Eager to explore the outside world, Chewie the cat sits at the front door, looking longingly out at the street.
“You’ve been a very good boy, you can go out now,” owner Marjorie Dowling says, as she opens the door.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Chewie makes a run for it.
“I’ve been letting him out during the day ... If I whistle he comes back to me; someone told me that years ago and I thought, how stupid, but it works,” Marjorie says.
“He may not come immediately, as they don’t do as they’re told, they’re like kids, but five minutes later he’ll come.”
He started life on his own but thanks to Marjorie, Chewie now has a home after she adopted him from the Shepparton animal shelter last August.
Chewie got his name at the animal shelter and once adopted, the name stuck.
“I was going to name him Louis, but I thought it was a bit sophisticated ... the kids loved the name Chewie, so we stuck with it,” Marjorie says.
When he’s not outside exploring and running around, Chewie enjoys sleeping in his favourite chair and playing with his favourite toy: a dangling star and bell attached to a stick, which Marjorie waves in front of him.
He also knows how to be a bit cheeky, and according to Marjorie, always finds ways to surprise her.
“I had gone to bed and I heard him scattering around here,” Marjorie says.
“And I thought he was playing with these little grey balls and then I thought, oh, he’s got a tail — it was a mouse!
“I got the mouse by his tail, holding him up, and I went to walk out and he jumped up and grabbed it.
“So I put it up higher and walked away again and he jumped and grabbed it again — he just loved playing with it.
“So I got out and put it in the bin and the next morning I go out and the bin is turned over and the mouse is gone.
“He rules the place but he’s good company. Except for at 3am in the morning when he licks me on the cheek for me to come and let him out.”