The Power of the Press

With subtitle or not?

Names and certain details have been changed to protect anonymity.

Sometimes you have to sit back and do nothing. Why? Because some folks won’t listen to reason and believe what they read in the press.

Mrs Hardiman was a mother of two small children, had acquired a rottweiler from a reputable breeder and brought him for training.

Now Colin was a very large sloppy dog whose delight was to roll on his back and have his tummy tickled. He was wonderful with the two children, he happily allowed them to dress him up, roll around on the floor, they took him for walks around the garden and was their constant companion. In short, the children adored him.

Widely reported press incident

Unfortunately around the time that Colin was three years old, there was a horrendous event involving a rottweiler that was widely reported in the press. It was an isolated incident, however, it led to some people questioning whether this type of dog was safe and even if they should be classed as dangerous and banned. In fairness, it’s easy to understand that in the heat of the moment reason goes out of the window and hysteria takes over but if we ban Rottweillers then all large and giant breeds are under threat and after them maybe medium ones and then anything with teeth!!

It was at this time I received the call from Mrs Hardiman informing me that she was taking Colin to a shelter and could I recommend a more reliable breed. Try as I might I could not dissuade her from parting with Colin and even though Colin had never given cause for concern and her children would be heartbroken to lose their pet. The lady’s mind was made up, Colin was dangerous and that was all there was to it. I declined to recommend a particular breed as I felt that if there was a problem in the future then yours truly could be in for a bundle of trouble so I suggested she research various breeds and make a decision accordingly

Sadly Mrs Hardiman was not to be swayed, Colin was deposited in the shelter and a Golden Retriever puppy was purchased. The puppy was called Sandy despite the fact that he was almost pure white and the new arrival was brought for training. Gun dogs by nature are intelligent and easy to train and Sandy easily became a well-behaved pet.

At the time I often wondered what happened to Colin as I thought he really was a very special dog who deserved better.

Fast forward 12 months

Around 12 months later I received a call from a hysterical Mrs Hardiman, Sandy had bitten one of the children!! Fortunately, the damage was minimal but it required a visit to the casualty department of the local hospital.

Needless to say Sandy suffered the same fate as Colin and the children grew up without pets. I never found out what happened to Sandy but I know that Colin was eventually adopted by a family near Penzance.

There was an ironic twist to this. The family that adopted Colin were the Marshalls. Mr Marshall was a retired military man. Mrs Marshall’s frequent pregnancies coincided with Mr Marshall’s home leave so whenever he returned home there was one more added to the brood. In total there were seven little Marshalls who in turn when they grew up were prolific in the baby reproduction department. In fact, there were so many that I think that Mr Marshall himself would have struggled to know how many grandchildren there were. And in the middle of all this was Colin. Can you imagine endless tummy rubs? He probably spent more time upside down than walking.

Rottie paradise!!