Warrant Officer Fred Dicks may be a tough-as-nails search and rescue cop, but he was moved to tears yesterday morning when it was time to send his faithful K9 partner Oscar, to be put down.
The Belgian shepherd he had picked as his first search and rescue dog and who had made Daily Dispatch headlines with his heroic feats of tracking down missing people, was riddled with cancer and was battling to summon up the energy he was celebrated for.
“He was fine last week and even jumped into a helicopter, but then during the weekend I noticed he was not himself.
“His energy was low and he was not eating lekker,” said Dicks, who took Oscar to the vet on Monday.
“I thought he may have been bitten by a snake or had an infection, but the vet found so much cancer in his chest that you could not see his heart.”
Oscar was immediately withdrawn from duty, but when he became too weak to get out of a bakkie, Dicks made the decision that he described as one of the hardest of his life.
“I could not let him suffer.”
And so yesterday morning senior officers from the dog unit lined up to say goodbye to Oscar.
“We put out all the trophies Oscar and Fred had received and we photographed him and I saluted him,” said search and rescue station commander Warrant Officer Steve Leslie.
But then an hour or two after the heart-wrenching farewell and while he was telling the Dispatch about some of the more than 100 successful search and rescues his beloved dog had been involved in, Dicks received a phone call from the vet.
“The vet said Oscar still had a bit of drive and with medication, could still have a life,” he said, battling to contain his emotions.
And so, once the vet had conferred with SAPS vets in Roodepoort, the decision was made to let Oscar see another day.
“Oscar will come home with me today and my wife Salomé will probably give him better food than me.”
Leslie too was overjoyed at Oscar’s reprieve.
“Fred and Oscar were my apprentices when they came out of dog school.
“Search and rescue dogs are supposed to be placid and Oscar was boisterous, but he always got the job done,” said Leslie, whose own retired search and rescue pooch Zazoo was put down this week.
“I worked with Zazoo for five years and she was involved in 315 searches. Of these, 130 were bodies and 35 were found alive.
“Six people would have died had she not found them.”
Zazoo had to be retired after a pack of village dogs attacked her and she became nervous.
“I took her home and she had her own armchair when I watched TV.
“She was 15 years old and had hip dysplasia and on Monday she got into my pond and could not get out. You know when it’s time for them to cross over, but it’s very difficult.
“It’s been a tough time at the unit, because these dogs are heroes.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Brave hound to live for a while longer
The Belgian shepherd he had picked as his first search and rescue dog and who had made Daily Dispatch headlines with his heroic feats of tracking down missing people, was riddled with cancer and was battling to summon up the energy he was celebrated for.
“He was fine last week and even jumped into a helicopter, but then during the weekend I noticed he was not himself.
“His energy was low and he was not eating lekker,” said Dicks, who took Oscar to the vet on Monday.
“I thought he may have been bitten by a snake or had an infection, but the vet found so much cancer in his chest that you could not see his heart.”
Oscar was immediately withdrawn from duty, but when he became too weak to get out of a bakkie, Dicks made the decision that he described as one of the hardest of his life.
“I could not let him suffer.”
And so yesterday morning senior officers from the dog unit lined up to say goodbye to Oscar.
“We put out all the trophies Oscar and Fred had received and we photographed him and I saluted him,” said search and rescue station commander Warrant Officer Steve Leslie.
But then an hour or two after the heart-wrenching farewell and while he was telling the Dispatch about some of the more than 100 successful search and rescues his beloved dog had been involved in, Dicks received a phone call from the vet.
“The vet said Oscar still had a bit of drive and with medication, could still have a life,” he said, battling to contain his emotions.
And so, once the vet had conferred with SAPS vets in Roodepoort, the decision was made to let Oscar see another day.
“Oscar will come home with me today and my wife Salomé will probably give him better food than me.”
Leslie too was overjoyed at Oscar’s reprieve.
“Fred and Oscar were my apprentices when they came out of dog school.
“Search and rescue dogs are supposed to be placid and Oscar was boisterous, but he always got the job done,” said Leslie, whose own retired search and rescue pooch Zazoo was put down this week.
“I worked with Zazoo for five years and she was involved in 315 searches. Of these, 130 were bodies and 35 were found alive.
“Six people would have died had she not found them.”
Zazoo had to be retired after a pack of village dogs attacked her and she became nervous.
“I took her home and she had her own armchair when I watched TV.
“She was 15 years old and had hip dysplasia and on Monday she got into my pond and could not get out. You know when it’s time for them to cross over, but it’s very difficult.
“It’s been a tough time at the unit, because these dogs are heroes.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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