The death of police dog Bruce brought poignant memories flooding back for former dog handler David Rowland.

His dog, also called Bruce, died after a tragic accident in 1965.

Here, after a 37-year silence, the retired Brighton officer writes a moving letter about the trauma and how he has never forgotten "his Bruce."

In 1965 I was selected to become a police dog handler and two male puppies, three months old, were bought from Mrs Butler, a professional breeder near Midhurst.

I was moved from my home in Woodingdean to a police house in Lower Bevendean where there was already a dog kennel in the rear garden.

I was charged with bringing up these puppies, treating them like pets for a few weeks prior to their training.

I had already selected my dog and named him Bruce; he was an unusual colour being red sable.

My family quickly took to Bruce, my two children adored him, and he they.

The training started when he was old enough and, like the dog, I also was learning the ways of a police dog and the various ways of training.

It was all a game at first and I was very lucky as Bruce took to the training as a duck takes to water.

He only had to be shown the exercises a couple of times and his intelligence allowed him to fully understand the task and he then mastered it.

He continually managed to master all the exercises, such as tracking up to a mile across fields, man-work and retrieving.

They were no problem to him and he gradually obtained near-perfect results.

My family had by this time taken him as a pet and it was very important that he accepted people and in particular children.

Another part of his exercises was a walk along the busy seafront at the height of the season, where people, especially the children, patted and made a fuss of him. He just loved all that.

Bruce continued to grow and was very strong - at nine months old he weighed more than 100lb.

He had a wonderful temperament and like all police dog handlers I was very proud of him.

It was likely that he could have been a particularly good and efficient dog due to the fact that he was so easy to train.

About this time we were selected to attend a dog-training course at Mount Browne, Guildford. This was the headquarters of Surrey Police who were responsible for the training of the region's police dogs.

We had completed one week's training and on the Monday of the second week I took Bruce down to the field, for his early morning run.

We had been there for a few minutes when Bruce was involved in a freak accident.

Bruce was running about when he suddenly skidded on the wet grass and slid a short distance into the metal stanchion of a goal post.

His under body struck the stanchion, rupturing his spleen. He cried out immediately. I didn't know the extent of his injury as he was rushed to the police vet nearby.

He was given a pain-killing injection and after an examination I was informed of the seriousness of his injury. I think the vet probably kept something from me at that stage.

I was allowed to stay with him all night in his kennel and gave him sips of water and pain-killing tablets when he awoke from time to time.

Later the next morning, he died with me still cuddling him and I then had to hand him over to the senior dog trainer.

I was pretty distraught and was told to collect my personal uniform and my dog's training gear and make my way back to Brighton.

I went home and, in floods of tears, explained to my wife and children the terrible episode and that Bruce wouldn't be coming home any more.

It was a very upsetting and unpleasant time with us all crying, there being no difference between adults and children. The pain was the same for us all.

I have every sympathy for the family of PC Pete Tattum and have some idea of what they are going through.

It doesn't matter how your dog dies, the end result is the same - misery and tears.

The death of my Bruce has never been made public and this is the first time I have written about him.

This happened 37 years ago and even after all this time and as I write this, I could so easily shed a tear or two. It is as clear now to me as it was on the fateful day all those years ago.

To Pete and his family, I sincerely wish the pain will ease as the months and years go by. But one thing is sure - you will never forget your Bruce.