Bruce the Snowy Alsation

Bruce, the gentle snowy Alsation, helps Bill Clark deal with unruly visitors at Wandlebury.

White Alsation: Photo from PickPic

Transcript of podcast - Chapter 10 part a) from Route and Branch by Bill Clark, read by Chris Thomas. podcast here: https://archive.org/download/bruce-the-snowy-alsation/Ch10a-bruce-the-snowy-alsation.mp3

I was suffering yet another spate of evening problems – some thirty lads in cars and vans came careering round this Saturday at midnight. The police, as usual, were very prompt, and after all was quiet, the Sergeant said, ‘They were a very rough lot Mr Clark: it worries me the amount of time that you are alone confronting these yobs, I wouldn’t care to do it. You need a big dog, have you thought of a German Shepherd?’ I confessed that I had, and added, that if they hadn’t been so expensive, I would probably already own one. In fact, I had been apprehensive for some time about Wendy walking through the woods alone, accompanied only by gentle old Julie and latterly Jake. And therein lay another problem: I needed a dog with a bit of ‘presence’ when dealing with unruly youths of an evening, but Wendy could only handle a gentle dog, and neither of us wanted to intimidate the thousands of visitors we met. A few days later the police sergeant in charge of the Dog Section phoned. ‘I have been told you require an Alsatian. I believe I know of the very dog for you – he is too docile for our needs.’ He then gave me the details of Joe, owned by a man working at Sibson airfield who was about to go abroad.

I thanked him profusely, and phoned the chap immediately.

The following morning I arrived at the airfield in my little Citroen C4. Joe’s owner had already left, leaving instructions with an office secretary to give me the collar and lead and the key to a large warehouse – I was expected me to take the dog immediately! As I unlocked the door I made suitable calming sounds and slid in quickly peering into the gloom. A very large white Alsatian was standing in an alleyway between piled up desks, tables and chairs, he gave a couple of ‘woofs’ but stood quietly whilst I put his lead on. We walked a couple of times around a large empty car park, before I returned the key. The couple inside the office said they were so pleased that I liked the dog as his owner had been going frantic with worry. 

I arrived home, drove up to the kitchen door and pressed the hooter. Wendy’s face was a picture! She hadn’t dreamed that I would bring him back immediately, and the colour white had been the farthest from our minds. Before I let him out, I stood in the kitchen doorway to view the spectacle. He filled the entire back of the car, drooping his head over the front passenger seat to see out! We both agreed Joe was no name for a dog of ours, and promptly renamed him Bruce which he took to with alacrity.

A couple of evenings later, as I walked him through the car park, I came across five noisy youths sitting in a car, with a circle of cans, bottles and take-away cartons scattered around it. The driver answered my ‘request’ with. ‘Pick ‘em up yourself.’ Bruce, noting the tone of his voice, growled. ‘All right, all right, I was only joking.’ the driver said, quickly climbing out to pick everything up. But I still wondered whether Bruce would stand firm if we were actually attacked? The next weekend I had my answer. An elderly Wandlebury resident, saw me remonstrating with a group of youths in the car park as he drove home, and walked back down to see if I needed him to phone the police. But they had already left, and I explained how my life was suddenly so much easier now that I had Bruce, and how he growled when they raised their voices at me. ‘How clever of him: I expect if I was to try and strike you he would attack me?’ And he jokingly raised his walking stick. Thank goodness I had the lead on Bruce, but it was all I could do to hold him, as his teeth grazed the man’s sleeve. ‘Oh dear, that was rather stupid of me wasn’t it,’ he remarked, as he retrieved his hat that had been sent flying.

Next reading from Chapter 10: Upsetting the Cambridgeshire Constabulary Top Brass! https://routeandbranch.blogspot.com/2020/06/dangerous-criminal-on-loose-nearby.html