Jock of the Bushveld
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Jock of the Bushveld is a true story by South African author Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. The book tells of FitzPatrick's travels with his dog Jock during the 1880s, when he worked as a storeman, prospector's assistant, journalist and ox-wagon transport-rider in the Bushveld region of the Transvaal (then the South African Republic).
FitzPatrick later recounted these adventures as bedtime stories to his four children. Rudyard Kipling, a good friend of FitzPatrick, also took part in these story-telling evenings and eventually persuaded him to collect these tales in book form. Illustrations for the book were done by Edmund Caldwell, a brother of Mary Tourtel, creator of Rupert Bear.
The book was first published in 1907 and had an extremely warm reception, being reprinted four times in that year alone. Since then it has achieved the status of a classic South African book and has been also widely read abroad - more than one hundred editions have been printed and it has been translated into Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Xhosa and Zulu, amongst others. Jock was saved by Percy fitzpatrick from being drowned in a bucket for being the runt of the litter (he would ruin the litter if left with them). Despite being the runt of the litter, Jock was very loyal towards Percy, and brave.
He was once enticed to fight a baboon by Seedling. He killed the baboon in the fight, due to his small, stocky build. (This is ironic because it is common nowadays for breeds similar to Jock to be stolen to compete in dog fights in Alexandra, Johannesburg.)
Jock permanently lost his hearing when a kudu cow kicked him. This is attributed as one of the main reasons he died, as he could not hear Tom Barnett, when he called him, and was mistakingly shot, because he was thought to be the dog killing chickens on the farm. (Meanwhile Jock had already killed the other intruding dog)
Jock was a staffordshire bull terrier.
