Police Respond to Emergency Call From Dog
Police were shocked when they tried to arrest this "phone breather."
April 16, 2014— -- Police in England who responded to an emergency call at a house in the village of Edlesborough soon realized the "heavy breather" at the end of the line was a dog.
Leighton, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, has a long history with local police in the area -- having set off burglar alarms connected with the police station numerous times and barked continuously until the neighbors called authorities, his owner, Mary Amos-Cole, said.
"The police have been out loads of times to him,” Amos-Cole told ABC News. "I think he’s into uniforms. Most times it’s a lady copper that comes out. I think he wants to join the police force."
Amos-Cole and her husband Jeff Amos-Cole were in the garden on a calm, sunny day last week when Leighton decided to run off with the couple's cordless phone.
“We both got up and chased him, but he loves being chased and wiggling around the garden,” Mary Amos-Cole said. “He was tormenting us, so eventually we got it off him and sat down. Then we heard the postman at the gate saying ‘he won’t hurt you’.”
The couple had no idea with whom the postman was speaking with until a policewoman knocked at the front door and informed them they had received an emergency call filled with "heavy breathing" coming from the other end.
“We both said ‘oh no it must be Leighton’ and we all looked at him and he just came up and nudged us,” Amos-Cole said. “Luckily the policewoman was fine with it. She came in the house and started chatting and [Leighton] was going up to her and giving him his toys.”
A Thames Valley Police spokesman told ABC News that they had received a “silent” call on April 10 at 12:08 p.m.
“It was confirmed by the occupant at the address that their dog had accidentally called 999,” police said in a statement.
"He’s a bit of a pain actually, but we love him to bits," Amos-Cole said.