By Tanya M. Ursual

From The Lanark Animal Welfare Society (LAWS) L.A.W.S., P.O. Box 156, Smiths Falls, ON, K7A 4T1:

Brigadier the dog:

I recently received a book entitled “Canadian Animals are Smarter than Jack.” It is a compilation of true stories submitted by Canadians about their amazing pets. I was particularly touched by one of the stories and contacted the publishers who kindly gave me permission to reprint the story. You can learn more about this book by visiting smarterthanjack.com

Nearly 15 years ago we acquired a largish dog, who turned out to be a bearded collie cross, and called him Brigadier- Brig for short. The story of his young life was not a happy one. He was a pet shop puppy from who knows where, given to a child as a Christmas present. But it seemed that no one had bothered to house-train him and he grew too big so was banished to a shed, tied up and shut in.

On a visit to the vet we saw a notice about a “big shaggy dog looking for a home” so we went to have a look. It was love at first sight, even though this big long-legged puppy was filthy, covered in knots, not house-trained and tied up with a short length of rope in his draughty shed, with no place to move out of his own mess.

We thought he was about a year old, with a noble stature under that messy coat. After a few minutes of looking him over and talking to him he seemed to take to us as cordially as we took to him. We quickly decided he was well worth a second chance so we took him home, put him in the tub, snipped off the matted fur and started the necessary training at once.

Within one week he was asking with a single bark to go out and another single bark to come back in. There was certainly no need for obedience classes; he sensed at once what was expected of him.

On a beautiful summer Sunday when Brigadier had been one of the family for about a year, St. John’s town was pretty well deserted, with half the population at a star-studded rock concert and the other half, including us, out in the country. Why we left Brig behind I can’t remember, but it was pure luck that we did. At the same time, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary were on what they called “work to rule” because of some argument with management. Naturally, the local villains took advantage and there was a rash of house break-ins.

When we arrived home we found a window in the front door smashed, with obvious bloodstains on the edge of the broken glass. The door was still locked and we could hear Brigadier’s ferocious bark booming out. Going inside we found him stationed rigidly at the bottom of the stairs, snarling with his hair on end - a very scary vision of angry canine. When he recognized us he calmed down and the regular tail-wagging welcome began.

Our next-door neighbour, who had been awaiting our return, told us that some time earlier Brig’s ferocious barking had alerted them that something was amiss, and they came to the door to see the would-be thieves taking off down the hill, one of them clutching a bleeding hand. They guessed that, having broken the window, the man put his hand through to unlock the door, but the sound and sight of this big dog bellowing inside caused the thief to snatch his hand back in panic, cutting himself badly on the shattered glass.

From then on Brigadier was our hero. He lived with us for another 12 wonderful years. But at the end we knew he was suffering too much from the painful ailments that large dogs are prone to, so with much sorrow and regret we decided to have the vet help him to his rest. It was one of the saddest days of our lives and we will never forget Brigadier. His ashes are buried under a paving stone in our garden. John Holmes, St John’s NFLD.