Goodbye Chalky.....

It's a sad day for the Jack Russells of the world, as one of their finer members, Chalky (famous for being the star of Rick Stein's cookery programs) has passed away.

One of my JR, Jack, was quite fond of Chalky and always barked his hello when he saw him on tv. Chalky died at the age of 17, so I'm hoping my two, who are 8 this year, have a few good years left in them.

There seem to be two schools of dog owners here in France, those that carry their lap dogs around in shoulder bags and take them everywhere, including posh restaurants and grocery stores, and those that keep them in small kennels outside, no matter what the weather, and use them primarily for hunting.

Today as I drove through a neighboring town, I passed a car with a trailer that must have had 5 or 6 dogs squashed inside, with barely enough room to move. Now I don't profess to now anything about hunting dogs, or how to keep them, and I have been accused once or twice of spoiling my dogs, but I'm sure there are limits to just how many dogs you should put in a cage the size of a rubbish bin. I suppose the philosophy runs along the lines of 'treat 'em mean and keep 'em keen', or something like that, but it just looks so cruel. Please set me straight if you know that this is indeed the proper way to stow dogs......