they went home together, leading to the epilogue where we learn if it is was meant to be forever.

And I am totally hooked.

This week there was a difficult decision between a litter of super cute Alsatian puppies for a family with three children who arrived with a specific need for a large dog and a woman who was looking for an older pooch, perhaps a Staffy, with whom to live out her middle-aged hippyish existence.

Right in the middle of all this though, you get gifted the most amazing human interest stories courtesy of the animal adopters.

The lady looking for the Staffy had previously lived in New Zealand and during a tale about how she was now living her best life and needed a companion, just dropped into the conversation how she had been arrested and charged with murder.

And unless I zoned out momentarily and missed it altogether - they didn’t actually revisit this train of thought during the rest of the show.

I guess we were to assume that since she was now travelling around the countryside in a converted horsebox, as you do, stopping by the rescue centre in order to adopt a dog along the way, things had panned out okay in the end.

In a previous episode a couple had visited in the hope of taking home a small dog which would complete their family.

The woman had two teenaged children from a previous relationship but having met her new boyfriend later in life, a pet was to be the baby they were unable to have.

They were also recovering from a major loss which had had a huge impact on them, in particular the children.

Sadly, they hadn’t really thought it through beyond being introduced to a cuddly Pomeranian called Bear.

Bear was indeed adorable but, somewhat unsurprisingly, would not leave the two cats the family already had at home alone.

So back he went.

Didn’t someone think that through beforehand ?

Whilst not being a canine expert I would assume unless a dog had grown up in a household where there were cats, or you were taking on a puppy to grow up with one, they would never be au fait with being around them.

Poor Bear.

I really hope, nitpicking aside, this programme makes more people think about taking in a dog and giving it a second chance because there is a serious message at the heart of this very simple, but quite moving show.

I like it almost much as I like watching people make ridiculously intricate bread and cake product or celeb types attempting to learn to dance.

Which brings me on to Kelvin from Emmerdale on Strictly at the weekend.

I’ll readily admit I didn’t expect him to come out and shimmy quite like that.

But he did what is essential - he put everything into it and left any ounce of self-consciousness he may have had at the door. Definitely one to watch.