Unfortunately, Bottom had developed the habit of jumping the rather low wall and chasing police cars when the siren was activated. This was a huge problem as they lived very close to Camborne Police Station!!
You can just imagine the scene. The police car, blue lights flashing and the siren wailing passes the Spelthorne house and as the police driver glances in his rearview mirror, he sees Bottom the Dalmatian hurtling along behind. Apart from the danger to all concerned, the policeman who visited the Spelthornes pointed out, not unreasonably, that the image of the constabulary was not enhanced by the sight of a Dalmatian chasing a police car on an emergency call. The problem was made worse by the fact that due to planning regulations, householders could not increase the height of the front wall and the only other option was to keep Bottom tied up when in the front garden. This had been tried but Bottom kept getting himself tangled up, and a broken leg could be on the horizon. Whilst finding a suitable method of restraint for Bottom was the easy solution the more desirable one would be to just stop Bottom from chasing police cars. It wasn’t that Bottom chased any other cars and if the police passed by without turning on their “blues and two’s” Bottom completely ignored them. It appeared that the catalyst was the sound of the siren. Having received two visits from the police to warn them of a serious consequence if this continued, Mr and Mrs Spelthorne decided to call in “yours truly.”
Under normal circumstances, I would have recommended a period of intensive training to create a more disciplined environment for Bottom but this was never an option.
Mr Spelthorne was not in the best of health and his wife spent much of the day caring for her husband so expecting a prolonged period of intensive training from either of them was a non-starter. The couple’s limited finances were not enough to be able to pay to have Bottom trained by me either in the kennels where my office was situated or to have regular visits.
By and large Bottom had a good life, maybe lacking a bit in regular exercise but he was much loved and was a constant source of companionship to the elderly couple. Questioning revealed that Bottom was taken for a short walk most days by a neighbour and Mr and Mrs Spelthorne would spend some time every day playing games with him plus Bottom had a wide variety of activity toys with which to amuse himself.
I must admit initially, I was quite perplexed. I couldn’t see how I was going to get a result in double quick time, in fact, I was considering showing them how to restrain Bottom in their front garden safely. You are probably thinking why was it so important for Bottom to spend so much time in the front garden? Well, that’s fairly easy, the rear garden was surrounded by high walls, and this prevented Bottom from seeing anything other than the four walls.
For an inquisitive animal who enjoyed being outside being confined to a walled-in enclosure where he was unable to observe what was going on would be purgatory. Safe, maybe but a somewhat harsh environment. Lacking in the sort of exercise that would have been available in a younger household, the ability for Bottom to spend some of his days observing his surroundings was to some degree compensating for the lack of exercise.
Most cases required a lengthy question and answer session as I attempted to establish the dog’s history, breeding, possible medical reasons for behaviour, aspects of behaviour that were the result of ill-treatment, in fact as much information as possible. The only response that got me thinking was that just prior to chasing the police car Bottom barked furiously before setting off in hot pursuit of the offending police car.
A germ of an idea started to form
In those days we had many gadgets available to us and I have no doubt that the modern behaviourist has even more. I gave the matter some thought as I enjoyed a second cup of tea and a second slice of lemon sponge cake.
I explained my idea to Mr Spelthornes and I could see that he was sceptical.
“You don’t understand Mr ‘odson, when them bloody cars come by ‘e’s gone like ‘es got a rocket up his a**e.”
“Well,” I said. “If it doesn’t work then I won’t charge you for the use of the equipment, can’t be fairer than that and if it works, we can decide what we need to do in the future.”
I returned to my car to collect the appropriate piece of kit, returned to the house showed it to the Spelthorne’s and explained what would happen.
“This particular piece of equipment is called a citronella collar and is designed to stop dogs continually barking, particularly when left alone.”
“We also need a recording of a police siren so that you can play it regularly to Bottom several times a day, and finally, we need to construct a running line.”
“What’s a running line,” asked Mr Spelthorne
“Basically it is two posts several metres apart with a wire stretched between the two posts. A piece of chain with a loop runs along the length of the wire between the posts, and at the other end is a clip that is attached to the dog’s collar or harness, depending on what he normally wears. This means the dog can run very happily between the two posts and cannot get his legs tangled up with rope, chains or any sort of restraint, if the length is absolutely correct he can even lie down”
“Bottom wears the citronella collar, he is free to run but as soon as he barks the collar releases a fine spray of lemon, this normally causes a dog to be very distracted and immediately stop barking. We also need that recording of a police siren so that you can play it several times a day, Bottom can’t chase the cars because they are not there, gets a fine spray of lemon each time he barks, and as he isn’t chasing cars he gets out of the habit.
“An’ you do think that will stop ‘im chasing the cars.”
“Nothing is certain, Mr Spelthorne, but I reckon it’s a fair bet.”
“Now so you have what we need to construct a running line?”
“No problem, young fella, I’m expecting a visit from our grandson later, I’ve got posts and wire in the garage and I’ll get him to shorten an old dog chain lead and fit a split ring in t’other end.”
With everything in place, I prepared to leave, but not before a third piece of lemon sponge cake was carefully wrapped up and handed to me. I must admit the advantage of visits to Cornwall was that generally Cornish ladies, particularly the senior ones, were not only hospitable but were excellent cooks. My waistline was mute testimony to this phenomenon.
“Give it a week or two and then give me a ring, even sooner if you need help,” I said
The phone call came about 3 weeks later.
“Mr ‘odson? Ralf Spelthorne ‘ere. Gotta tell ‘e din’t think it would work but it ‘as. Bloody marvellous. Proper job.”
“Oh, by the way, the wife day she will make another lemon sponge when you return.”
I returned!!
“Dogs are better than humans because they know but do not tell.”
Emily Dickinson
With subtitle or not?