What do you think?
Rate this book
Wylie the Brave Street Dog Who Never Gave Up
When people gave up on Wylie, Wylie refused to give up on people.
For a street dog born in the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan, to be crowned top dog at Scruffts, a competition for crossbreeds held during Crufts, the largest dog show on earth, is nothing short of a miracle. But for Wylie, the gentle, cropped eared ball of fur, miracles seemed to happen quite regularly.
Beaten and abused at the hands of uncaring humans, Wylie suffered terrible injuries that needed urgent treatment. Rescued close to death, with hacked off ears and a severed tail, he was attended to by soldiers who feared he would not last the night. Astonishingly he did, only to return days later with new injuries.
However a lifeline came when he was handed over to animal welfare Charity Nowzad and flown to Britain in the hope of finding a new life. But would anyone take a chance on a seemingly undomesticated stray? Luckily for Wylie his biggest adventure yet was about to begin...
For a street dog born in the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan, to be crowned top dog at Scruffts, a competition for crossbreeds held during Crufts, the largest dog show on earth, is nothing short of a miracle. But for Wylie, the gentle, cropped eared ball of fur, miracles seemed to happen quite regularly.
Beaten and abused at the hands of uncaring humans, Wylie suffered terrible injuries that needed urgent treatment. Rescued close to death, with hacked off ears and a severed tail, he was attended to by soldiers who feared he would not last the night. Astonishingly he did, only to return days later with new injuries.
However a lifeline came when he was handed over to animal welfare Charity Nowzad and flown to Britain in the hope of finding a new life. But would anyone take a chance on a seemingly undomesticated stray? Luckily for Wylie his biggest adventure yet was about to begin...
- GenresNonfictionAnimalsDogs
274 pages, Hardcover
First published September 11, 2014
25 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 2, 2020
'When people gave up on Wylie, Wylie refused to give up on people.'
For a street dog born in the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan, to be crowned top dog at Scruffts, a competition for crossbreeds held during Crufts, the largest dog show on earth, is nothing short of a miracle. But for Wylie, the gentle, cropped eared ball of fur, miracles seemed to happen quite regularly.
Beaten and abused while being used as a bait dog, Wylie suffered terrible injuries that needed urgent treatment. Rescued close to death, with hacked off ears and a severed tail, he was attended to by soldiers who feared he would not last the night. Astonishingly he did, only to return days later with new injuries.
However a lifeline came when he was handed over to animal welfare Charity Nowzad and flown to Britain in the hope of finding a new life. But would anyone take a chance on a seemingly nervous and undomesticated stray? Luckily for Wylie his biggest adventure yet was about to begin...
This is the incredible and heart-warming story, full of tragedy and triumph, of a dog who never gave up hope.
Although I give the book four stars, I give Pen Farthing Five stars...
Why?
Well I found the book a little slow and heavy at first, only really became interesting and nearly half way through the book, the first is "How" Socks/Wylie survived in the desert, heat and brutality and beating he took before a lovely Australian lady called Danielle came to the story, then we are introduced to the author Pen Farthing, here it gets interesting as we learn of the battles behind his amazing charity Nowzad.
How Wylie finally makes it to his new owner, and the tough and fun character of Wylie.
With a great happy ending and life for Wylie and his owner.
For a street dog born in the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan, to be crowned top dog at Scruffts, a competition for crossbreeds held during Crufts, the largest dog show on earth, is nothing short of a miracle. But for Wylie, the gentle, cropped eared ball of fur, miracles seemed to happen quite regularly.
Beaten and abused while being used as a bait dog, Wylie suffered terrible injuries that needed urgent treatment. Rescued close to death, with hacked off ears and a severed tail, he was attended to by soldiers who feared he would not last the night. Astonishingly he did, only to return days later with new injuries.
However a lifeline came when he was handed over to animal welfare Charity Nowzad and flown to Britain in the hope of finding a new life. But would anyone take a chance on a seemingly nervous and undomesticated stray? Luckily for Wylie his biggest adventure yet was about to begin...
This is the incredible and heart-warming story, full of tragedy and triumph, of a dog who never gave up hope.
Although I give the book four stars, I give Pen Farthing Five stars...
Why?
Well I found the book a little slow and heavy at first, only really became interesting and nearly half way through the book, the first is "How" Socks/Wylie survived in the desert, heat and brutality and beating he took before a lovely Australian lady called Danielle came to the story, then we are introduced to the author Pen Farthing, here it gets interesting as we learn of the battles behind his amazing charity Nowzad.
How Wylie finally makes it to his new owner, and the tough and fun character of Wylie.
