The Pope and Jake the explosives sniffer

Pope Benedict XVI yesterday stopped to give a police dog an unexpected pat while thanking some of the 2,000 members of the West Midlands Police who had helped to protect him during his visit.
After meeting the seminarians of England, Wales and Scotland at Oscott College, Sutton Coldfield, the Pope saw Jake, a black Springador who acts as an explosives sniffer for the police.
Wading through a crowd of public servants the Pope was greeted by the dog, who appeared to enjoy the attention. ( Catholic Herald)


Photo via AmP

It really was nice to see Holy Father petting that dog. It's always good to see glimpses of him interacting spontaneously - too often things are scripted and when in the UK he had to follow the directions of (the often brusque) Italian security detail which was with him.

You can see the video here. Starting at around 1:00.



The Pope's brother, Georg, recalled in an interview about the young Joseph Ratzinger that "He was a lively child, but not an earthquake. I remember him always happy. Since he was small he showed a great sensitivity to animals, flowers and nature in general. Maybe it was also because of this that at Christmas, he always received gifts of cloth animals. His love of nature and living things is one of his character traits."
See also CNA

AmP notes that is not the pope’s first public encounter with a canine. He also likes St. Bernards:


I
ndeed, affection for St. Bernards seems to run in the Ratzinger family (this is the pope’s brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger):