Shelley the Lifeboat Labrador (16 page)

End of Chapter 21

VETERINARY SURGEONS – CHAPTER 22

Shelley was a very fit dog and she did not require the needs of a veterinary surgeon apart from when she had a slight accident and her annual check over and booster injection.  I was very strict in seeing that each year she had a full check over and her jabs.  With so many different infections around and knowing that dogs are scavengers and will pick up any morsel of food - I find it is best to be well prepared.

Shelley’s love of the sea was sometimes her downfall and she did pick up the odd dead fish or crab which caused a few minor upsets.  Another time she managed to get a rusty fish hook caught in her throat which caused her a lot of discomfort.  I had a good vet in Hove John Baber who preferred preventative medicine rather than surgery.

He really gave Shelley a good check over each year keeping his eye on any problems that he could see were developing.  Shelley did have a few lumps appearing under her coat but these were of no concern as they were the wobbly type rather than the malignant type.  He like me put a lot of it down to the knocks and scrapes she had and her persistence in trying to carry heavy planks and sticks.  I used to throw her a lot of stones on the beach in her early days but this was stopped as it was grinding her teeth down so I use a tennis racket and ball now.

Prior to my life as a medical sales representative I had for many years been selling another company’s products to Veterinary practices.  I have the honour of saying that in a period of 7 years I must have visited every veterinary surgeon in the UK including James Herriot.  I used to leave my parents house in Hythe and drive away for a week sometimes to Yorkshire and another week to the West Country.  I would base myself at a nice hotel in the country and do a clover leaf call cycle each day returning to base every night.  I would leave early for the large animal practices in the wilds and then would do the small animal practices around lunch time or the early evening.  I was involved in selling anaesthetic products and catheters as well as arm length gloves that were so important for large animal work. All were made out of plastic and were a new innovation in veterinary medicine which attracted a lot of interest.  I made some very good friends over the years and loved this period of my life. 

To be out on Exmoor in the early hours with some of the leading veterinary surgeons was exhilarating and very enjoyable knowing that the next day I could be in Bristol Veterinary College talking to eminent surgeons who were involved in teaching.  It takes seven years to qualify as a vet against five as a doctor.

I used to call on The Royal Veterinary College at Potters Bar about every two months.  It was nice to have the college’s support as they could promote (if suitable) my company’s products to the new students.  I recall making an appointment to see the Vice Principal Professor Clifford Formston. He came across as a very astute and abrupt person on our initial meeting.  His office was as I expected full of boxes of slides stored all over the place with stacks of ‘Veterinary Record’ magazines and shelves full of anatomy books.  I always wore a tweed type suit and tried to ask a lot of technical questions.  I remember talking to him about one product and he replied by asking me an anatomy question which I got wrong.  “My dear boy if you are going to sell products you should at least get the terminology right as to where this product is used. When you know this please make a fresh appointment and we will carry on this discussion.”

I stayed away for several months and met up with him again later at the Veterinary Equine Conference in Southport.  He came to our stand making for me and asked why I had not called back.  I was honest and said that he did frighten me off a little.  With that he asked me to follow him taking me to one of the book stands at the conference and purchased me a copy of ‘Blacks Veterinary Dictionary’.  He there and then made another appointment for me to see him the following week at Potters Bar.

Turning up at the college I was ushered into his office to be greeted by two of his senior colleagues alongside him.  He then said, “I have spoken to your company and they have agreed that you can spend a week at the college to learn a little more about the field of veterinary medicine – this will commence next week and we have booked a hotel for you also.  Today I have arranged for you to have a tour of the campus ready for next weeks visit.”  I was stunned and delighted that such an important person had shown interest in my future.

The following week was full of surprises – I saw surgery at the highest level – sat in on consultations (with the owner’s approval) – attended lectures and had private meetings with some of the senior staff and technicians.  Clifford, as he then asked me to call him was always there and each day would have a meeting to discuss what I had learnt.  He even asked me to his house to meet his wife and to have dinner with him. What had I done to deserve all this attention I asked myself?

The week went by very quickly and at the end I was given a wonderful book on veterinary anatomy and a copy of Clifford’s Hobday Lecture paper signed by him.  When we next met I asked him why I had warranted all this attention.

He replied, “John when you first called to see me I liked your manners and the fact that you did admit to me that sometimes you were out of your depth with your subject matter.  I did feel sorry for you and thought that perhaps I may be able to help out a little.” Adding, “I did like your personality – you made me laugh and I felt at ease with you.”

We became very good friends meeting many times.  He introduced me to many of his colleagues at other colleges and when I went to the USA and Canada to visit their veterinary establishments he made appointments for me to see some of the top people.  I even recall at one centre in Guelph, Canada spending a morning in a department related to ‘fur bearing animals’ only to find out that they did surgery on Beavers and Bears.                              

At many of the conferences I attended I always entertained Clifford and some of my other contacts to a slap up dinner.  I invited Stan Cosgrove from Ireland who was the equine vet to the then Aga Kahn, Professor Geoff Arthur from Bristol Veterinary college alongside other surgeons from Newmarket and Cork in Ireland. They were always a fun evenings that when on well into the early hours.  The company I worked for had a good accountant so I always got this vast expense bill passed, after all I did get excellent sales results. 

