Rinty Butler

After losing Ci I had a spell working back on the traffic division whilst a new dog was found.

After a few weeks I was told to report to Epperstone, where the Police dog kennels were located and the training carried out.

So one fine morning found me out in the country at the kennels. On arrival at the office, I was told I was to be allocated Rinty !!!!!

NO WAY. I knew Rinty by reputation and I was not having a savage dog like that. Blitz was hard but controllable, but no one but his previous handler could handle Rinty.

Let me start at the beginning of our association with Rinty.

He was a gift dog from the public to the police. The day the trainers visited his home to examine him they found that his home was a small terraced house in Radford, Nottingham. The owners said that they were sorry but he was down on the park with the kids. Would the trainers mind waiting a while. The children eventually came back with this well built strong dog that loved being made a fuss off. He certainly looked the part but would he make a police dog? It was agreed the police would take him on trial but would return him if he did not adapt to training.

On arrival at Epperstone the trainers examined his collar and found a large brass disc with the words RINTY BUTLER engraved on it. Butler being the previous owners name. It was decided there and then that his name would be Rinty Butler, Rinty for short.

His new handler wanted a bold dog to match his previous dog, so training started to which Rinty adapted well. However, because of his over friendly nature the handler isolated him from the handlers family. So there slowly developed a very strong bond between the handler and the dog. After a period of time, the handler decided to leave the dog section and Rinty was placed back in the kennels awaiting a new handler, and that is were I come onto the scene.

The first week of retraining was taken up with coaxing Rinty onto a lead and persuading him to go for a walk around the local country lanes. I say persuade, because to try and make him resulted in him latching onto your arm or leg with those very strong jaws. By the end of the week I had reached the stage of being allowed to enter his compound, put his lead on and gently control his movements.

Grooming was now allowable provided no one else was around to distract his attention. The following weeks showed more progress as we started to take part in the normal training routine.

At the end of the third week it was decided I would resume normal duty on the following week.

“You must be joking”was my comment. If I sent him after a thief I would never be able to control him. So it was decided I and the dog would be tested by the senior trainer.

So after an hilarious hour during which most of the time was spent trying to detach the dog from the trainers padded arm, it was decided that further training was needed. A concerted effort was put in by all trainers and those handlers available and after a further fortnight it was agreed all round that it was time for us to hit the streets.

I was certainly on tender hooks for the first night or two on duty. Fortunately nothing dramatic happened and slowly Rinty adapted to my lifestyle, settled in with my family at home and soon became a good reliable working dog with many arrests to his credit. The upside to his character change was that I was able to take him on liaison visits to schools where he adored being fussed over by children, but I was never to enter competitions with him.

Other matters took over which resulted in him spending a year in the kennels not working before he finally came back to me as a family pet, but that is another story.