Not only have I had the privilege of serving on the thin blue line, but I also had the ‘honour’ of helping my uncle (who was a dog handler for a number of years) ‘train’ the three different service dogs which he had during his time on the dog section – by volunteering as a human ‘dog chew’.
One of the many things this ‘unique’ insight and experience taught me, was not only to NEVER stroke a dog handlers ‘land shark’ without asking the handler first, but it also taught me that police dogs really are well-and-truly passionate about pleasing their handler – whatever the cost!
This passion to loyally serve their handler means that police dogs are, without a doubt, one of bravest and most courageous ‘components’ of the thin blue line.
If you ever find yourself in a situation whereby you be being chased by a police dog or you find yourself hiding from one of these powerful creatures (as I often did for my uncle) then my advice to you would be to give up. Immediately.
I always used to think, when helping my uncle out, that his general purpose police dogs would cut me a bit of slack when they would find me hiding in a tree or hiding in a pipe somewhere because they ‘knew’ who I was.
How wrong was I……
Even though the dogs ‘knew’ and trusted me, they would still unleash their full wrath on the training sleeve that my uncle (for good reason) would insist that I wore during these impromptu ‘training exercises’.
And even though I am 6ft 4′ and weigh around 16 stone, my uncles beloved land sharks would soon pin me to the ground upon finding me (if I was brave enough to come down from the tree) until my uncle would (very slowly) come to my rescue before shouting ‘good boy’ (to the dog, not me) as he threw whatever was left of a manky tennis ball for the dog as ‘payment’ for the dogs loyal service.
Immediately after each ‘exercise’ (spanning a period of around 6 years) I would always feel like I had had a ‘row’ with his dog and would be nervous when trying to ‘smooth things out’ with the furry missile before heading back to my uncles gaff for tea and biscuits.
When, in reality, his trusty and loyal companions merely saw me as being an ‘opportunity’ to please my uncle.
And I guess that’s my point in writing this.
If you are silly enough to run away or hide from a police dog, then you should expect everything that happens when the furry missile chasing you finds its target (i.e. you).
I have always been a dog lover.
But acting as a ‘toy’ for my uncles various general purpose dogs and working alongside these amazing creatures during my time serving on the thin blue line in East London taught me that anyone foolish enough to leg it from a land shark will only have themselves to blame when the beloved furry missile finds its (much) slower target…
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