39) The Second Saint
Our little dog Mitzie was getting very old now and she was not much of a companion to Cindy. One evening, while Jonny was away with the army I called and called Mitzie to come for her supper but could not find her. The children went to bed and later in the evening I went into the garden and called for her again. This time she came and I was so pleased to see her. She ate a little bit of food and had a drink of milk but she did not look very well. There was not much I could do that late at night except make her comfortable in her bed and leave her. In the morning I got up early and found her dead. I did not want the boys to see her so I put her into the car quickly and took the body to the vet so that they could dispose of it, and was back home before the boys were out of bed. I did not have the courage to tell them before they went off to school, but I knew that I could not keep it a secret for very long and told them when they got home at lunch time that Mitzie had died. They were upset of course but they knew that she was pretty old and that her time to die had come.
We had met a couple at the Doberman Club who were dog breeders. Their champion bitch was in whelp and we decided to buy one of the puppies. When the litter was born there were two “blue” puppies in the litter. “Blues” which are more of grey colour than actually blue are pretty rare and can usually command a higher price. We have always preferred the black and tan Dobermans so we did not choose one of these high priced pups. He was a birthday present from the boys and I to Jonny so he really became Jonny’s dog. Jonny called him Saint, like our first Doberman and as he grew up Jonny took him with him to work just about every day. We thought that Cindy would love the new puppy but her nose was very much out of joint when we brought him home and she often snarled at the poor little thing. Jonny was working on the pipeline between Lake Macillwain and Salisbury then and because Saint was with him most of the time he got a lot of training and was quite well behaved.
He was full of energy and would run around the yard and try to get Cindy to chase him. But she was not interested in that game so would just stay in the same place and snap at him as he came passed her. He would run in huge circles around the yard coming close to her in every circuit so that she could snap at him and then would run on again for another circle and pass her once again. She just sat in the same place and waited for him to pass by again.
Once he was part of the family Koos, the parrot, learnt his name and called him in Jonny’s voice. One evening while Jonny was away with the army, the children were in bed and Cindy was in kennels because she was in season Saint was very restless. He wandered around the house as if he was looking for someone to play with him. Koos started calling “Sainty, Sainty, Sainty” and it sounded just like Jonny. The poor dog went crazy looking for Jonny, up and down the passage, in and out of the house and all over the place. Eventually he tracked the noise to the parrot cage. He put his nose up to the cage and Koos put his head to one side and said “Hello Stupid” just the way Jonny talked to him. It was as if the dog knew he had been had because he barked and barked at the parrot and at me because I laughed so much.
One afternoon a friend who lived across the road Geraldine Norton and her three sons, Kevin, Andrew and Rodney were visiting us. Geraldine and I were sitting inside talking, and her boys and my two plus Buddy and Kevin from next door were all playing outside. They were having a very noisy game, they were running round and round and Saint was chasing them and barking. As soon as he got near them they would climb up one of the trees and he would have to find someone else to chase. The game got rather out of hand and for some reason Jonathan and Dominic got into a fight. Saint took sides and when Jonathan knocked Dominic down he joined in the fray and grabbed hold of Dominic’s leg. Dominic started screaming and we rushed out to see what was happening. I just lay on top of him and Saint immediately let go but by then a lot of damage had been done and there was a great deal of blood. Luckily Jonny was still at home as he had a meeting that evening and was actually getting ready to go out when it happened. We wrapped a clean towel around Dominic’s leg and leaving Geraldine to look after the other boys we rushed into the hospital. I don’t remember how many stitches he had to have but his leg was pretty badly mauled. Fortunately no permanent damage was done to any muscles or ligament and although his leg is still scared it healed completely.
We had never had a dog that had hurt a child before and I really felt we could not trust him completely after that. Jack Lawrence who was the chairman of the Doberman Club was in the Air Force, working in the dog section. We asked him if there was any chance that Saint could join the armed forces and as he knew Saint he was pleased at the chance to have him as his personal dog. He did well in his new role. He was a highly bred and intelligent dog so he responded well to the training.
I have always believed that the way a dog is brought up is very important in his character so we did quite a lot of soul searching on where we had gone wrong with Saint. We could see that as he has spent so much time with Jonny and was very much his dog he did tend to be a little jealous of the children particularly of Dominic who liked to sit on Jonny’s lap when he came home from work, maybe that had something to do with it. But shortly after this I got a telephone call from the police. They had heard that I was the secretary of the Doberman Club and wanted to know if I could find a home for a dog that they had been asked to put down. The policeman told me that the dog had attacked a child and the owners of the dog who were the grandparents of the child wanted to get rid of it but they could not give it to another family because of the attack and thought it must be put down. He had seen the dog and he said that it was such a nice dog it seemed a pity that it had to be destroyed, did I know anyone who did not have children who might be prepared to give it a good home. I told him I had recently got a Doberman into the air force and maybe they would take this one too. He gave me the owners name and number and asked me to ring them and see what could be arranged. I rang the lady and we had a long chat, I asked her where she had got her dog from and it was the same breeder who had bred Saint, in fact it turned out to be a litter brother to Saint. Jack once again came to the rescue and Saint’s brother joined him in the service of their country. I heard through the grape vine that one of the other puppies; one of the ‘blue’ ones that had gone to a family in Umtali had been put down too. I could not find out if it was true or why it had been put down so maybe it was not so but it was strange that at least two of the puppies from that litter had attacked children. They were highly bred and very good looking dogs but it made me think that maybe breeders have to know a bit more about the temperament of the dogs when they are breeding.
