When our one and only dog, Tara passed away, we did not get another dog, as both Steve and I worked full time and didn’t think it would be fair on the dog to leave it on its own.  Nineteen years passed, and as we now work from home with our silver business, we did talk about having another dog.  Steve however was not too keen, as he didn’t want the tie and commitment for the next 10 years or so.  However one day in our local paper there as advertisement with a photograph of a German Shepherd puppy with a police hat on, with a plea for volunteers to be police dog puppy walkers for a scheme run by the Devon & Cornwall Police.  They were appealing for dog lovers  to take on a puppy to give them a good, caring home for up to 12 months, before the pups go on to start their police training.

As this was only for 12 months, it might be just the push that Steve and I needed to then get a dog of our own.   How could I resist, although Steve wasn’t sure that this would be a good idea, as a) the dog would not be ours and b) he was worried how I would cope when the time came to hand it back to the police.  I assured him that I would be fine (famous last words!!!).

I submitted my application and waited, and waited, but about 12 months passed before I got the phonecall to ask if I was still interested.  Well of course I was, and was visited by a dog handler who came and had a chat and to check that the house and garden would be suitable.  He tried his hardest to put me off, but I think he knew he was hitting his head against a brick wall, as I had made up my mind and nothing was going to stop me. [Read more...]

Well this is where Rolfe’s time with us started and I have included just a few of the hundreds of photographs that we took while he was with us.  Rolfe made himself at home, and settled in extremely quickly.   As you can see he was extremely small but oh how cute!!!  The photos below were some of the very first photos that we took of him.

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Rolfe continued to grow and became a large, very fit, strong and healthy dog, and his black coat shone.  He loved being groomed and as soon as I mentioned the word “brush” he would rush into the office where I kept his brushes, look up at them and rush out to the place we always used in the garden.  As Rolfe was not very good at keeping still,  I always made sure I had a treat in my hand, which worked wonders, as unless I was able to finish the job in hand, he didn’t get his much loved treat.

He did however, demand a lot of our attention, and always wanted to be doing something, never sitting still for very long, and was always keen to learn new things.  We played all sorts of stimulation games with him, and had to go on long walks to try to tire him out.   He had a huge character and both myself and Steve grew very fond of him and we loved him to bits.  I always however, had to keep reminding myself, that he was not our dog and it wouldn’t be too long before he had to leave us, to which I realised at this stage that it was going to be a lot harder than I thought it would.

The Dog Training Sergeant visited our house on a couple of occasions, only staying for about 10 minutes, but did say he was very pleased with how Rolfe was progressing and said  ”any handler would be proud to have him on his arm”. [Read more...]

His 1st birthday treat was a day out at Slapton (his favourite beach) with the frisbee we bought him and the birthday cake I made (even police dogs celebrate birthdays).  Also take note of the pepparami stick candle.  Rolfe absoutely loved this and I had to buy some more to make sure I always had some in the house, as they were his favourite treat, and he would do anything for one. [Read more...]

As stated in my previous posts, Rolfe kept us extremely busy and he loved going for his walks, particularly up on a little piece of Dartmoor behind our house, which we did on a daily basis.  He loved it up there and loved to chase his ball.  We walked in all weathers, and it certainly did wonders for my waistline, as I lost about a stone and a half (I am an imperial baby!!).

Below are some of my favourite photographs of him out enjoying himself [Read more...]

Rolfe went on his way up to Middlemoor for his assessment week and once the van left, I packed all of Rolfe’s toys up and put them up in the attic.  In the next few days, I began to get used to him not being around, and wondered all the time how he was getting on.

The training sergeant phoned me two days into the course, to say that he was doing extremely well.  During this week, it transpired that the intake for puppies into the Devon & Cornwall police was filled, and Rolfe, his brother and another bitch were therefore surplus  to requirements and were offered to the Gloucestershire force, as they were desperate for dogs at that particular time.  A training sergeant from the Gloucestershire force came down to assess the three dogs, and decided that he would take all three, but unfortunately he would not be able to take them until the following Tuesday.  I was then telephoned mid afternoon on that Friday (the end of the assessment week), as was the puppy walkers for the other two dogs,  to ask could we have them back for the weekend as Gloucestershire had no provision to house the dogs over the bank holiday weekend. [Read more...]

After about a week I was desperate to know how Rolfe was, so I phoned up the kennel hand in Middlemoor who I had quite a lot of dealing with when Rolfe was with us.  She assured me that Rolfe would  be found a good home, probably with a Security Firm.   She did also say that the breeder John is very good and will do his very best to find his dogs good homes.  She did say that the main problem was Rolfe was his sudden aversion to shiny floors which they could see that he was not going to conquer.

She also said that the aggression side was not a problem as long as he was with an experienced handler, it was just him trying to dominate and she assured me he was wired up ok and he was not vicious.   She did say that she would be speaking to the breeder in a few weeks and if she remembered she would ask him if he knew what happened to Rolfe.  I was really glad that I spoke to her as she did assure me that Rolfe would be okay.

Weeks went by and I heard absolutely nothing.  I was intent on finding out how Rolfe was, I know I shouldn’t but I couldn’t stop thinking about him and eventually with lots of research found the breeder and contacted him.    He eventually telephoned me with some info about Rolfe. [Read more...]

We  knew it was going to take about 4 hours to get there, so we said that we would hopefully get there about 2.00 p.m.  However when we  arrived at the Farm, we were met by the owner only to be told that he  had tried to contact us this morning to tell us not to go up as Rolfe had gone for him when he tried to groom him.  He did not have our mobile so did not get us in time.

As we were there he  proceeded  to take us to Rolfe’s kennel.  We arrived to see Rolfe going mad at the bars of the kennels, barking and snarling and we had to look twice to see if it really was him but we confirmed it was.  He then said that if we waited in the yard he would let him out, (after he told us that his kennel man was afraid of him and wouldn’t go near him).

He let him out and Rolfe came bounding over to us.  We kept saying his name and it wasn’t long before he showed his feelings and it was obvious that he recognised us. He put his paws up on Steve’s shoulders and then he nuzzled into me.  The security kennel owner was amazed and said that he had never seen anything like it.   He called over his staff and wife to see what was happening, who all stood looking on in amazement. [Read more...]

No, it is not the end.  I thought of nothing for a few days and decided to email the kennel owner sending photographs of Rolfe as he was when he left us,  and stating my horror at what he looked and acted like on our visit.

I festered over the next few days and decided to contact the RSPCA.  Within half an hour a female Inspector was in the area and went to see him.  She contacted me immediately, but stated she was not worried by his condition or his welfare, which I have to say I was quite surprised at. She said he had enough skin around his ribs. She did however say that his aggression could be a problem and if he could not re homed and if he was not going to stay at the security kennels then it might be best to put him down.  She said that unfortunately there was nothing the RSPCA could do in relation to his past and what had happened to him.

So please if you are a dog lover, then please, please think very carefully about taking on a police dog puppy.  If it does not make the grade, then please consider carefully what might happen to the dog after it leaves you. [Read more...]

I do have loads of photographs of Rolfe, but have had to just pick a few showing what a handsome, healthy and extremely fit dog he grew into.  As you can see his coat gleamed and he left us in absolutely tip top condition and was a fine specimen of a German Shepherd. [Read more...]