The Lion and the Police Dog (Not the Witch & the Wardrobe)
This little storey is in some parts very sad and in others quite amusing, that’s if you’ve got a strange sense of humour as most service folk have. It’s the tale of police dog “Otto” a GSD in a north England police force a long time ago, no doubt when quite a few members of the forum weren’t even born. Otto has long since passed away after reaching 11 years of age. He was of course retired at about eight years old.
Police Dog Otto was quite a social canine to an extent and very good at its job, until unfortunately his handler was called to a domestic incident in an extremely rough part of the city (county). Without going into too much detail, Otto and his handler attended a house and were confronted by a considerably inebriated male brandishing a meat cleaver. As back up arrived, the handler with Otto at his side (waiting eagerly for the opportunity to get involved) proceeded to try talking the man into relinquishing the cleaver. Without thinking the officer reached out in an attempt to have the man hand it over. Needless to say the worst thing that could happen, happened; the man viciously struck out with the butchers chopper and caught the officer on his hand nearly severing his thumb, and more or less at the same instant Otto lunged forward in defence of his handler, and he also received a blow to the head with the same meat cleaver. Otto still managed to lock on to the man’s arm before collapsing momentarily, and then recovering briefly to engage between the man’s legs causing considerable injury. Otto then finally collapsed into unconsciousness.
At the veterinary hospital, a vet practice I’d used many times, and one which was recognised as one of the foremost vet clinics in UK. Also used by a number of local police forces, the two partners being lecturers at the university’s school of veterinary medicine, Otto suffered five cardiac arrests and was brought back each time by the vet. This vet saved the dog’s life. I had thought that the vet attending was one of the partners, however some years later when I had one of my dogs at the clinic, one of the partners told me the vet who saved Otto was in fact a young Australian vet working in the practice, who did an absolutely amazing job.
Otto and his handler both received commendations from the Chief Constable (Commissioner), and Otto also received The Dickin Medal for bravery, which is the equivalent of the Victoria Cross for animals.
Unfortunately because of his injuries, which he “recovered” from after a couple of months and was passed as medically (physically) fit to go back on duty, Otto’s demeanour had changed. Instead of the reasonably social animal he was, Otto was an extremely serious police dog to say the least. An incident soon after he returned to work illustrates this. His handler was called to a suspicious person moving along a line of cars in the city; checking each vehicle to see if they were locked, obviously to steal the contents or possibly the vehicle itself. It was a warm summer evening (unusual for England) and as the police van pulled up the person in question who’d spotted them started to sprint along the line of vehicles. After shouting the usually warning, Otto was released from the dog van and gave chase. As the dog gained on the offender, in desperation the man tried a car door which was unlocked, he quickly jumped in thinking he was safe from the dog. What he hadn’t noticed was that the owner of the vehicle had not only left it unlocked but he had also forgotten to wind up his window! How unlucky can you get? Otto went through the open window gripping the man in the side of his neck nearly severing his jugular vein! The offender lived......just about, mainly due the nearness to a large city hospital.
Needless to say, Otto was the subject of much debate amongst the hierarchy after this incident; he came very close to being PTS. I would imagine that his only saving grace was the commendation he received previously, not to mention that it wouldn’t have been good publicity for the recipient of a Dickin Medal to end its life in such circumstances, when it was basically only doing its job. Otto was given a reprieve; a very lucky dog.
Now here's the amusing part. These were the days when safari parks were all the rage in UK. One such park adjoined the estate of an old established English family (Lord Whoever’s Estate), had given permission for the dog section to hold training days on his land. It benefited the estate because a police presence every so often didn’t do any harm for security, and word would soon get round. This particular training day, Otto had been laid quite a long track by the Instructor which was aged for about an hour or so. Otto began to track with his boss following behind, until he neared the top of a small hill on the estate. As he got to the top Otto began to bark very loudly with all the enthusiasm and seriousness he usually has when confronted with a mob of unruly football hooligans. His handler was having difficulty holding good old Otto back, and as he neared the top himself, he was confronted by the sight of about three or four lions sunning themselves on the top of a hill opposite!! This was the first time this handler had trained at this venue, so needless to say the expression of shock and horror on his face would have been a sight to see. Otto pulled away and despite his handler trying desperately to hold on to the tracking line, it burned through his hand until Otto vanished down into the valley between the two hills. Rather than chase after his dog (under the circumstances) he quickly, at warp speed, made his way back to the police vehicles were the other handlers, dogs , and instructors were waiting. As he approached, white faced, he couldn’t understand why all the others were rolling about in fits of laughter. In his panic he hadn’t noticed the 20/30ft high fence in the valley between the two hills. As he and a couple of other officers made their way back to the fence (the others using the opportunity to poke fun at him) they came across Otto glued to the fence waiting eagerly for the opportunity to get at the big pussy cats, whilst the lions continued to sun themselves lazily, taking no notice at all of noisy Otto..........they must have been fed recently!
I’m told Otto didn’t have a problem with cats before all this.
On the day I was taking my dog to the vet, I heard on local radio that Otto had passed away.
Peter
PS Sorry if its a bit drawn out, thankfully I never decoyed for good old Otto after his trauma.
Last edited by Summit K9; 29-11-08 at 15:46.
|
Members currently in the Chat Room: 0
Linear Mode
