Once I had bought a house in Welkom, we began to settle down as a family. The children had successfully settled into their schools. Phyllis was teaching at Welkom Primary School and Michael had started his schooling there. Colin was at Aurora Primary School and Nikki had been accepted into St Agnes Convent. My office was in the Medical centre next to the Child Guidance Clinic. All I needed now was a dog!
Welkom (Welcome) was at that time the fastest growing city in South Africa. This remarkable growth was achieved within 21 years due mainly to the fact that it had been established that Welkom was sitting above more gold than Johannesburg. Mines opened all around the city and there was a mad rush to open businesses, build homes and develop industrial areas. The city was unique in that main roads were all double carriage, and street intersections didn’t have traffic lights, instead they had large sweeping traffic circles. That was why Welkom other than being famous for literally having streets paved with gold, was also nicknamed “Circle City”.
At the end of each school term, we would return to our home in Simon’s Town. One day my next-door neighbour in Simonstown called me over and told me that their pedigree German Shepherd had a litter of puppies and wanted to know if I wanted a male puppy. I immediately agreed, but because we had to return to Welkom, I arranged to have it flown to Bloemfontein airport some two-hour drive from Welkom. I wanted the puppy to stay with its mother for as long as possible before being sent to us by plane. I kept it a secret from the children and only Phyllis knew about it.
I remained in contact with the breeders who would consult with a vet and organise a suitable crate for the flight to Bloemfontein. When the time arrived to get the puppy, we told the children that we were all going to the airport in Bloemfontein to meet someone special. This was met with huge excitement and guesses that it was their granny visiting from Simon’s Town.
At the airport all eyes were on the stream of passengers exiting the plane. Then when all passengers had left there was still no sign of Gnagna. Unfortunately, there was also no dog crate or animal container! I went into the airport building and demanded to know where my dog was. After a long search it turned out that the vet in Cape Town had over tranquilised the puppy and the airport staff did not realise that they were carrying a dog as there had been no sound from the crate. The pup was so drowsy and just wanted to sleep all the way home to the children’s disappointment.
Naming the puppy followed Killick’s tradition in that it had to be something nautical, particularly as he was born in Cape Town.
“Coxswain” is the title given to the one in charge of navigating a boat. So, this little guy was going to direct things and be a leader amongst many, or so I hoped.
Perhaps this is the time to explain that both Killick and Coxswain were dogs of the same breed but one was called an Alsatian and the other a German Shepherd. This breed of dogs come from the Alsace-Lorraine area in France, close to the border of Germany. However, in 1917 the UK Kennel Club decided, to protect this breed’s popularity because of anti-German sentiment caused by the first World War, that the word “German” could lead to mistreatment of this breed. This was only to apply to England and a few commonwealth countries but persists to this day. Often, I get asked: “Is this a German Shepherd or an Alsation?” when it’s exactly the same breed.
Unfortunately, there was no dog obedience club in Welkom, so I had to rely on the obedience training that I had learnt with Killick in Wynberg many years ago. Fortunately, I still had William Koehler’s “Open Obedience” Book, and we started practicing the Heel, Retrieve, Stays and Jump exercises.
Coxswain loved jumping and found the German “Hop” to be his favourite command. From jumping over a small box to jumping over my body. lying flat on the grass – it was a clear indication that he was a quick learner and enjoyed and understood commands. But I wanted to get him exposed to other dogs and the distractions that accompany those exercises.
I found out that the gold mines near Jan Cilliers Park where we lived, trained the mine dogs in a tree lined camp not far from our house. They trained in the late afternoon twice a week so Coxswain and I would go and watch them. Unfortunately, they were in a restricted area so we could not contact them.
We lived close to the Welkom show grounds where the Northern Free State Kennel Club annually held their breed shows. Phyllis entered him a few times. He won First Prize as a Puppy under 12 months and First Prize for “S.A. Bred”. We also have two Second Prize placings and a Certificate of Award in his memory.
When time allowed, I continued with his training, and he loved to jump over my back when I stood bent at the waist. Unfortunately, Coxswain’s time with us was far too short. A week before we were returning to Cape Town for the holidays, I noticed that he was not his usual self. I suspected biliary as a possible cause. I took him to the local vet and after doing some blood test she said that it was not biliary and possibly just something he ate. He received injections but I was not happy with her casual manner but unfortunately, she was the only vet available.
We left for Cape Town the next day and on the Saturday, he seemed a bit better but by the Monday, we went to our vet in Plumstead who unfortunately did diagnose biliary. We were advised to leave him with the vet, and he would keep us informed of his progress. Very sadly for our family, the next call from vet was to say that our beautiful dog had passed away.
