Soldier Dog

By Sam Angus

Stanley's dad hasn't been the same since his wife died and his eldest son went off to fight in the war. Now Stanley is either invisible to his dad or the object of one of his rages, and his only friend is his dad's prizewinning greyhound, Rocket. But one day Rocket escapes, and the result is a litter of non-thoroughbred puppies that Da says will all have to be drowned, even Stanley's favourite puppy, Solider. Stanley is so angry with his father that he runs away and enlists in the army to train as a messenger dog handler, and despite being far too young he's soon heading to France with a great Dane called Bones by his side.

As the fighting escalates and Stanley experiences the horrors of war, he comes to realise that the loyalty of his dog is the one thing he can rely on. But his father hasn't given up on him, and extraordinary circumstances will bring them together once more . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Jul 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781447228172

Sam Angus

Sam Angus was born in Italy, grew up in France and Spain and was educated rather haphazardly in most of these countries, at many different schools. She was asked to leave at least one school. She studied English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge where she kept a dog until he was discovered being smuggled out of college in a laundry basket. So she was summoned and asked to leave Cambridge too. Unless the dog left, in which case she might stay. She taught A level English before spending a decade in the fashion industry and now writes full time. She lives between Exmoor and London with improvident numbers of children, dogs and horses.

Reviews for Soldier Dog

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not quite as heart-wrenching as Martin Booth's War Dog (McElderry, 1996) but nonetheless an elegantly written, completely engrossing story. A great novel to recommend to readers who enjoy Michael Morpurgo's War Horse.

[claireh18 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh my goodness, where do I start? This is quite simply the best book I have read in a long while. Although recommended to me ages ago, I've only just got round to reading this, as it's one of the two books I'll read this month for the bookclub I'm a member of.I'll admit that I was initially a bit put off this book by the front cover picture and description on the back cover, as I'm not very interested in books about war and fighting. However, although it is set during the first world war and a lot of the scenes take place close to the front lines in France, this story is so much more than just a war book. Fourteen year old Stanley is the main (human!) character and he is endearing and well written. The supporting characters (human and canine) spring into life from the pages and managed to bring forth just about every emotion in me. Happy to angry, frustrated to sad, i finished this feeling wrung out and left me an emotional wreck!This book is extremely rare in that I didn't pick up a single grammatical error whilst reading. I have to say I can't honestly remember when that last happened. The use of vocabulary is wide and the descriptive language fantastic.This is a tale of love, betrayal, hurt, pride, family and, most importantly to me, it depicts the level of emotion that I feel for my dogs like nothing else I've ever read. A true masterpiece that I'll be recommending to all my friends, especially my fellow dog lovers. This book just made me want to cuddle my hounds all the way through. Brilliant brilliant writing.

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sam Angus centers her story around a little known aspect of World War I. I certainly didn't know that 100,000 dogs assisted the armies on the battlefield in a number of ways. This is the story of a young boy named Stanley Ryder who runs away to enlist and finds himself working with those dogs.Stanley had been living with his father who had lost himself in grief when his wife suddenly died and when his older son went off to war. Stanley's Da had turned bitter and angry and took out that anger on his young son. When Da's prize greyhound gets out and comes back bred by some local mutt, Stanley is left to care for the animal because his father refuses to take care of her or feed her. Stanley's relationship with Rocket is the only love he is getting in his life. When she has four puppies, his father threatens to drown them all. Stanley is closest to the only male who he names Soldier. He had to help the pup survive as it wasn't born breathing. When the pups are six weeks old, Da gives them away to the tinkers whose dog bred the mother but they don't want Soldier. When Da takes Soldier and Stanley thinks he has drowned him, Stanley decides that there is nothing left for him and runs away to join the army to find his brother Tom. Those must have been desperate times for Britain because, even though he is just fourteen, he is allowed to enlist. He is assigned to serve with a unit that is handling messenger dogs and is given charge of a dog named Bones. Again, because the situation is desperate for England, Stanley finds himself and his dog in France and in deadly danger. He continues his search for his brother but they keep missing each other. The war scenes in this book were graphic and chilling. When Bones dies heroically while trying to accomplish a mission, Stanley is devastated. However, despite his determination to go home, he is given another dog name Pistol who needs him as much as Stanley needs a dog to be responsible for.The two go through battles. Pistol is severely injured on the mission but manages to finish it with Stanley's help. Stanley is blinded by gas and has his lungs damaged too.He is separated from his dog and fears that the dog won't survive. Beyond the battles, this is a story of survival and love. It does have a hopeful ending. I think middle graders will take this story to heart. I recommend it.