大象传媒

Berlin, 1942

We had a dog, an Airedale terrier bitch, called Carrie. One day we received an official notification demanding that we take the dog to a nearby place in a week鈥檚 time, where she would be tested to see if she would be suitable for active service, helping the soldiers on the Russian front. If so, we were told, the dog would be confiscated and we would have no right to object to this. We were devastated. Our beloved Carrie, taken from us into a harsh environment, the thought alone was heartbreaking. In despair we took her to our vet, hoping that he might find something wrong with her, that would disqualify her. Although very understanding, he could not, in all honesty, say that she was not fit in every way.
As we left the surgery, unhappy, dejected, he called us back and gave us a small envelope containing just one tablet. He told us to give her that tablet one hour before we had to present her for the test. When the day came we gave her the tablet and went to the place, a large yard. There were a number of people with their dogs already, all big dogs, Alsations, Rottweilers etc. Then the test began. A uniformed man tested each dog individually, firing guns and trying to make them do things like sitting, lying down, coming closer, infact most obedience exercises. Most dogs behaved very well but not Carrie. She just lay down next to us and would not stir, no matter how hard the man tried. In the end he gave up in disgust, telling us that our dog was the most useless he had ever seen and telling us to go and not waste his time anymore.
Oh, the relief! It took Carrie until the following morning to come round from her stupor, but she was no worse for the experience and we were the most happy and relieved people in Berlin (if not the world) and we were forever grateful to our wonderful vet, who had saved our lovely dog.

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