2. Hound Dog
Most people are familiar with the song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller that was a number two hit for Elvis Presley in England. It did better in the United States, reaching the top spot on both the pop and country charts. Big Mama Thornton recorded it in 1952 and it became a hit for her the following year. This chapter is about smart, loving canines.
He was only a puppy, but he had been beaten up and abandoned on the railroad tracks on January 9, 2012 near Hackney Marsh and Leyton. Who was responsible for this cruel act was not known, but some kind soul contacted Nigel Morris in the control room close by. He set out to look for the dog, an Anatolian Shepherd, designated as Stray: E10. Nigel met a stranger with two dogs, who seemed a bit unusual, but he proceeded to search as the guy left the area. Then he located the animal, who was covered with blood, suffering but was surprisingly calm. It was almost as though the shepherd realized that Morris was there to help him. Nigel contacted the RSPCA for assistance while he stayed with the dog.
Driving in her Citroën Berlingo, Siobhan Trinnaman came to help and met Morris. The trains were still running and Siobhan was distraught when she heard a train approaching. Nigel assured her that the dog would be fine, knowing just what to do, flattening himself to avoid any further injury. The woman noticed that the injured animal had damage to the tail and one of his legs, besides being roughed up. Despite this, the gentle giant was good-natured and welcoming to his rescuers. Carefully, they carried the animal to her van and Siobhan drove him to Harmsworth Memorial Animal Hospital in North London.
Hospital director, Stan McCaskie, also saw how calm and relaxed Stray: E10 was despite his extensive injuries. Unfortunately, animal cruelty was quite prevalent in England with so many strays. The shelters did their best to find good homes for the rehabilitated dogs, but sometimes they had to resort to the dreaded PTS (Put To Sleep). After the pooch had settled in his kennel, Michelle Hurley of All Dogs Matter, a charity rescue service, was one of the first to see him.
A guy who worked with Michelle thought that a good name for the shepherd would be Haatchi, and others agreed. In the early 1920s, a Japanese Akita dog with the name Hachikō, was so dedicated to his owner, Professor Hidesaburo Ueno, that he waited each day at the train station for him. His name referred to the dog’s birth order with his siblings and also meant prince. When Ueno was stricken with a hemorrhage at the University, he never came home. Still Hachikō returned each day to wait for the teacher, being at the station until he himself died. Besides the similarity in their names, what the two dogs had in common was the train. This loyalty came out in a 1987 film in Japan and eventually in the 2009 movie, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, starring Richard Gere.
Anatolian Shepherds date back 6,000 years. They are descendants of Mastiffs and also known as Turkish Shepherd Guard Dogs, used to herd and protect sheep. Possessing great hearing and sight, these dogs are known as lion hunters – they must be tough – and canines don’t come much larger. Though he was only a puppy, Haatchi had to recover from the assassin’s meanness first. He lost most of his tail and one leg, but luck was with him. Rescue centers combined with technology to spread the word and he avoided PTS, at least for a while.
All Dogs Matter’s Ira Moss approached Lorraine Coyle, who cared for dogs in Hendon and Coyle. She was pleased to take care of Haatchi until he found a permanent home. The puppy and Lorraine’s twelve-year old boxer got along well, but Haatchi would move on. Eventually he was situated at Dogs And Kisses in Oxfordshire, run by Ross McCarthy and James Hearle.
Owen Howkins was born on August 25, 2005 to Will and Kim Howkins. Each was in the armed forces and had assignments in war zones. Luckily, both Kim and Will had supportive families who would look after Owen. When Owen was staying with Will’s parents, both Bill and Joan Howkins mentioned to him that his son didn’t seem right. When Kim’s parents, Sara and Hugh Knott, agreed with that, Will and Kim thought the lad should see a specialist. Dr. Neil Thomas diagnosed that Owen had Schwartz-Jampel syndrome, type 1A, caused by a gene mutation. It’s a myotonic condition in which muscles are stiff and weak, causing problems in bone growth. It meant the young boy would be confined to a wheelchair or walker and need medication. With his parents away so often, life would be much more challenging.
Because of all the stress, Kim and Will’s marriage suffered, so they sought counseling. They wound up divorced. They would care for Owen separately and the lad went around with his head looking down because of his condition. Colleen Drummond was divorced but friends posted her picture on the Internet. She and Will were in cyberspace contact and soon met in person. They felt comfortable with each other, but more important, she loved the child and said he was her Little Buddy – hence the name Little B. Owen was also fond of Drummond. Will’s parents were accepting of Colleen, too.
