Category Archives: dog

Brin had a few visits planned to say thankyou to the people who had helped to raise fund to get him home and so off we set to meet the children at my school who had followed his journey and were so excited to know he had made it home.

I had used his story as part of a lesson I was teaching them about animal welfare. There was to be a debate about whether animals should be used in war, rescues and security.

This debate proved really interesting as they spoke about the reality of situations, through research, far beyond their experiences, thank god.

The outcome was that animals should be used if it meant the saving of a human life.

Brin had saved lives without any specialist training of course. This is what made his story that more remarkable. He knew where the dangers where just by having to survive everyday. People say that they wished their animals could speak but in Brin’s case I am glad he couldn’t as I feel the pain of his experiences would be very hard to bear.

Brin behaved impeccably at the school where over 100 children lined up to stroke him. Cpt. Mark came along to talk to the children about Brin’s life in Afghanistan, bringing with him Sam his own dog. I would have thought Brin would have freaked at meeting such a huge dog but he just greeted him normally as if he knew that he was part of Mark’s family.

Brins tolerance of children was amazing for, in Afghanistan, the new generation of youngsters have, sadly, been brought up to fear strays and their treatment of them has been known to be pretty harsh at times. Brin either escaped such treatment or managed to steer clear for his friendliness was lovely to witness and no children were eaten that day!

Raising funds to help other dogs and cats make it home was always on my mind and one day, while walking in the forest Brin came upon a pair of underpants lying by the base of a tree. He wanted to carry these with him but I managed to persuade him otherwise. I documented this story in pictures as he would rush back each day to check on his ‘treasure’. Other items were also found and the hilarity of his ‘finds’ made for a fundraising idea.

The pants were framed and auctioned along with pictures of his ‘Quest’ and raised a good amount for the charity..the couple who won them were delighted… apart from the fact that when they hung it on their wall it promptly fell down and hit them on the head!

It seemed wherever he went he caused chaos!

Four months in.

Brin would still guard doorways and, despite the house becoming a little like the visiting room of the local prison due to the ever-increasing number of stair-gates, we all were getting used to his quirks and quibbles.

Brin was never going to be easy but there were brief glimpses of him relaxing more and becoming less demanding on my time.

I was also getting used to walking him out in the forest and I seemed to have developed a 6th sense of what was around the corner. Small dogs were never a problem even if they chose to hang off his top lip and this led me to believe that sometime, in his past, he either was around puppies or had fathered some.

Big dogs remained a problem and around here there are many and sometimes I would be so tired and physically exhausted after a walk I would cry.

People were often very good when they stopped long enough to hear his story. Some were not and, often at a time when I felt particularly low, their words would hurt. It often felt very lonely.

Everyday I would take him out, rain or shine, and I learnt to swiftly dive into the thick undergrowth when ‘the enemy according to Brin’ would appear over the horizon. I took to taking him out mid-afternoon as this time was the quietest and the people walking their dogs were often more sympathetic to a woman hanging on for dear life to a dog who had a bark loud enough to wake the devil.

Sometimes it felt that life would have been easier had I decided not to take him on.

My home would be gate free and my nerves, having to cope with the growling every time someone came up the stairs or if one of the dogs decided to amble innocently into the room, would be less frazzled.

I seemed to spend all my whole time trying to avoid situations and, to be quite honest, I was often at the end of my tether. I adored him but the feral in him was tough to break and it seemed, at times, we would always be living on a knife-edge with Brin with me in tow trying to keep things together.

It became a huge responsibly caring for Brin as he also now had many people following his antics on his Facebook page. I didn’t share the tough times except through private messages to Sue and other Afghan rescue dog owners. But it seemed we all were going through similar situations and this helped so much knowing I was not alone.

Brin was also raising much-needed funds for Nowzad through his antics…and one in-particular caused quite a stir…