Cooperative Living May 2019 - 42

Companion and Protector
Rural Living | by Margo Oxendine, Contributing Columnist
I
recently
spent a
day riding
around with
two deputies.
One was
simply handsome; the other was fierce,
fetching and gorgeous. That would be
Deputy K-9 Binti. She's a Belgian Malinois,
trained to sniff out six types of narcotics,
and to track down lost kids, wandering
oldsters and fugitives fleeing from the law.
K-9 Binti could inspire fear in any
criminal's heart, if he or she had one. Yet,
she sweetly licked my face and hands, and
had a big smile for me and her handler. I
fell in love.
Of course, it is easy for me to fall in love at
first sight with most any dog. I deeply
miss my dear little Brownie, yet cannot
convince myself to replace her. I know
there will be heartbreak at the end of the
road, and I can't go through that again.
I remember our first dog. He was a
purebred German shepherd, Baron von
Snicklefritz. Our family loved him deeply,
and we were often amused by his antics.
In puppyhood, if he did something he knew
wasn't pleasing to us, meaning my father,
he'd run into the living room and hide his
head underneath the sofa. The rest of him
was visible, but he figured he was well
hidden. We could never help but laugh.
He was a fun and protective companion.
But, we lived in the country. And, Baron
was the only German shepherd around
here. People were wary of him. Then, a
spate of sheep killings occurred and folks
were blaming Baron. This was certainly
not true, but sometimes there's no
convincing an ignorant mind.
My father, a state trooper at the time,
learned that the Virginia State Police was
starting a K-9 division. He decided to donate
Baron to the cause, rather than have some
yahoo drive by the house and shoot him from
the truck. I guess this was a smart decision.
It did not seem so, to me and my sister,
at the time. How dare Daddy give away our
beloved Baron! We sat on the front porch steps
hugging Baron between us on that awful day.
Another trooper arrived. He told my father,
" You didn't say I had to take this dog away
from two little girls! "
It was a day full of wails and sobbing.
We watched Baron, smiling out the back
window as he was driven up the road. We
never saw him again. But, we did eagerly
tear open The Trooper magazine each month,
because there would be a photo of Baron,
president of his class of K-9 troopers. There
was even a photo of " Baron at the helm "
of the state police airplane. I always wanted
to put a " thought balloon " over his head
stating, " If only I had thumbs! "
About 10 years ago, my sister and I were
invited to the dedication of a " Fallen K-9
Memorial " at Virginia Tech. There were about
200 people there, most of them officers, many
of them with fierce K-9s straining at the leash.
The barking was a constant cacophony.
It was there we happened to meet Baron's
handler, retired Trooper Bob Coats. And, he
told us the tragic story of Baron's demise. He
was the first K-9 to be killed in the line of duty.
One night, chasing an escaped convict
through the forest, Baron was hot on the trail.
But, the convict swung a fallen tree limb and
crushed Baron's skull. Coats picked up the trail
and cornered him, apprehending the criminal.
The memorial - a gorgeous and perfect
bronze sculpture of a magnificent German
shepherd - lists a dozen faithful and
fearless fallen K-9 officers.
But, for my sister and me, the first name
on the list was most important, and touching. It
made us cry all over again. You just never
forget your first dog. Or, in my case, my
second and perhaps last, Brownie. 
To order Margo's book, " A Party of One, "
call 540-468-2147 Monday-Thursday 9-5,
or email: TheRecorderOffice@gmail.com.
" If only I had thumbs, " seems to be the thought of K-9 Baron, as he surveys the control panel in a Virginia State Police Piper airplane in 1962.
Baron's handler, Trooper Bob Coats, was the only pilot of the only plane the VSP had at the time. Baron was killed Sept. 12, 1962, while
pursuing an escaped convict.
40 | Cooperative Living | May 2019
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PHOTO COURTESY OF VIRGINIA STATE POLICE

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Cooperative Living May 2019

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