Book description
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 outstanding 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.
Gordon Thorburn has worked as a copywriter, journalist,
scriptwriter, editor and author. Books include Bombers, First and
Last, Animal Spy, and the bestselling Men and Sheds. He lives in Norfolk.