After a while we bought another Doberman, we called him Rocky. We inquired more into the temperament of the parents this time and did not worry too much about looks although he did turn out to be quite handsome. This time we picked a real softy, even Cindy loved him as soon as we brought him home, which she didn’t do with Saint 2. Maybe she knew something that we didn’t.
We had met a couple at the Doberman Club who were dog breeders. Their champion bitch was in whelp and we decided to buy one of the puppies. When the litter was born there were two “blue” puppies in the litter. “Blues” which are more of grey colour than actually blue are pretty rare and can usually command a higher price. We have always preferred the black and tan Dobermans so we did not choose one of these high priced pups. He was a birthday present from the boys and I to Jonny so he really became Jonny’s dog. Jonny called him Saint, like our first Doberman and as he grew up Jonny took him with him to work just about every day. We thought that Cindy would love the new puppy but her nose was very much out of joint when we brought him home and she often snarled at the poor little thing. Jonny was working on the pipeline between Lake Macillwain and Salisbury then and because Saint was with him most of the time he got a lot of training and was quite well behaved.
He was full of energy and would run around the yard and try to get Cindy to chase him. But she was not interested in that game so would just stay in the same place and snap at him as he came passed her. He would run in huge circles around the yard coming close to her in every circuit so that she could snap at him and then would run on again for another circle and pass her once again. She just sat in the same place and waited for him to pass by again.
Once he was part of the family Koos, the parrot, learnt his name and called him in Jonny’s voice. One evening while Jonny was away with the army, the children were in bed and Cindy was in kennels because she was in season Saint was very restless. He wandered around the house as if he was looking for someone to play with him. Koos started calling “Sainty, Sainty, Sainty” and it sounded just like Jonny. The poor dog went crazy looking for Jonny, up and down the passage, in and out of the house and all over the place. Eventually he tracked the noise to the parrot cage. He put his nose up to the cage and Koos put his head to one side and said “Hello Stupid” just the way Jonny talked to him. It was as if the dog knew he had been had because he barked and barked at the parrot and at me because I laughed so much.
One afternoon a friend who lived across the road Geraldine Norton and her three sons, Kevin, Andrew and Rodney were visiting us. Geraldine and I were sitting inside talking, and her boys and my two plus Buddy and Kevin from next door were all playing outside. They were having a very noisy game, they were running round and round and Saint was chasing them and barking. As soon as he got near them they would climb up one of the trees and he would have to find someone else to chase. The game got rather out of hand and for some reason Jonathan and Dominic got into a fight. Saint took sides and when Jonathan knocked Dominic down he joined in the fray and grabbed hold of Dominic’s leg. Dominic started screaming and we rushed out to see what was happening. I just lay on top of him and Saint immediately let go but by then a lot of damage had been done and there was a great deal of blood. Luckily Jonny was still at home as he had a meeting that evening and was actually getting ready to go out when it happened. We wrapped a clean towel around Dominic’s leg and leaving Geraldine to look after the other boys we rushed into the hospital. I don’t remember how many stitches he had to have but his leg was pretty badly mauled. Fortunately no permanent damage was done to any muscles or ligament and although his leg is still scared it healed completely.
We had never had a dog that had hurt a child before and I really felt we could not trust him completely after that. Jack Lawrence who was the chairman of the Doberman Club was in the Air Force, working in the dog section. We asked him if there was any chance that Saint could join the armed forces and as he knew Saint he was pleased at the chance to have him as his personal dog. He did well in his new role. He was a highly bred and intelligent dog so he responded well to the training.
I have always believed that the way a dog is brought up is very important in his character so we did quite a lot of soul searching on where we had gone wrong with Saint. We could see that as he has spent so much time with Jonny and was very much his dog he did tend to be a little jealous of the children particularly of Dominic who liked to sit on Jonny’s lap when he came home from work, maybe that had something to do with it. But shortly after this I got a telephone call from the police. They had heard that I was the secretary of the Doberman Club and wanted to know if I could find a home for a dog that they had been asked to put down. The policeman told me that the dog had attacked a child and the owners of the dog who were the grandparents of the child wanted to get rid of it but they could not give it to another family because of the attack and thought it must be put down. He had seen the dog and he said that it was such a nice dog it seemed a pity that it had to be destroyed, did I know anyone who did not have children who might be prepared to give it a good home. I told him I had recently got a Doberman into the air force and maybe they would take this one too. He gave me the owners name and number and asked me to ring them and see what could be arranged. I rang the lady and we had a long chat, I asked her where she had got her dog from and it was the same breeder who had bred Saint, in fact it turned out to be a litter brother to Saint. Jack once again came to the rescue and Saint’s brother joined him in the service of their country. I heard through the grape vine that one of the other puppies; one of the ‘blue’ ones that had gone to a family in Umtali had been put down too. I could not find out if it was true or why it had been put down so maybe it was not so but it was strange that at least two of the puppies from that litter had attacked children. They were highly bred and very good looking dogs but it made me think that maybe breeders have to know a bit more about the temperament of the dogs when they are breeding.
After a while we bought another Doberman, we called him Rocky. We inquired more into the temperament of the parents this time and did not worry too much about looks although he did turn out to be quite handsome. This time we picked a real softy, even Cindy loved him as soon as we brought him home, which she didn’t do with Saint 2. Maybe she knew something that we didn’t.
posted by JC at
12:57 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home