It’s a dog’s life when the owner’s away

The Diary can reveal that when Sally O’Sullivan, chief executive of Cabal Communications, is away from the office, there will always be someone fluffy waiting to greet guests.

O’Sullivan’s stand-in is none other than Missy, a cute poodle sent out to pacify anyone thinking of collaring her owner for ducking a meeting. Missy not only welcomes bemused visitors with an enthusiastic wag of her tail, she also hangs around to have her neck scratched.

But for all the puppydog-eyes treatment, the spurned visitor still has to turn tail and leave the office without seeing Sally.

We’d heard Sally’s bark was worse than her bite, but sending your four-legged friend to business meetings takes the biscuit!