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Have-a-go-hound

My dog's a real hero


Published by: Amy thompson
Published on: 26th May 2011

Her tail wagging, my dog Anya, two, bounded over. I’d been a police dog handler for 16 years, but I’d never come across a happier hound. A German Shepherd, she was always keen to sniff out trouble, even though she’d only started as a police dog six months ago.
‘Come on, girl,’ I smiled. ‘Let’s get to work.’
We’d been sent to a block of flats in Swindon on a 999 call. ‘What happened?’ I asked the officer already there.
‘A man says he was attacked by a guy with a knife,’ she explained. ‘We’re waiting for the go-ahead to check it out.’
‘We’ll keep an eye on the entrance,’ I offered, leading Anya to the front door. Minutes later, a slight, dark-haired guy walked out. Maybe he’d know something...
‘Excuse me,’ I called. He turned around. ‘Where  have you been, sir?’
He didn’t say anything – just walked towards me with a smirk on his face. That’s when I noticed blood on his jogging bottoms. Suddenly, he brandished a knife. 
‘I’m a police dog handler,’ I shouted, going into autopilot. ‘Stop and drop your weapon or I’ll release the dog…!’
Anya had been trained for this, but she’d never experienced the real thing.
As the man swaggered towards me, I’d no choice, I let Anya off her lead and she bravely charged at him, but bounced straight off!
As other officers ran over to help, one slipped and fell heavily. Turning to help him, I felt a sickening blow to my head…
The next thing I knew, I was in hospital. ‘You’ve been stabbed seven times,’ a doctor told me. ‘But you’re going to be fine.’
I had a huge gash on the back of my head, my top lip had been sliced open, and there were two 4in-deep cuts in my right leg. 
‘Is Anya okay?’ I asked, concerned about her.
‘She’s fine,’ he smiled. ‘She was quite the heroine.’
Anya had managed to grip my attacker’s leg in her jaws as she fought to get him off me.
Even when he’d slashed her across the chest she’d held firm, giving the other officers time to grab the knife and arrest the man.
My have-a-go-hound had protected me even while injured herself! Luckily, she was out of the vet’s in no time. 
At Swindon Crown Court, Essa Suleiman, 27, of Camberwell, south London, pleaded guilty to two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of actual bodily harm and one charge of criminal damage.
He was jailed for nine years.
And while he was punished, Anya was praised – last year she won the PDSA’s Gold Medal for Devotion to Duty. She’s definitely top dog to me!
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Neil Sampson, 51, Swindon, Wilts