The Bomber Dog Read Online Free PDF Page B

the park, wagging his tail to
sniff and say hello.
    Most of the dog owners were happy to see
him, but some owners, especially those with little dogs, were frightened and quickly
picked up their pets for safety.
    ‘Looks like he could eat my Trixie
for breakfast …’
    ‘I’m sure he
wouldn’t,’ Nathan replied.
    ‘Don’t want Puddle getting
injured by those big paws …’
    ‘He’s quite gentle,
really,’ Nathan said.
    ‘My, but you’ve got a big
dog there. I bet the War Dog Training School would like a few more like
him.’
    Nathan hadn’t heard of the War Dog
Training School before.
    ‘What’s that?’ he
asked.
    But the lady didn’t know much
about it. ‘There was an advert in the paper. They’re looking for dogs to
train up for the war effort.’
    Nathan looked down at
Grey, who gazed up at him and then down at his ball.
    ‘Where is this War Dog Training
School?’ Nathan asked the lady. ‘Is it around here?’
    ‘No, it isn’t local. Let me
see. It was somewhere I haven’t been … Hampshire,
Herefordshire … no … oh, I remember, it was
Hertfordshire.’
    Nathan threw the ball for Grey who raced
after it but then he spotted a honey-coated spaniel, a lot like Molly, way across
the other side of the park and he went racing over to it.
    ‘Grey, Grey, come back!’
Nathan called as he ran after him.
    The dog wasn’t Molly, and worse
still the owner looked at Grey in horror and dragged his own dog away.
    ‘Keep that brute away from my
dog,’ he shouted at Nathan.
    ‘He was just coming to say
hello,’ Nathan said reasonably. ‘He thought …’ But the mandidn’t let him finish. ‘Dogs like him don’t
think – they just attack without warning,’ he said, and stomped off.
    Nathan looked down at Grey and sighed.
‘I suppose to some people you might look a bit dangerous.’
    Grey tilted his head to one side and
looked up at him. ‘But not once they get to know you, of course,’ Nathan
added.
    Grey panted as he watched the spaniel
being dragged out of the park. Nathan was sure he had run over to the dog because
he’d hoped it might be his friend.
    ‘Come on,’ he said, picking
up Grey’s lead. The Houghton Street Clinic, where Molly had been taken,
wasn’t far away. ‘Let’s see how she’s getting on.’
    Kate was stunned to see them both when
they arrived.
    ‘Isn’t that the dog from
last night?’ she asked.
    Nathan nodded as Grey sat down next tohim. ‘We came to see how his friend was getting
on,’ Nathan added.
    ‘Molly went home with her owner
this morning,’ Kate said. ‘Both of them looked over the moon to be
reunited. Molly will need to take it easy for the next few days, but I’m sure
she’ll be getting lots of cuddles and love and will be better in no
time.’ She looked down at Grey. ‘He looks like you gave him a
bath.’
    ‘I did. Do you think maybe someone
would take him on now? Only I would, I really would, but I’m off to basic
training tomorrow.’
    Kate shook her head. ‘I’m
sorry,’ she said. ‘But no one’s taking on any stray dogs, not in
wartime.’
    Nathan understood but he still felt bad.
It wasn’t the dog’s fault that they were at war.
    He remembered the woman in the park
mentioning the War Dog Training School.
    ‘Have you heard about the War Dog
Training School?’ he asked. ‘Could he go there? I bet he’d make a
great war dog.’
    Kate nodded.
‘There’s a poster about it on the wall over there. A big, healthy young
dog like him might be lucky and get selected.’
    ‘Whereabouts in Hertfordshire is
it?’ Nathan asked her, as Grey watched with interest as other dogs and cats
were brought in and taken out of the clinic doors in a seemingly never-ending
stream.
    ‘Place called Potters Bar,’
she told him. ‘But they’d expect him to be able to walk to heel and have
some basic obedience skills.’
    ‘I can teach him those,’
Nathan said.
    ‘I bet you could,’ Kate
replied. ‘He certainly does seem to like you.