In January 2012, Will’s new love was going through the pages of Dogs And Kisses when she saw the picture of an Anatolian Shepherd. Mr. Pixel was a collie-spaniel mix that joined two of Colleen’s working dogs in the household, but the shepherd captured the hearts of Will and Colleen. That gentle giant was Haatchi. When Haatchi spied Colleen, his tail was doing the wave, the first time he did that in some time. Soon after that, Will woke his son with a big surprise. Seeing the shepherd caused Owen to open his mouth wide, followed by Haatchi quietly placing his big head on the child’s leg. On seeing the massive animal, Owen’s life was changed. He had been shy and struggling at school, but he was happier, outgoing and now doing very well in school. Eventually he learned what had happened to Haatchi and talked all about it to others. Another life was affected. A quote by Gene Hill says it all: Whoever said money can’t buy happiness forgot about puppies.
At Dogs And Kisses, the mighty giant had been fed a raw food diet so Will and Colleen thought they would continue doing that with Haatchi. Colleen called Natural Instinct and ordered food that would satisfy the big canine. She received a call soon after in which Suzanne Brock stated that they wanted to sponsor her dog, providing him with free food for life. Watching his friend eat healthy food, Little B starting doing the same. Haatchi also inspired Owen to take all his pills, just as the dog was doing.
The Anatolian Shepherd waited for Owen to return from school. On the first day, Haatchi wandered the house looking for his buddy. Little B talked to others freely and he and Haatchi helped raise money for numerous causes, even helping with the Howkins’ medical bills for the lad and the canine. Both of them became well known and they won numerous awards for bravery and perseverance. They didn’t even enter into these competitions. Owen no longer kept his head down as he had done and took Haatchi to school. He was a big hit there. The painter Sara Abbott commented on the dog: It is as if he is a human in a dog’s body. He just seems to understand everything.
The monster dog touched so many lives. A lady in a prone position in a wheel chair spotted Haatchi and her smile was enough to light up London. A little girl in Southampton followed the canine on Facebook and when she was in the hospital for surgery, Haatchi visited her there, lifting the girl’s spirits. At first the authorities blocked his entry into the room, but soon allowed the big guy in. The shepherd was in training in the United Kingdom as one of 5,000 Pets As Therapy dogs. He also sang and danced to cheer up the depressed, anxious and elderly.
Colleen and Will planned to be married and found a place at Barton’s Mill. Everything was there that they needed. In order to make the decision on the venue, they had to obtain the approval of Owen and Haatchi. The dog and his buddy agreed when the four of them were at the site. But then the dog was trembling and tense and Will and Colleen felt it could have been something he ate. They heard the noise from a passing train and they knew. They let Haatchi get through the trauma by himself – something that Colleen knew as a dog trainer – and the shepherd managed. In the days before the wedding, Colleen and Will took Haatchi back to the train area and the dog was fine, since he was one smart canine. On Saturday August 17th, the couple was married. Their two children were there and had the greatest time.
The person who had beaten and left Stray: E10 on the tracks to die didn’t realize how he had affected so many people. His plan to extinguish the Anatolian Shepherd’s life didn’t quite work out but did bring comfort, joy and love to people throughout the world. Haatchi would eventually need more surgery, which he managed quite well. However, viewing the results caused the vet to say that more might still be necessary. It may have been avoided through hydrotherapy, which the dog dove right into. As a result, he was spared going under the knife, at least for the present.
When I finished reading the book on Owen and Haatchi as the last days of summer approached in September 2014, PBS had a fourteen-hour, seven day special on the Roosevelts. In many ways that family and the Howkins family were very similar. Each one had members that were deeply wounded – suffering physically, mentally and spiritually – but they overcame this. Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor comprised the most influential family in American political history. Both families endured wars and made a great impact on others. Ken Burns produced The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, so it was top-notch. The book on the Howkins family is Haatchi & Little B: The Inspiring True Story Of One Boy And His Dog by Wendy Holden. The author of the following fitting quote is unknown:
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of your heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
Glenn lived in a suburb of Buffalo with his family and at first was fearful of dogs. A spotted English pointer name Strippy, who howled ferociously while chained to his doghouse, may have been the cause. When Glenn was four, the menace on four legs broke loose and came upon the lad and his six-year old sister, pushing them down. The two were terrified, but Strippy was just happy to see them and be free. Unfortunately, too many people want pets, procure them but then leave them alone and chained. A few years later a beagle named Lady changed Glenn’s mind about canines. It was quite a while before he decided that maybe it was time for a dog.
He wrote for magazines and newspapers as well as the book, Horowicz: A Biography Of Vladimir Horowicz. Living in a dark apartment on the Upper East Side of New York, Glenn felt he needed a better place to live. Battery Park City, built on water at the tip of Manhattan, seemed like a good choice. It wasn’t really a huge houseboat, but a village built with what was excavated from the building of the World Trade Center in the middle of the twentieth century. The Hudson was drained and filled in to build a 92-acre environment, complete with an Esplanade, hotels, museums, schools, stores, marina, housing and great views of Lady Liberty in the harbor. The complex had over 1,700 apartments in six buildings and over 300 dogs.
