Reader's Digest Oct/Nov

PHOTOS: (LEFT) COURTESY OF JULIE HARPER; (RIGHT) LEICESTERSHIRE POLICE/FACEBOOK POLICE PUP UNITED KINGDOM Bang! Somewhere, hidden from view in leafy Southfields Park, Loughbor- ough, in central England, someone set off fireworks. After hearing the noise, ten-year-old border collie Rosie, who was running around off- leash, ran back towards her owner, Steve Harper. It was late in the afternoon on Fri- day, November 4, 2022, and there would be even more fireworks on Saturday for Guy Fawkes Night. “Kids let off bangers for about a week before and a week after,” says Steve’s wife, Julie, who was at home while Steve, Rosie and their English pointer, Laser, were at the park near their home. Bang! Another round of fireworks. Rosie always cowers during thunder- storms (and, strangely, upon hearing the ominous theme music to the BBC TV game show Mastermind , Julie says). For safety reasons, the fami- ly had trained her to return to them when she was frightened in public. When the Harpers adopted Rosie from a rescue shelter in 2014, they were told that they were Rosie’s third owners but learned little else about her past. Julie had seen a picture of the black-and-white dog posted on social media by an animal shelter, looking skinny and staring into the camera. After seeing the picture, Julie told Rosie waltzed into a police station after she was separated from her owner 10 October/November 2024 READER’S DIGEST