Dickin medal awarded to Tetchill dog sets new auction record

A medal given to a dog who participated in 20 parachute jumps during World War II has sold at auction for £140,000.

 

Rob’s Shropshire owners asked him to volunteer for the war effort, and he was dispatched to north Africa with the SAS.

 

His presence behind enemy lines reportedly saved lives, earning him the PDSA’s Dickin Medal for Gallantry, according to Basil Bayne, Rob’s owner.

 

On Wednesday, the Victoria Cross for Animals medal as well as literature, pictures, and a collar were auctioned.

 

The sale broke the previous world record for a Dickin Medal, which had been given to a pigeon for valour on D-Day, through medal auctioneer Noonans of Mayfair in London.

 

The black and white collie-retriever was a family pet on Mr. Bayne’s parents’ smallholding in Tetchill, close to Ellesmere, when it was purchased for five shillings from a nearby farm.

 

His parents donated him in 1942 after hearing a radio advertisement asking for dogs to be ‘committed to the war effort’ for security service.

 

Before being transported on a plane with SAS personnel practising parachute jumps, Rob, who was assigned to the SAS, guarded ammunition storage facilities.

 

The British forces borrowed a harness and tried a jump that the nearby US military were testing with dogs, and the dog appeared to like it, said Mr. Bayne.

 

Most canines the Americans tried barked all the way down, which made him special, the man claimed.

 

‘Well, there’s hardly much use in signalling your presence by barking all the way down if you’re searching for a dog to operate behind enemy lines,’ he said.

 

In north Africa, where he remained with the SAS, he is credited with more than 20 leaps.

 

The dog was awarded the animal VC because, according to the handler who leapt three times with Rob, they would not have survived the forces without him.

 

The greatest honour an animal serving in a war zone may receive was created in 1943 by the founder of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), Maria Dickin.

 

Since then, the medal has been given out 74 times, honouring dogs, pigeons, horses, even a cat.

 

Mr. Bayne claimed he was astounded by the proceeds from the sale of the items.

 

The Taylor McNally Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that provides training and education in chicken husbandry, will get the revenues.