Glenn moved into a place on the third flood and one hot summer day, his friend Michael suggested that he get a dog. The latter chose Baby, a cute pug, and Glenn paid for the pooch. Brought to his apartment, their relationship was exactly like a one-night affair as he brought Baby back to the pet store a day later. After a year had gone by, Joe, a longtime resident of Glenn’s building brought up the dog deal and mentioned Dinah, his three-year old cocker spaniel. Glenn still wasn’t sure so he asked if he could borrow Dinah as an afternoon test-run dog. The results were satisfactory, so Twiggy, a cocker spaniel puppy, wound up in the writer’s home. Arriving back home, they met Nancy, a neighbor, with a green wing macaw on her shoulder, Mojo, who said, Pretty girl, pretty girl – want some chicken? Eventually, the spaniel would delight when she heard the word, chicken.
It wasn’t long before the puppy had a new name: Katie, named after Katherine Hepburn, her master’s favorite movie star. By this time Glenn had met Pearl and Arthur, his neighbors in 3C, whose dog Brandy had died a short time before. When Katie came to see the couple for the first time, they were thrilled. They liked Glenn too and the feeling was mutual. Because of various circumstances, Arthur and Pearl were surrogate grandparents for the writer and he in turn was the child they never had. Glenn often referred to Katie as his child and there were quite a few people who could spoil her. Glenn’s housekeeper, Ramon, hated dogs and threatened to quit but his friend said that Katie wouldn’t bother him. Ramon stayed and the two got along fine.
Glenn took Katie on interviews, even when dogs weren’t allowed in the building. He snuck her in and all adored her. Her presence may even have landed him an assignment at the Daily News. Katie had many fans besides Pearl and Arthur, including Glenn’s grandmother Essie, aka Nana. They saw each other very often at Thanksgiving. Katie was very therapeutic for Glenn, Arthur and Pearl and they returned love to the spaniel. The canine wasn’t happy with small dogs and was hesitant with children. Maybe they were just too fidgety. She got along well with large dogs and adults. Walter, the Belgian quarter horse that policeman Sean rode on his rounds in Battery Park City, quickly became friends with Katie. Having been raised on a farm with dogs had something to do with the affection between the two.
Katie joined the fashion world, modeling sweaters for the Daily News. Family Circle came calling next as the dog did a spread on summer picnics, complete with fried chicken. In an almost similar way, not to be outdone, Glenn became a theater participant in a spoof of The Wizard of Oz after he joined a community center. I have more on that shortly.
Katie may have been precocious, but she listened and learned. She didn’t understand every word that others said, but she knew many of them, besides chicken. These included the usual sit, stay, listen up, go out, no, treat, cookie – probably not kale and kohlrabi – ball, cake and what are you doing? She knew some commands so well that one time when Glenn took her into pet-friendly Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue, she knew what he wanted when he said, Katie, SIT. Good girl. Now Staaaay. A customer saw the dog and asked, How much is that? The businessman thought Katie was a stuffed animal. A very similar event occurred on the subway – where dogs weren’t allowed. This time the person asking about buying Katie appeared to be a rapper and Glenn imagined a possible mugging. Katie wasn’t sold, no harm was done and from that point on, Katie and her master rode in taxis. Following rules was a good idea.
Katie was very gentle with people who were suffering from body pain. She recognized Arthur’s arthritis in his legs so she never came up on them. She showed her respect for Freda, a retired judge with braces necessitated by earlier polio. On seeing the magistrate, the spaniel offered a paw. Katie treated Pearl as though the latter was her mother. She had great devotion to Nana, but when the latter died at 91 of cancer, Katie went to the funeral, comforting Glenn’s mom. She did this all night long. With the death, Pearl took Nana’s place.
Life had been perfect for Glenn as he interviewed Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Nancy Reagan, Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Leona Helmsly, Barbara Walters and many other celebrities, even writing a book on them. In January 1993, the Daily News was sold to the Tribune Company and Glenn lost his job. His associates at Battery Park City were a great comfort to him but then during a winter snowstorm, his back gave out, resulting in spasms and pain. He was depressed and in need of help.
He went to a community center in Greenwich Village and discovered their social events and services. Bringing Katie along, the spaniel and father met Ryan, a three-year old boy. Surprisingly Katie and the lad bonded, even though she was hesitant at first. They were soon running after each other and having a wonderful time. Glenn ran into John, the boy’s dad and soon learned that Ryan loved dogs. The two adults and Ryan were soon living in the same building in Battery Park City, on the same floor. Katie was there too. John and Ryan were residents in 3P.
