Competition: Andrew Higgins - With the S.A.S. and Other Animals

When an army talks of winning the 'hearts and minds' of the citizens of a country in conflict, how does this happen? For young, newly-qualified vet Andrew Higgins in 1974 it was through joining a largely agrarian community in Oman and being solely responsible for the veterinary care of a territory roughly the size of Hungary.

Attached to A Squadron, 22 SAS as an officer of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Higgins was caring for not only crucially important - and loved - goats, camels, sheep and cattle on which the community's livelihood depended, but also the Sultan's horses, dogs and birds - not to mention bears and hyenas.

Dr. Higgins has now put together a compelling book about his time in the desert, with an extraordinary mix of vet tales and Special Forces action.

With the S.A.S. and Other Animals: A Vet's Experiences During the Dhofar War 1974 is available in hardback from Amazon, but one lucky supporter win a copy signed by the author.

How To Enter:

This competition has now closed. The winner will be informed by email.

Buy a Copy:

By using this link to visit Amazon, Dogs Trust earns a small commission on purchases made within that session without any extra cost to you; this is regardless of which items you purchase (provided you are still within the original session).

You can also 'like' the book's page on Facebook!

More About the Author:

Dr Andrew Higgins is a graduate of the Royal Veterinary College, London, with a Master's degree in Tropical Animal Health and Production from the University of Edinburgh. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Veterinary Journal and has co-edited The Equine Manual and The Camel in Health and Disease. He currently chairs the Doping and Medication Advisory Panel of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain as well as being Chairman of the Retired Greyhound Trust and working with a number of other animal charities including the Animals in War Memorial Fund.

He is a former trustee of Dogs Trust, and a great friend to the charity.

He and his wife, Nicola, have four grown-up children and live in Suffolk.

Friday Fun Caption Competition: Win SIGNED copies of Marc the Vet's book!

Do you like books about vets? Do you like competitions? Do you like silly pictures of cats? Today is your lucky day...

Below is Izzi, who belongs to one of our lovely fundraising officers, Michelle. We're not sure what she thinks of one of our Dogs Trust mailings, but perhaps you can tell us.

The best part is, if we like your answer you could win a signed copy of Marc Abraham's book, Vet on Call: My First Year as an Out-of-Hours Vet. It's an honest, funny and heartwarming true story of the beginning of the now well-known TV vet's journey caring for animals and we have seven copies to give away to our most creative supporters!

How to enter:

The competition is now closed, but feel free to add your captions for fun if you'd like to!

Although it was a very close call with some excellent entries, and we've picked seven winners, the digital team's favourite so far has been:

"Iz bilingual, I speaks cat and dog but trying to read this human stuff makes me want to hock up a hairball."

Well done Jeri in Aberdeen for that one!

Marc, aka TV's 'Marc the Vet', is a much appreciated friend who has often come along to our Dogs Trust Honours events and we're really happy he chose to let some of our supporters gets their hands on his great book this way.

If you're not lucky, you can always pick up a copy from Amazon.