My father, Andrew, owed his life to a pair of bull-mastiffs: Punch and Judy. He often referred to Punch out of affection as ‘Punch, you bugger!’
In 1946 Punch and his sister, Judy, were left to guard the quarters shared by Andrew and Major Niven, brother of the film star David Niven. While they were away a terrorist concealed himself in the bushes near the entrance to the house.
As they approached, the gunman opened fire with a machinegun. Punch and Judy instantly hurled themselves at the man. Both were badly injured – Judy received a long wound on her back and Punch had four shots in his body. But the gunman had fled without firing another shot.
They nursed the dogs back to health on a diet of small slices of liver. We have no further record of Judy but Punch travelled everywhere with Andrew, first to West Germany and then to Britain where he was presented with the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals’ decoration for bravery, the Dickin medal, at the Royal Tournament.
Punch’s medal was subsequently lost and in 2018 I asked the PDSA if they could provide us with a replica. They courteously agreed and presented it to us at a PDSA exhibition to commemorate the recipients of the medal at the Imperial War Museum on 22 November.
Punch and Judy were specially bred Palestinian police dogs. They were bullmastiffs, formidable animals and were undoubtedly trained to kill.
Punch had an alarming appearance: heavy jowls, protruding eyes, saliva often dribbling down his great chest. His limbs were as thick as a man’s arm and his heavily set body rippled with muscle.
Jenny and I first met Punch in Germany when we joined Andrew in West Germany in 1952. Andrew left Punch with us when he was working and the three of us quickly became close friends.
Punch was wonderfully gentle with people he knew but aggressive to everyone else. His lead was a length of steel cable bound with thick leather. If he decided to pursue another person or animal it took all our strength to hold him. In modern safety-conscious Britain Punch would have been an extreme liability.
Following Punch’s death, Andrew had a succession of sheep dogs. They were beautiful, intelligent animals but none evoked the magic and excitement of Punch.