When Leona Helmsley, famously dubbed "The Queen of Mean" by the US press died last year she ensured that her pet Maltese, Trouble, would live out the rest of her life in comfort with the aid of a modest bequest of 12 million dollars.

The bequest was challenged in Court and a New York judge reduced it to 2 million dollars thus relegating the pampered pooch to the second division of doggy wealth.

However, as the bulk of the late Mrs. Helmsley's fortune of several billion dollars was left to a trust with instructions that it be used to benefit dogs, Trouble's loss will happily be the gain of many of her less fortunate doggy cousins.