Beyond the Call of Duty: Heart-warming stories of canine devotion and bravery

by Isabel George

A second collection of incredible and heart-warming canine stories from around the world, from the bestselling author of The Dog That Saved My Life. Animals have accompanied man into battle since war first waged. Since those times, many stories have been told of the bears, camels, cats, dolphins, monkeys, mules, rats and other creatures that have served with the Armed Forces during both world wars and beyond. The four stories in this book represent the devotion and unquestioning loyalty of the canine companion in the darkest days of war. From the stub-tailed Bull Terrier that became a hero of the First World War, and the most decorated dog in history, after his bravery in the trenches of Flanders, to the remarkable loyalty of an Iraqi stray dog who attached himself to British troops in North Port and then patrolled their camp every night, protecting them from being attacked by the vicious packs of dogs living in the desert, each is an incredible tale of wartime bravery as well as an example of inspiring commitment and courage.

Genres: Dogs, Animals, Nonfiction, History

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2010

About the author

Isabel George, the international bestselling author of Buster: The Military Dog Who Saved a Thousand Lives, writes with a passion and respect for animals in war. A writer and journalist Isabel's work has appeared in the Daily Mail, Daily Express, Guardian Weekend, various pet magazines and women's consumer magazines such as Living and SHE.

Reviews

[Selina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to finish this, I gave up and came back to it as a few of the stories were a bit slow and the numerous spelling mistakes were annoying me! But I'm a huge dog lover and the stories were good; the dogs definitely make up for the writing!

[Saturday's Child · Rating 4 out of 5]

What amazing dogs.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, I read it years ago and thought I’d re read it. It’s a collection of stories about dogs who served in or in some cases attached themselves to soldiers in conflicts around the world.
Some of these canine heroes you wouldn’t believe were war dogs. A tiny Yorkshire terrier helping save an airforce base, a bull terrier latching onto to some yankees and acting as a gas attack alarm.
Treo an unwanted pet becoming the recipient of the Dickin medal for saving countless lives with his super nose.
This is a great book for dog lovers, it reinforces that special bond between man and dog and the title does it justice, dogs always go beyond the call of duty.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great dogs. Wish the writing was as good. Bit like reading someones first draft university assignment- especially the first story. Revisions and editors are great things.

[Mark Latchford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four charming stories about dogs from the First and Second World War and Afghanistan. Frankly, their tales could have been written which much less verbosity and more accurate writing about ten historical context. Perhaps better abbreviated for a Sunday newspaper magazine. The writing is designed for a high school audience and too many errors about the military campaigns in which they are set. The masters are not covered in any detail either. BTW Australia did not use dollars until 1966 yet cited several times as being in use in wartime PNG.

[Valerio Pastore · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars because the stories were heartwarming as promised (and totally heartbreaking as well!), but this looks more like a series of excerpts from three other books rather than the fruit of a researched job.
I say this because there are a lot of doggy war heroes...but, imagine!, just three of the protagonists from three bestsellers were picked up!
At worst, this book does a good promotion for the source material and I appreciate it.

[Lesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to day that this is without a doubt one of the most boring book I have ever read. It took me ages to read and I'm so pleased it's finished.
It Should have been so much better,but the writing is almost childlike and uninspiring, I'm sorry to say.
Not sure how it got to be a Sunday Times bestseller...

[Simran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dogs are always great. Even at their worse. This book however couldn't do justice to the dog stories. The writing is very slow and not attractive.
I would give this book a pass.

[Barbara Ab · Rating 1 out of 5]

Indeed the author is not a professional writer… written in a badly boring way I couldn’t finish it… just went on skipping pages…

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but repetitive

[Stephen Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has 5 stories of dogs in wartime. I overall enjoyed the book and am glad it is in my current collection of 203 books on dogs. My criticism is based on comparison of books similar in topic that I liked more.
Some stories were only mildly good. Being true to life, the stories outside of the two I will talk about at more length below did not hit the notes as high as a Hollywood movie, but overall good details. I think the authors concise style carried things along quickly and covered the details, but maybe too fast so as to not grab your feelings so much.

One story, 'Antis, Loyal unto death' is a short version of what is told in the book, The Dog who could Fly, by Damien Lewis. Good short version on the dogs story, but what really sold me was additional details on what happened to the dog and owner after WWII was over in Czechoslovakia.

I had the same feeling on the story for Sergeant Stubby. I only recently got the full book, on this dog, which I have not read. I felt like this amazing story was ran through too quickly. If you just want to know what happened, the accounting in Beyond the Call of Duty is enough, but if you want to really feel the story, I am sure the full book will be more fulfilling.

There is a lot of great books on dogs in war, this one is only good.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this.

I'd already read full length books about Treo and Antis, (both books were awesome), so was more interested in the stories of Smoky, Stubby and Tangye. Fascinated by the tales of bravery shown especially by Stubby and Smoky. Hadn't realised there were any dogs in the trenches of WW1.

[Lorelei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eve if you are crazy about animals, this is a hard book to finish because the stories are incredibly slow moving. The tales are sweet but ramble on an awfully long time. I find most of the Sunday Times Bestsellers are Granny-type reads; it was a sweet older lady who recommended this to me so it makes sense.

[Louise]

No dogs commandeering tanks. Realistically I'm not going to finish this!

[Savina King · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful book,a must read.

[P.J. Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable and easy read...