Police Dog Sam

On a recent summer morning Bonnie, my wife and Sam, our Border Collie, had a number of errands to run in the village near where we live, so they got an early start. However, the first stop had to be the bank, of course, but they were a little too early because the bank wasn't open yet.

As Bonnie waited on the steps in front of the bank, a police cruiser pulled in behind her mini van. The officer got out and took careful notice of her van and appeared to be looking at the dog in the back seat. She mentally prepared her defence for when he would confront her with leaving the dog in the car on a warm day:

• It isn't that warm yet;
• There's a dish of water on the seat beside him;
• All of the windows in the van are open (no he wouldn't jump out because he will be focussed on the bank door and nothing can distract him until she comes out;
• Well, nothing except perhaps someone with a Timbit.

The officer approached and started a conversation by asking if Sam was a Border Collie. As it turned out, he was just there to do some banking and he liked Border Collies.

They chatted for a few minutes. The policeman had been with a K-9 unit in a big city police department before going over to the provincial police force. They had apparently had two old Border Collies that were used to help train the new dogs as they came into the unit. He had always been impressed by the inteligence displayed by those two old dogs.

Just before the bank opened and they went in, the police officer asked my wife if Sam had been trained as a hearder, to which she answered, "No, he's just the family pet, and besides, with his Tim-butt he'd be too slow."

The officer looked at her quizzically and she explained that Sam had a tremendous love for Timbits, and it showed ... on his butt. The officer cocked his head to the side, studied Sam briefely and then nodded, saying, "Yeah, he'd make a good cop!"