Former policeman Colin Butcher tells Jane McGowan how he transformed an abandoned spaniel into Britain’s premier pet detective...
Back in 2013, The Guildford Magazine ran an article about Colin Butcher, a Cranleigh based ex-police officer turned private detective and founder of the UK Pet Detectives agency. It ended with Colin talking about the ‘cat behaviour’ project he was launching in Shamley Green, complete with an appeal for local pet owners to get in touch, should they wish to learn more about how their feline friends spent their day.
Readers responded in their droves – and they weren’t the only ones intrigued by the prospect of cat tracking. The article also attracted interest from the BBC and Colin’s project would become the subject of a hit documentary: The Secret Life of the Cat.
“My agency was regularly involved in looking for stolen dogs and horses, which was very successful,” explains Colin. “But at least 50% of our cases related to missing cats and around half of those went unsolved. Unless the cat had only just disappeared, there wasn’t much we could do. My office manager began to worry that we were turning away too many people who had come to us for help.”
So Colin and his team hit upon the idea of the feline-following project, hoping to discover where these kitties ended up once out of the home environment.
“We wanted to find the triggers and causes of their disappearance,” says Colin. “It just so happened that during the project we came across a particularly nomadic cat and, with the help of BBC cameras and the Royal Veterinary College, were able to track it, catch it and then reunite it with its owners.
“Tracking that cat helped us to understand why it had left its home, which then gave us the confidence to take on more cases.”
The agency’s success rate in locating missing moggies duly increased. Yet Colin still wasn’t satisfied.
Then it hit him. Thinking back to his childhood, he recalled the time that the family cat had gone missing. The humans searched and searched, but in the end, it was their canine companion, a Shih Tzu, who came up trumps.
“We had been doing renovations and had had the floorboards up. The cat had obviously gone down for a look. The floor was then resealed, but the dog was constantly scratching and whining. He was doing his best to tell us. Eventually, we paid attention and rescued the cat.
“So, I knew that dogs could find cats. What I didn’t know was whether you could train them to find one in particular. So I started looking for a dog who could do just that.”
The search led Colin to Germany, where dogs are increasingly being used to solve criminal cases.
“Traditionally dogs are trained to find one odour – gunpowder, drugs. I needed a dog that could work with multiple smells, as no two cats smell the same.”
Enter Molly. It was back in 2016 that Colin was introduced to his canine crime-fighting partner. He was looking for a cocker spaniel – a rescue dog, if possible – and the team had already assessed about a dozen to no avail. Either the dogs were predisposed to chase cats or they weren’t very good with people.
“We needed an intelligent dog with a great personality and a great work ethic,” explains Colin, who is clearly devoted to his charge. “And Molly was the one.”
In fact, Molly had had three owners in just 10 months, but Colin persevered, sure she was the right choice.
“When I first started taking her into pubs she had a real fear of them. Which makes me suspect that one of the unsuccessful handovers took place in a pub. I think she associated the smell of beer with something bad that had happened. So we would visit lots of pubs, which sounds like a great job!
“And while I might move away from her for a few minutes to talk to people, we would always leave together. We were replacing bad memories with good ones.”
The challenging part of Molly’s training was teaching her to discriminate between odours. Accordingly, Colin enlisted the help of a canine specialist and the team at Medical Detection Dogs: an organisation that trains dogs to detect disease in humans through smell. Twelve months of intensive training later, Molly became the only dog in Britain – and indeed Europe – to embark upon her distinctive line of work.
Four-year-old Molly has now completed more than 100 missing cat missions, boasting a fine success rate of over 75%. One thing, however, may hamper her detection prowess: online shopping.
Sorry? Yes indeed. For while delivery drivers parking on main roads lock their vans, those rolling into Surrey’s generous driveways rarely feel the need – and a curious kitty can find her way into an open van within seconds, only to emerge on the other side of town. Or back at some distant depot.
“We class that as accidental transportation. And sadly, as the trail goes cold at once, there is nothing we can do.”
Colin’s passion for the work is clear. And when he wrote about it in the Guardian, it wasn’t long before a publisher came calling. A sponsor of the Guildford Book Festival for many years, Colin asked a contact to help him navigate his way to a deal. The result: Molly & Me, published last month to its author’s immense satisfaction. Sold into 11 countries, due for translation into more than 13 languages, it seems sure to make Molly a global star.
“We have been working together for two and a half years and Molly is an absolute treasure. One of the core messages in the book is that you can take a creature with an unknown background, give it the right environment and end up with a fabulous dog. You can give it a second chance.”
Gathering stories for the book was not a problem: the hard bit was finding the time to write them down.
“As a detective inspector, I found the pressure to solve the serious crime was huge – and rightly so. But having a manuscript to deliver, the pressure was constant.
“And I’m such a sucker for phone requests. I’d set aside a day for writing, but then I’d get a plea from someone whose cat had gone missing, and Molly and I would be off.
“That’s our job; and, for me, the feeling of helping out is contagious. There is nothing better than seeing a distraught owner reunited with their pet.”
Molly & Me, by Colin Butcher, published by Michael Joseph (£12.99)