Pembrokeshire man shot in bungled robbery

2:20pm Sunday 13th March 2011

A Pembrokeshire man says he thought his “number was up” after he was shot during a bungled robbery while visiting his wife’s family in South Africa.

Darren Prinsloo-Thomas’ life was saved by the brave family dog Jessie who attacked the gun-wielding robber, forcing him to flee.

Darren, aged 39, was on holiday in the Schoemansville area of Hartsbeespoort with his wife Natascha, introducing their 15-month-old son Ruan to his grandparents and great-grandparents.

He recalled the moment at around 11.45pm on February 10th when a man appeared at the door holding a gun.

“A guy appeared at the door and fired a shot at me straight away, which missed completely. I fell to my knees with my hands in the air asked him what he wanted and he said money. I said I’ll get you money, just don’t hurt us.”

Darren got up to get his wallet from the bedroom, where Ruan was screaming having been woken by the gunshot.

At that moment, Jessie, Darren’s mother-in-law’s dog, arrived on the scene and went straight for the robber.

“She was sleeping nearby. Jessie came around the corner of the door and bit him in the thigh and he shot at the dog’s head.”

He continued: “Then he turned, aimed at my head, let a shot off, which I thought had hit my wrist but that was the exit wound. Then the dog attacked him again and he ran off.

“The bullet went in between my little finger and my next finger, went through my hand hit the scaphoid bone in my thumb and exited in my wrist and then grazed me on the leg on the way out.”

“The dog saved our lives, and it’s not the first time she’s attacked people who have broken into the house either,” said Darren.

Jessie, the nine-year-old Boerboel escaped with a graze to the face, but is said to be healing well.

“It was in the aftermath I was thinking I’m losing a lot of blood, is my number up? I lost that much blood it was like something out of a Tarantino film, it was everywhere.”

Darren was patched up in a hospital in nearby Brits, before being taken to hand specialist Dr Imran Mohammed Khan in Pretoria, who Darren described as “out of this world”.

He was released from hospital the next day and doctors here have told him he may require surgery on his thumb.

Although the family could have been flown back earlier, they decided to stay and complete their holiday, returning home on St David’s Day.

“Obviously it did have a bit of a bearing on the holiday, I didn’t spend much time on the beach afterwards,” he said.

On returning he said: “I’ve never been so glad to see Solva in my life.”

Darren and Natascha, who celebrated their sixth anniversary while in South Africa, both work as chefs at Solva’s Cambrian Inn.

He added: “All the doctors I have seen have told me I will feel it when I’m older!”

http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/8905375.Dog_saves_family_from_gun_robbery_terror/?ref=ms

Dam Busters dog renamed for movie remake

The black Labrador was run over and killed
during the planning of the raids

10 June 2011

The Dam Busters' dog will be renamed for a new version of the classic war movie, it has emerged.

Stephen Fry, who is writing the film's screenplay, said there was "no question in America that you could ever have a dog called the N-word".

In the remake, the dog will be called "Digger" instead of "Nigger".

The black Labrador was the mascot for RAF 617 squadron, which during World War II destroyed dams in Germany with Barnes Wallis's famous bouncing bomb.

Owned by the squadron's wing commander, Guy Gibson, the animal was run over and killed during the planning of the Dambuster raids, and was buried at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire - from where the operation was launched.

Fry told BBC Radio 5 live: "It's no good saying that it is the Latin word for black or that it didn't have the meaning that it does now - you just can't go back, which is unfortunate.

"You can go to RAF Scampton and see the dog's grave and there he is with his name, and it's an important part of the film.

"The name of the dog was a code word to show that the dam had been successfully breached.

"In the film, you're constantly hearing 'N-word, N-word, N-word, hurray' and Barnes Wallis is punching the air. But obviously that's not going to happen now.

"So Digger seems OK, I reckon."

Phil Bonner, from Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire, said: "I think for the Second World War generation that word was acceptable.

"But with my daughters growing up in Lincolnshire, they have been taught that the word is unacceptable now.

"The film is not about the dog. My big concern would be if they watered down what the Dam Busters had achieved."

The 1955 film, which starred Sir Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd, told the story of Barnes Wallis' struggle to develop the bomb and the subsequent raids on Nazi Germany - codenamed Operation Chastise.

The remake is being produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-13727908

Dachshund saves owner after seeking help

The 11-year-old dog refused to leave the neighbour until he followed her to rescue her owner who had collapsed back home

Published Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A small dog who refused to return home until a neighbour followed her helped rescue her owner after he collapsed at home following heart surgery.

Charles Mitchell said he was working in his yard last week in the Oregon wine country town of Yamhill when an 11-year-old dachshund named Missy scampered up and refused to leave.

Mitchell told the dog to go home, but she refused, and when he decided to follow her across the street to investigate, he found his neighbour, Charlie Burdon, had collapsed inside his home.

The police chief arrived with paramedics, Burdon was taken to the hospital.

Burdon suffered an attack of vertigo and is recovering.

But Burdon and Mitchell, who have known each other for years, both said Missy is their hero.

http://www.emirates247.com/offbeat/crazy-world/dachshund-saves-owner-after-seeking-help-2010-08-10-1.277230