The man received a German Shepherd named Charlie after a month of intensive training as a dog handler. The three-year-old service dog, with a stern temperament, had already been passed between three different owners. Initially, there were plans to send Charlie to a checkpoint post, but instead, they handed him to the newest recruit. For reasons no one understood, nobody wanted to keep him; he simply refused to obey. There was a suggestion to just leave him in the kennels, only bringing him out when absolutely necessary, but with both my husband and I coming from families well-versed in dogs, we decided we were more than up to the challenge.
At first, feeding Charlie required a bit of ingenuityI had to use a snow shovel to slide the bowl through the pen without getting too close. But it soon became clear that the heart of a dog is just as capable of thawing as the land in spring. Charlie softened. A year on, he was completely transformed.
Our youngest son was just eighteen months old at the time. One spring morning, while clearing out the first debris in the small garden behind our house near the edges of Oxford, our daughter was at nursery, and our little one was tottering after me. Then, in a sight Ill never forget, I watched as my son darted through the damp flowerbeds, while Charlie trotted quietly behind him. Whenever the child stumbled, Charlie would gently grip his coat by the scruff and lift him upright again.
My husband, ever the teetotaler, was away that night at a work function since the head of security was retiringchampagne and claret flowing without end. My husband had volunteered to see the boss off and keep the peace.
It was nearly eleven o’clock, and I found myself sat on the porch, phone in hand, calling my husband again and again, heart pounding with worry. Thoughts plagued mewhat if he tried to cross the Thames and slipped drunkenly into the water? Just as panic set in and I was about to dash out to find him, the gate creaked open. There was Charlie, leading my husbandhalf asleep, weaving on his feetsafely home on the end of the lead.
Charlie guided him dutifully up onto the porch, and as my husband collapsed on the sofa, Charlie parked himself next to me and fixed me with a look. I could have sworn the sarcasm in those canine eyes was unmistakable. I havent let my husband forget the night the dog brought him home, not once.
