Cassius: The True Story of a Courageous Police Dog - Rilegato

It's up to you, Joe. I can't ask you to do this.' The sergeant looked grim. 'No, you can't,' said Joe, 'but I've got to ask my dog to do it, haven't I?

The dog had never had a morning like it in his life. A long walk across the moors, games of ball, and now ham sandwiches with a new friend; things were looking up.

'What am I going to put here about the going prisoner's clothes, when your dog's eaten them?' I just shrugged and said 'I don't know. He's never done that before.'

Cassius was a truly exceptional police dog whose career became the stuff of legend and the gold standard for all dogs coming after. In just five years he scored a century of arrests, saved lives, bit half a dozen policemen, and gave his handler, PC Joe Sleightholm, the most exciting, exhilarating and nerve-wracking times of his life.

Things did not go according to plan in Sleightholm's first years as a police dog handler. The difficulties of finding and keeping the right dog were so great that he was ready to give up. Then Cass came along. The two of them quickly formed a bond, graduated as stars from the training school and became an outstandingly effective working partnership. Cass became part of the Sleightholm Family too.

Car thieves, armed robbers, drug dealers, murderers, burglars Cassius learned to find them, contain them, intimidate and attack if he had to. Sometimes it was dangerous for him. Usually it was more dangerous for the criminal.

The story of Cassius is by turns thrilling, funny and moving, and always a fascinating insight into the freemasonry of police Dog training.

A genius among dogs he may have been, but he was still a dog, an animal that could trust, please, stir every emotion, frustrate, infuriate, delight and, in the end, break your heart.