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WHAT'S IN A NAME

Valkor Sting in the Tail (and what a tale!) Jayne Edwards 1999

The thought of anyone stealing one of my Afghans from a secure enclosure right outside my own back door had never occurred to me - but that is exactly what happened.

We live on the outskirts of a quiet village with no neighbours, we cannot be seen from the road and are not overlooked by anyone. The nearest building to us is the weighbridge of the local sand and gravel quarry across the valley.

The day was Wednesday, October 21st 1998. It started as any other day but for a change it wasn't raining. Great I thought, the dogs can go out in the large grass run and have a good blast-off as they hadn't had much exercise as it had been so wet. I had only just introduced 17 week old Connor to my adult dogs earlier in the week. They had all taken to him and he was enjoying running around with them. Afternoon came and I had made arrangements to go to a friend's house who was going to print out some C.V.s for me to send off with my applications for judges lists. I went outside to put Connor away before I was leaving as I didn't want to leave him unsupervised with the adult dogs, then I thought as it was such a nice day I would leave him in the smaller, concrete enclosure with his sister, Eva. So I called the two youngsters in and closed the gate. They would be quite safe in there, or so I thought!

So quite happy that the dogs were all OK, off I went. I picked up my CVs and on the way home called at the supermarket for a few bits and pieces, I was away an hour or so.On arriving home I took my shopping into the kitchen and looked out the kitchen window to see what the dogs were up to. For some reason they were standing in a line all looking straight at me. As I couldn't see Connor I went outside to have a proper look and I just could not believe my eyes - he wasn't there. My first thought was that he had escaped. I went running up the fields and surrounding areas shouting and looking for him. I ran straight to the quarry where Elwyn, my husband worked - by this time I was hysterical. Elwyn tried to calm me down but he couldn't so came straight home with me straight away. Then he made me realise that Connor could not have escaped as it was impossible for any of the dogs to get out as it was so secure. The news spread quickly to Elwyn's boss who was working in Weighbridge. The telephone rang and it was him saying that he had heard all the dogs making such a racket and so much noise that he went out to investigate and he could see a white vehicle reversing around the side of the house and then driving away. He also informed us that this vehicle had been seen in the area a few times that day and they were gipsies supposedly looking for tarmac work. The thought of gipsies having stolen little Connor was too much to bear. I just couldn't think straight - I was crying and sobbing like a madwoman.

I telephoned the police who said they would get there as soon as possible. then I phoned my friend Joyce, who came across straight away. We got in our cars and went off looking for the vehicle. Elwyn phoned round some of our other friends and family. Everyone was out driving round the roads looking for the gipsies vehicle. That evening we drove for miles and went into all the local gipsy camps looking. We asked everyone if this vehicle had been seen in the area. Numerous people had had seen it in the last few days but no one seemed to know where they were staying. The police came and took details and photographs of Connor and said they would do what they could and details of the vehicle were sent to every police car and police station in North Wales.

The next few days seemed to go by in a blur. Most of the days I spent on the telephone speaking to every rescue organisation I could think of. We informed local kennels, radio stations, newspapers, Lurcher Search, Greyhound Rescue, Dog Wardens, Gipsy Liason Officers and local councils. We even had a mention on local TV. Details were put on the internet and stories were published in local newspapers in North Wales and the Wirral.

My friends, Keith and Diana, had posters printed with Connors photograph and with details of the vehicle on, and we all went for miles distributing these in shops, Greyhound tracks, garages etc. We had hundreds of them photocopied and sent to friends and Afghan people all over the country and our local postmen also took them and passed them round their sorting offices. The posters were also faxed to friends in Southern Ireland and mentioned in Irish canine press, and were seen in all parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

We contacted all ports and asked them to be aware and on the lookout for this vehicle and/or the dog, but we heard nothing.

The police called a few times to see if we had any news. They were convinced we would never see Connor again. We had some information that made us think we knew where Connor had been taken and we made discreet enquiries and went on this particular site and offered a reward for information that would hopefully lead to Connor's safe return. Over the next few days I spoke to some more people that I would not really like to be associated with normally but they were very sympathetic and said they would help if they could. We had friends and contacts in areas keeping watch on certain sites, one in particular.

The das turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months. It got to the point where I could not think of anything else to do, I just felt as though I was hitting my head against a brick wall. I just wanted to know where Connor was, I was always wondering what was happening to him. Was he being looked after? was he outside in all this bad weather? he could have been dead for all I knew. The not knowing was the worst thing - if you knew what was happening you could come to terms with it. I even had hoax phone calls pretending to be Connor, asking me to come and rescue him - it was really quite distressing.

And then on Friday morning, February the 5th, I had a phone call out of the blue from someone who thought he had seen Connor on the gipsy site we believed him to be at. He said he was in quite a poor state but he would get him out for us if we wanted him to. If we wanted him to!!! Of course we did! We made arrangements to meet him some 45 minutes later. We set off. I hadn't even brushed my hair or had a wash, I was in too much of a hurry to bother with such things. We met this chap in a layby at the side of the road. I couldn't get out of the car quickly enough - Elwyn was trying to calm me down but he wasn't succeeding. I ran round to the back of the van and looked in through the windows. I thought my heart was going to burst because looking back at me with the most beautiful brown eyes I had even seen was Connor - I just knew it was! The man opened up the back of the van and there he was. I just choked up and tears filled my eyes. I had him back and it felt like a dream. I picked him up in my arms and although I was ecstatic at having him back I suddenly felt sick to my stomach when I realised what a dreadful state he was in. I have never in my life seen a dog so thin but he seemed happy to see us and I'm sure he remembered us, we put him straight in the car and took him home.

He strutted into the kennels as though he had never been away. I gave him some breakfast which he promptly scoffed down. About an hour later I cleaned him up and took him to the vets for a check-up. The vet was appalled at his weight, or rather lack of it, but apart from being severely under nourished he gave him a clean bill of health. So home he came and we started to build him up. It is going to be a slow process but I'm sure we will get there eventually.

He has been home now for four weeks and has almost doubled his weight. He is growing and his muscles are developing and he is just generally enjoying his life back at home and is becoming more mischievous by the minute. He has now returned to his local training class and has been reunited with his "best friend" Chewy, the Briard! He is now eating four square meals a day and is having liquid calcium, all his other vitamins and oil of evening primrose.

As for the future, only time will tell but hopefully Connor will be seen in the show ring later this summer.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for the time and help they gave me in my search for Connor.

On a final note - Never give up hope.

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