As an animal protection officer (APO) with the SPCA, Lloyd Howden saw abused animals, angry pet owners, and more. One man even went to court and was charged with assault. But through it all, Lloyd never lost his love of the job.
After he died of cancer, his wife, Janice Howden, decided to write a book as a memorial to her husband. She promoted the book, Badge #124, at the Reid-Thompson Public Library on Jan. 28 along with her Tibetan Terrier, Rahj.
“[After he died], I thought, ‘now what?’ I had to find something constructive do with my life,” she said. “And when I thought about writing down these stories, it gave me a mission. This was one way I could keep his memory alive, could tell people about what contributions he’s made to animal welfare here in Saskatchewan and feel like I’ve accomplished something.”
When Lloyd became an APO, Howden became his office secretary and sounding board – a willing pair of ears for the many stories he racked up over the course of his career. Those stories became the basis for the book.
Not only did Lloyd help many animals over the course of his 12-year career, but he also helped improve how APOs do their jobs. One of the things he impressed upon new APOs is the importance of making sure you were in a safe situation before trying to help others. When he arrived at someone’s house, he would look around before he got out of the car to make sure there were no angry dogs or homeowners. Once, he went to a scene with a group of RCMP officers and the sergeant began reaming out the officers with him for not turning their vehicles around like Lloyd in case they needed to make a quick getaway.
“The only way the public can help is if they know what’s going on so I thought this was an opportunity to not only talk about Lloyd, but for the public to learn what kinds of things that they encountered,” she said.
Lloyd became an APO after he retired from working in the Lanigan mine. He wanted something to do, something that he could be passionate about. So when he saw the SPCA needed an APO in the area, he applied.
“They interviewed him and he said, ‘I don’t know how I got the job. I don’t know what was wrong with the other applicants that they chose me.’ But he was very modest that way,” she said. “I think he didn’t realize all the things he had going for him. His people skills … his organizational skills, his attention to detail and bookwork. All those were an asset when he started doing it.”
When Howden first began writing the book at the end of 2012, she struggled at first with how to write it. She finally settled on writing it from his perspective, and took great pains to use words and phrases that he would, such as “I am neither intimidated nor impressed,” something he used to tell people who tried to intimidate him over the course of his job.
“The nicest thing that I was ever told was by his brother … [Lloyd’s family] wrote me a thank you note after Christmas congratulating me on the book and saying, ‘There are parts of the book where we could hear Lloyd saying these things.’ I think that’s the best compliment you could ever get,” she said. “I tried really hard to pull those things out of my memory so they would be part of the book to make it more like his story.”
She finished writing the book in the fall of 2014 and wanted it released by Christmas. It came out Dec. 15 of last year. She was initially going to self-publish, but thought she would have more credibility through a publisher. Since it was released, she’s been spending time promoting it, which she acknowledges is difficult in the winter. She wants to do a reading in Archerwill and has been invited to Elbow. She said the general response has been very good and she’s glad that she’s raising awareness for how APOs contribute to animal welfare.
“I don’t know if he would ever tell you this, but I think he liked it because it was kind of kickass,” she said. “He liked to be able to go in there and change the things for animals. Even if he couldn’t get the case to court, at least he knew he did the best he could.”