Once they moved in, John mentioned to his new friend that there would be a blessing of 3P. He invited Pearl, Arthur, Katie and Glenn. The ceremony was a long-lost tradition of Christian and Jewish culture. When it was held at sunset, an Episcopal priest joined the group with some of John’s friends in a circle, hands together. They were celebrating family and community. Katie was on a leash but well behaved. Arthur offered a Hebrew blessing. This blended with the Episcopal reading.
Graciously receive our thanks for this place...and put far from those who dwell here every root of bitterness, the desire of vainglory, and the pride of life. Turn the hearts of the parents to the children and enkindle fervent charity among us all, that we may evermore be kindly affectioned one to another. Amen.
John went to work but Ryan was in good hands with Arthur, Katie, Pearl and Glenn. On one occasion when the writer was with the lad, the youngster started sobbing. The adult comforted Ryan assuring him that he loved him, as did his father John, who would be home soon. For reinforcement, Glenn brought a smile on his face when he bought Ryan a strawberry ice cream cone. Katie enjoyed some of the ice cream too. One day Ryan and Katie encountered an eighty-pound Labrador retriever at the elevator in the building. Fang seemed to be threatening the boy until Katie stepped in. Growling, the protector did her job as the aggressor backed off. They had many great times together, running after each other up and down the hall chasing a ball tossed by Glenn. This endeavor produced two sleepy kids at night.
The writer’s loss of work and his health problems landed him in bed with depression but slowly he improved in mind and body. His support team had much to do with that, as did his therapy. One day he decided to head to the session on his bike, three miles away. He was close to home when a crack in the pavement sent him flying off the bike, landing on his face. He was on the concrete and couldn’t move with a broken nose, cuts and other injuries when a Samaritan came by to help. Plaskin was soon on his way to St. Vincent’s Hospital. With the accident, his depression was starting to end, brought about by something he had read a while ago: A grateful heart can never be a depressed one.
It wasn’t long before Glenn had visitors, including Katie, who Pearl snuck in. She stayed with him under the covers. A surgeon doctor came by and said that he would reset his nose without anesthesia. It would hurt, but the process would work. It did and miraculously, he was released from the hospital that same day. Recovery would take some time, but the people and dog on the third floor would get him through it.
Time passed and in the late 1990s, Glenn was writing again, this time for Family Circle as a free-lance writer. The grind of a newspaper and the interviews were gone. Arthur had died and there was more bad news – John and Ryan were moving uptown to a new place. On the day of the departure, Katie jumped on Ryan’s lap, somehow knowing that he wouldn’t be around with him to run up and down the hall. The event also affected Pearl and Glenn deeply. In the days that followed, Katie would be going to 3P, looking for John and Ryan, who made occasional visits. It wasn’t the same. Pearly had lost a son and grandson; the cocker spaniel, two friends; Glenn was missing his friend and his son.
Tuesday, September 11 was a beautiful summer day in the first year of the 21st century – for a while. Glenn heard an explosion but felt it was due to all the construction in the area. When Pearl called him, he knew disaster had struck. He told her he’d meet her in the lobby as he went for Katie and his cell phone. When he got downstairs, she wasn’t there. With all the falling debris, visibility in Battery Park City was limited and Katie was suffering. A policeman helped and the dog was herself again. People were headed to safety in New Jersey on police boats close by. Meanwhile Pearl was rescued by Lee, a financial planner, who finally convinced Pearl to step into the Jersey bound boat, but not without much reluctance. Many people from Battery Park City stayed temporarily with friends in New Jersey, including Pearl who shared the home of relatives, but wasn’t happy there. Glenn and Katie moved uptown into John and Ryan’s apartment.
Slowly people moved back to the buildings in Battery Park City, but not all did, even abandoning their furniture. Katie grew old, with arthritis. She was hard of hearing, almost blind and in much pain. Glenn’s friend Paul convinced him that it was time for Katie to be put to sleep, affecting Glenn and Pearl deeply. Pearl was slowing down too and her diverticulitis brought her to the hospital. Social Services found a full-time aid but she didn’t work out. Finally, Naia, a Russian aide came on the scene. She and Pearl were great friends and Lee visited almost every day as well. She was progressing slowly when diverticulitis struck again. Pearl was back in the hospital once more and died there at 3 a.m. on October 18, 2004.
Glenn’s family on the third floor of the building was gone with John and Ryan in Paris. He was depressed but soon realized that what they had there had been something truly special, and it probably would never be repeated. He still lives in his apartment in Battery Park City and has met others who fill the void. You can read more in Glenn Plaskin’s book, Katie Up And Down The Hall: The True Story Of How One Dog Turned Five Neighbors Into A Family.