 Milou
was a beautiful black American Cocker Spaniel. He was bred in
Switzerland at one of the top kennels in the country and lived
in Monte Carlo with an Italian lady who'd lived in Brazil for
so long that she often spoke to Milou in Portuguese! Milou understood
Italian, English, French and Portuguese! Sadly, his owner became
ill and when it was obvious she wasn't going to get better I
was informed that it was in her will that any pets should be
put to sleep on her death. This concerned me greatly but fortunately
a few months before she passed away, she allowed me to adopt
Milou. He was four and a half at the time and had been living
with me for a year by then and spent every available minute playing
with a tennis ball. He was already, in my mind, 'my' dog and
so, happily for me, he never left.
 Milou
was such a happy little dog, always fun, always ready to
play, took such joy in life, a terrible thief for food -
chairs had to be tucked under the table else he’d be
up on the table, finishing off the left-overs, or worse,
eating dinner before we did! At biscuit time each night,
he’d fix me with ‘that look’ (long before
time) telling me it was ‘time for my biscuit and NOW
please.’
 When
we lived in Roquebrune, his favourite game was to nudge a tennis
ball into the pool and then bark and bark until someone got it
out for him. We had wonderful adventures and outings. He loved
going to restaurants, his favourite being Le Balico in Menton
where the waiters always found a little biscuit for him and put
a water bowl under the table. He visited Avignon and Moustiers-Ste-Marie
and toured all around Corsica one spring, leading Candy and me
up the rugged mountains like the little trouper he was - and
he always loved his trips to Italy.
 Milou’s
temperament was exceptional, accepting as he did all the dogs
who came en pension, loved his Labrador house-mate, Flavia, and
he, in turn was loved by everyone, especially his bed-buddy Candy,
who shared her bed with him whenever she visited from America
and never forgot to bring him a tennis ball each time.
 In
May 2005, just one day short of his 15th
birthday, Milou went to doggy heaven.
He is buried on the hillside, tucked
up with his favourite tennis ball, his
last gift from Candy. I've been lucky
to have shared my life with many wonderful
dogs, but Milou was the 'dog of my life’ and,
of course, Pension Milou was named for
him.
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