My overseas travels were extensive and I went to the States and Canada several times – Norway – Sweden – Germany – Holland and on a very regular basis Ireland.  These trips involved a lot of hard work.  Going to Southern Ireland was a real bonus and I made many friends there staying with some of the practice families. Stan Cosgrove was considered one of the top equine surgeons in the world and it was a real honour to work with him. I stayed with a David Coghlan in Buttervant near Cork many times and remain friends to this day with his son Michael who is now a veterinary surgeon near Southampton.  I visited The Dublin Veterinary College and made good friends with a Professor Paddy McGeady who taught me the art of drinking Guinness properly whilst keeping a head on it.

Ireland was a beautiful country and I used to go over for two weeks at a time by car taking my samples in the back of my Morris Thousand Traveller Estate.

I recall when I was with David Coghlan that he suggested I saw practice with him one day.  We got up at 6am and set off the first call doing a post mortem on a horse in a field which was followed by breakfast back at home then off on more calls. 

We met a friend of his in one village who had a pig in a trailer.  As it was lunch time David suggested we go for a drink. The pig was left in the square and we all got into David’s car.  He smoked Tom Thumb cigars by the dozen and there were empty tins all over the car mixed with used syringes and other un-wanted items.  David was also a fast driver so it was a case of hanging on.  The pub we stopped at was right out in no mans land and two hours later we returned to drop his friend off to collect his car and pig in trailer.

When we got home that evening there was a message asking David to visit a client who bred donkeys.  She was very wealthy indeed and on our arrival two of them had collapsed.  Seeking a second opinion David contacted Stan Cosgrove who agreed to drive down to Cork.  It was late so David put them on saline drips whilst we waited for Stan.  He arrived about 11pm having popped into a local church on the way down (it was Sunday).

On his arrival both discussed the related problems and treatment was duly given with the three of us staying up all night to monitor the situation which I am glad to say worked out as planned.  We later popped into a local bar for a very early morning drink before Stan went back.  The good part of that evening for me was that Stan had been thinking about purchasing several of our products and gave me a very big order whilst at the same time agreeing to write a paper on one of them which would help its sales a great deal.  I call that a real dedication to duty!

On reflection I do consider I was very lucky indeed to have that period in my life.  Like my jazz period it gave me the opportunity to meet characters that were that bit different some of whom would remain good friends to this day.

I look back now at television and see the repeats of ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ which brings back memories of how it used to be.  It was an era when there were a lot of changes in veterinary medicine with many new products and drugs being developed.  I happened to be working for a company that had the sense to see the future in its products with an excellent research team. It is nice to also see these products still being used to-day which proves that all the efforts I put into selling them with the support of people like Clifford Formston paid off.

During this period I did not have a dog.  It was such a pity as Shelley would have enjoyed it a great deal.  I am glad to say that both Clifford and David’s son Michael did get to meet up with Shelley later and I am sure that the knowledge I gained then helped me enormously with caring for Shelley.

End of Chapter 22

SUFFOLK CHRISTMAS VISITS – CHAPTER 23

I was never much of a Christmas person and I put this down to living alone for a long time and being an only child.  Not coming from a large family it was a time of year just spent at home with my parents.  Sadly both passed away when I was young so I had one of two options spend it alone or visit friends.  Please don’t get me wrong I am not a ‘Scrooge’ and I enjoyed visiting friends; however I always felt I was an outsider looking in on another family enjoying themselves and could never get into the spirit of the event.

In Shoreham I was invited to visit Bill and Pearls for Christmas day and did enjoy it but with Christmas now becoming a longer event it meant there was more time to spend by myself.  I had met Brenda through some friends of mine and she was a widow so we both came up with the idea of going away to a small hotel for three days.  That way no home cooking and an opportunity to get away and do different things whilst meeting others yet still retaining our independence.  We had become good friends and did spend a lot of time in each others company. It was more of a friendship so we could share things without any commitment.  By this I mean we both had our own circle of friends which we enjoyed mixing with but it was nice to know a person with whom I could do things with outside that circle.

We had a look at some brochures and opted for ‘The Crown and Castle Hotel’ at Orford in Suffolk.  I knew the area well and we decided on this place as it was in the country by the coast and not too far to drive from Shoreham.  We could also bring the dogs. It meant Shelley and Brenda’s dog Danny could have some fun at the same time and hopefully some long walks.

We drove off on Christmas Eve getting to the hotel early afternoon.  Situated near Orford Castle it was in a small square with a nearby pub and the Orford Oystery which was well known as a fish restaurant.  Down the road was the estuary which looked over to Aldeburgh and a rather nice local pub.

We were greeted by the Manager of the Hotel a Mary Puttergill who was a bundle of fun from our initial meeting and duly shown around.  Our room was situated in a small but modern annex behind the hotel.  We chose this as we had two dogs and there were lawns outside.  Shelley and Danny could not wait to see their temporary accommodation each looking for the best position for their sleeping requirements.  It was a nice outlook with patio doors (not as though we would need them in the winter) and gave us a chance to park the car outside the room.

We soon settled in and as Brenda sorted her unpacking out I took both dogs for a walk around the castle grounds and down to the small estuary on their leads.  There was ample opportunity for lots of walks for all concerned including us.  In the evening we went into the bar for pre dinner drinks and met some of the other guests. It seemed a very social gathering and for some it was very much an annual pilgrimage to the same hotel where they met up with old friends.  Mary went behind the bar and introduced us to other guests including a couple from Aldeburgh who ran the local off licence - Joan and Eric Williamson.  We got on well from the start and when they realised I was involved with the RNLI even more so as they both supported their local station in a big way and knew most of the crew well.  They did not stay at the hotel but drove up twice a day for lunch and dinner as the off licence still had to be opened.