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Rana first introduced me to my wife, at a meeting, by resting her head on Pam's lap. Rana liveed until she was just a fortnight into her fifteenth year - just long enough to see us engaged and not quite long enough to see us married. In training with Rana at Forfar, in 1981, we were to exercise in Montrose High Street, but on our way, i realised that the trousers I was wearing which had those self-supporters, were not going to support me. I asked the trainer if we would be stopping anywhere near a gents outfitters so that I could buy a pair of braces. I cannot remember the name of the shop, but the bus stopped nearer to it than it would normally have done and the trainer went with me, with the dog on leash in one hand, while I clutched the trainer's elbow, with the other hand and both my elbows clutching my trousers. The shop, which had a popular name and had branches throughout the UK, was empty and I heard a very posh voice from the distance ahead of me, asking if he could help. When I asked for braces, he replied in a disgusted tone of voice.
""braces! braces!! we don't sell braces. You'll find another gents outfitters further down the street, I believe they sell braces."
i thanked him and we went out again, and I told the trainer, that now i knew why he had an empty shop. It seemed to be the case, for we found the other shop, crammed full.
We eventually got served and very quietly, in an undertone, I asked if he sold braces .
""Braces" he bawled, "yes we sell braces", and showered the counter with scores of cards, with braces attached. i chose one that would clip on. "I will just put it in a bag for you" he said. "You will do no such thing" I replied, and he laughed saying that it was that kind of emergency, as he saw me putting them on straight away. I paid for them and we walked out of the shop, now with Rana in harness and the trainer walking behind. He had said that all this had taken up so much time that there was just enough time to walk back to the bus.
on our way, suddenly Rana crossed in front of me towards the shopping line almost tripping me up. I corrected her and I heard the trainer say, "give her plenty of praise" I thought he had gone mad, but did as he asked, "good girl, great girl, for nearly ttripping me up and sending me flying, good girl!"
The trainer came up close to say that, she had found the original shop and was going in to let the posh man know we had got the braces alright! Rana was a very cute dog, as I had been told, and this was my first experience of this. For neither she or I had ever been to Montrose before and yet she had selected the correct shop, out of a whole line of shops, all looking exactly alike, with plain glass frontages, with doors that looked like part of the main windows.
kind regards to all. Hugh M. Twiss