I'VE DUMPED LOVERS FOR MY DOGS

For Samantha Brick, dogs are for life, unlike men

- SAMANTHA BRICK

Turning over in my luxurious Vispring bed, I snuggled up to Barney, who sighed contentedly. Elsewhere on my king-size mattress, I heard the soft snores of Ambrose, the other handsome chap I shared my life with. While this may sound like a ménage à trois (and, technically, it was one of sorts), I was in fact cosied up in my cottage in Kew, southwest London, with two Old English sheepdogs.

The year was 2004 and they were the great loves of my life after a painful divorce from my first husband. I met my second husband, Pascal, three years later but there was a merry-go-round of unsuitable men in the interim. The main reason so many didn't fit the bill? My beloved boys didn't like them.

PASSING THE AUDITION

Indeed, the pecking order was clear - Barney and Ambrose always came first and if any man was ever foolish enough to say, 'It's me or the dogs' then I'd suggest they quietly close the front door on their way out of my life. I happen to think dogs are an excellent judge of character, so while I've been happily married to Pascal, 64, for 17 years now, he too had to audition for their affection. I insisted he fly over to the UK from his home in France to meet them and was enormously relieved to see they got on famously.

Equally, when he invited me to live in rural France with him, it was strictly on the proviso that I would be arriving with my entourage in tow. Ambrose, used to London life, tolerated the countryside, while Barney thrived, falling in love with Pascal's terrier Elsea. Yet if things hadn't worked out between them, if my boys had balked at Pascal for an instant, our romance would have been dead in the water.