In order to avoid the rain forecast for 11am, Pauline, Magnus, and I took a walk up to Rasteau, where we intended to buy a baguette for lunch. We have made this short walk numerous times since we arrived and it has always been without incident. However, this time when we entered a short street just before the entrance to the square, we found a black French bulldog, off leash, who belonged to a lady, who was at the door of her house. He was a taller and lankier dog of his breed, although shorter than Magnus.

In the vast majoity of cases, when Magnus meets another dog, there is a brief sniffing of noses and of each other's bottoms and off they go. Magnus is not an aggressive dog. He is shy and will usually not the dog to initiate a meeting, preferring to keep a wide berth. He is wary of yappy small dogs such as chihuahuas, poodles and terriers. However, there are also two circumstances where he will stand his ground if there is another dog: Around a dinner table where snacks are available or if he is attacked.

In this case, the dogs sniffed each other and thinking this was all ok, we happily walked on - but when we turned around, both of the dogs had not moved and were at a standstill, side by side. I called Magnus, but he stood rigid. Pauline, who was much closer to Magnus commented that she could hear the French bulldog (let's call him Frenchie) growling. Suddenly, in what can only be called a confusion of teeth and fur, they were literally at each others throats. At one point, Frenchie even attacked Magnus's nether regions. We tried to pull them apart, which would normally mean getting to their collars, but since this was where they were attacking each other, it was not easy. Eventually, after what seemed an age, with the old lady screaming in French and Pauline shouting at both dogs, but probably only lasted less than a minute, we managed to pull the dogs apart.

The lady was visibly upset as if Magnus had come into the street for a fight. We quickly put the leash on Magnus and led him into the square. As we had noticed that he had blood on his white coat in several places, we feared that he had been bitten badly. Fortunately, after washing off the blood using water from the village fountain, we could not find any wounds and after a further check at home, we could only find a scrape off the fur of his leg, which was a great relief. We can only conclude that "Frenchie" came out worst and that his flat face was not as effective as Magnus' hound-shaped jaws, in giving a nasty bite to his opponent.

In the interests of the "Entente Cordiale", we shall call it a draw. While Magnus was a bit shaken afterwards, he remains unbloodied and unbowed.