“Oooops!

Reported in today’s Daily Telegraph
Dog antics raise murder suspicion

Police have told of their relief after discovering a 999 call they feared could be a murder in progress was actually made by a 14-month-old dog.

Bailey, a Golden Retriever from Herefordshire, had run off with a cordless phone in his mouth and dialled 999 while chewing it, police said.

The operator raised the alarm when she heard heavy breathing and shouting.

"Come out or else, I’m warning you", were the last words she heard before the call ended and she alerted police.

Hide and seek

When the operator finally managed to call the number back, Jodie Halfpenny explained that her dog Bailey was to blame.

He had nicked the handset and run off into the garden to chew it, she said.

Ms Halfpenny, from Withington, Herefordshire, and her partner Jamie gave chase, but Bailey thought it was a game and hid behind the shed and refused to come out.

The call was made at about 1630 BST on 20 April just as the couple were ordering Bailey to come out.

‘Potential murder’

Ms Halfpenny said: "Bailey chews everything he can just now, but we didn’t think he could dial 999."

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: "Staff thought they had a violent domestic or even a potential murder on their hands.

"For a few moments, they wondered what sort of incident they were dealing with.

"An operator phoned the number back hesitantly, only to be greeted by a very apologetic woman who confirmed that all was well and that the culprit was not her husband- but the dog. You just couldn’t think this stuff up, could you."

This amused me because a few years ago, I had 911 one-key programed into my telephone. Since this was before I had my cataracts removed {and even before I moved to Vermont} I had a land-line phone with a keypad with BIG keys. I accidentally knocked the whole phone onto the floor And was quite taken aback after I had picked it up and put it back on the table to have the police call and ask was I all right! Apparently the programmed button had been hit on the way down! I apologized profusely and explained what had happened…

"You are not happy because you are well. You are well because you are

happy. You are not depressed because trouble has come to you, but

trouble has come to you because you are depressed. You can change

your thoughts and feelings, and then the outer things will come to

correspond, and indeed there is no other way of working."

Emmett Fox

"Enjoyment is not a goal; it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity."

Paul Goodman