Since moving to France, I have been heartened by the much better attitude to dogs here rather than in UK, the so-called home of dog lovers. Dogs are welcome almost everywhere here in the Auvergne, restaurants, shops, hotels, campsites. It’s the exception, rather than the rule, for them to be excluded.

And why not? Ci is a clean, healthy and well-behaved, though nervous, chap. I consider him to be far more hygienic than the babies you see passed hand to hand over the dining table in restaurants.

Ci is a border collie, as was his much-loved late predecessor, Meic. Like mostcollies, neither is/was too keen on bikes. I was walking Meic by a lake in France when a mother and several children approached, two of the children on bikes. Meic began to jump about and bark (he was on the lead). Instead of the sadly typical UK reaction of “dangerous dog, should be muzzled, call the police” I’ve encountered, the mother immediately told the children to stop and get off their bikes as they were frightening the dog. What a nice attitude! Meic was eternally grateful, immediately calmed down and rewarded them with soppy licks - a great lesson for those children.