Carnet de Voyage: A Dog’s Life

Travel notes from the real France. Carnet de Voyage is a weekly personal travel story in France sent in by readers. If you’d like to write a story for Carnet de Voyage, head here for details on how to submit. 

Keith has also written a comprehensive guide to bringing your dog to France: The Do’s and Don’ts of Bringing Your Dog on Vacation to France 

Ever since we got married, my wife Val and I have had a dog. First there was Rodin, who moved with us to Switzerland when we took jobs there. Then there was Lucca, who flew back and forth from California to Provence when we started living there part-time. Now it’s Mica, our cute little border collie mix, who has traveled between our two homes plenty of times. 

Mica doesn’t enjoy the long flight (neither do we!) but she’s happy when it’s over and she can stretch her legs. There is extra paperwork required to bring her into France, but it helps that she has a “pet passport,” a document that shows that she has had her required vaccinations. It even has a formal passport photo of Mica, which was hard to take. Have you ever tried to get a dog to sit still and look at the camera? 

Meeting People Through Your Dog 

Mica loves her life in France. She goes nearly everywhere with us, even to cafés and restaurants. And she is usually served before we are! The server will bring Mica water, then ask if they can pet her. Only when that business is taken care of is it time to take our order. 

Having a dog in France is a great way to meet people. When we walk Mica in town, people will smile and fuss over her. It makes us look like locals, and we are often asked by out-of-towners for directions. They are always surprised when they realize we’re Americans because…what Americans bring their dog to France? 

We once met an interesting person through Mica, along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. We were walking her on a hot day and decided to stop for a rest. All the benches were full except for one, which had a sketchy-looking guy sitting on it. He had wild hair, tattoos and piercings everywhere (he wasn’t wearing much), and around his neck was a dog collar with spikes sticking out of it.  

After we rather nervously sat down, this guy started looking at Mica and smiling at her. Once Mica saw this, she started wagging her tail because dogs don’t care how a person looks. The next thing you know we were having a very friendly chat with this guy, thanks to our girl!   

Everyone Loves Mica 

People love Mica, and she loves them back (I like to think that we are her favorites but she’s rather indiscriminate with her affection.) She has a special bond with kids. Once when we were visiting friends, their young son and a neighbor boy spent the day playing with Mica. When it was time to leave, we found the neighbor in our car with her, ready to go home with us! 

Sometimes we take a short trip by plane and leave Mica with a local pet sitter who is especially fond of her. She calls Mica “my California girl” and once painted a watercolor of her. I wonder if the other dogs are jealous. 

Our friend Christian is crazy about Mica. He rubs her tummy and calls her “ma belle” (she likes that; I guess she speaks French.)  He is always offering to take care of her when we travel, even when we return to California, but we politely decline – we’re afraid she’ll forget about us! 

Dogs Keep You Active 

They say that dogs are good for your health and that is true in more ways than one. Mica needs to be walked every day, so she gets us up and out of the house. In Provence there are dozens of beautiful trails near where we live, so she can sniff to her heart’s content while we enjoy views of vineyards and olive trees and mountains. We sometimes meet friends and enjoy a picnic after we’ve worked up an appetite. 

We’ve driven all over France and other countries with Mica. She’s a well-traveled dog, but she still has plenty more exploring to do!

Keith Van Sickle splits his time between Provence and California. He is the author of the best-selling An Insider’s Guide to Provence. Read more at Life in Provence.  

Read our other Carnet de Voyage entries here.