With a great happy ending and life for Wylie and his owner.
October 13, 2014
The story of Wylie pulled at my heart strings. The work of Nowzad is amazing, however this book was slightly written all over the shop. There was long sections of the story that did not relate much to Wylie's story, and there was a lot of editorial errors.
November 17, 2017
I read this book for my english class where we had to read a biography, so I chose this book because I absolutly love dogs and have one myself.
Starting the book, I knew it was hard for me to read the entire thing without crying because it starts off with a few distcriptions of how the dog has been injured and abused, describing his wounds. Throughot the book there are many detailed discriptions of how disrespectful the people in Afgahnistan treetet the street dog so it wanst really abook for me.
What I did like about the biography is how the author Pen Farthingused good descriptive adjectives and really emotional feelings throughout the book, which is the reason why i continued to read the book.
The book is about a street dog born in Afganistan, that had spent his first four years as a fight dog for entertainment when Danielle found her and rescued her from the brutal people wnating to harm Wylie. Part of why this story is so special and magical is because of the fact that Wylie survived so many injurys and attempts to kill her and now is an amazing helathy dog with loving owners. Thrughout the story, Pen Farthing writes about Whylies adventure which is really catchy and gets you into the book fast.
I would not recoment this book to people hwo cant imagine blood or disturbing images but in general I think the biography is a great story.
Starting the book, I knew it was hard for me to read the entire thing without crying because it starts off with a few distcriptions of how the dog has been injured and abused, describing his wounds. Throughot the book there are many detailed discriptions of how disrespectful the people in Afgahnistan treetet the street dog so it wanst really abook for me.
What I did like about the biography is how the author Pen Farthingused good descriptive adjectives and really emotional feelings throughout the book, which is the reason why i continued to read the book.
The book is about a street dog born in Afganistan, that had spent his first four years as a fight dog for entertainment when Danielle found her and rescued her from the brutal people wnating to harm Wylie. Part of why this story is so special and magical is because of the fact that Wylie survived so many injurys and attempts to kill her and now is an amazing helathy dog with loving owners. Thrughout the story, Pen Farthing writes about Whylies adventure which is really catchy and gets you into the book fast.
I would not recoment this book to people hwo cant imagine blood or disturbing images but in general I think the biography is a great story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2021
Wonderful story, all the better for being true.
Wylie, it's been said a million times but I am going to make it a million and one times, that you were and are so brave. We all know that animals can cope with pain much more than we humans, but in Wylie's case it wasn't just pain, he escaped death twice that came with those injuries.
I can't leave the multitude of people out that fought in Afghanistan and looked after all the war dogs and cats. I looked on YouTube and saw Milo winning Scuffts and the episode of Wylie, Pen and Sarah on a breakfast television. Congratulations to you all and 'Thank you' from the 'dog' mum who read the book and her three canine furbabes.
Wylie, it's been said a million times but I am going to make it a million and one times, that you were and are so brave. We all know that animals can cope with pain much more than we humans, but in Wylie's case it wasn't just pain, he escaped death twice that came with those injuries.
I can't leave the multitude of people out that fought in Afghanistan and looked after all the war dogs and cats. I looked on YouTube and saw Milo winning Scuffts and the episode of Wylie, Pen and Sarah on a breakfast television. Congratulations to you all and 'Thank you' from the 'dog' mum who read the book and her three canine furbabes.
October 15, 2019
I regret having to say that there's a lot to not like in this book.
Wylie is amazing.
Helping animals in need is amazing.
This book? Not so much.
That they even feature Cesar Milan in it, which is just... please no.
Wylie, and dogs like him, should never be exposed to CM's horrific methods of "animal training", they've been through enough.
Overall, this was a book that I repeatedly put down and just wanted to be over. I thought more than once about quitting.
I'm glad I know Wylie's story, but I probably wouldn't have finished the book if I wasn't so stubborn.
Wylie is amazing.
Helping animals in need is amazing.
This book? Not so much.
That they even feature Cesar Milan in it, which is just... please no.
Wylie, and dogs like him, should never be exposed to CM's horrific methods of "animal training", they've been through enough.
Overall, this was a book that I repeatedly put down and just wanted to be over. I thought more than once about quitting.
I'm glad I know Wylie's story, but I probably wouldn't have finished the book if I wasn't so stubborn.
October 1, 2020
Wylie is a heart warming story that will make you question why humans would treat a dog in this manner. This book touched me and inspired me to try and help local charities and help as much as i can so dogs like Wylie can have a better life. This book as changed my aspect on my life choices in my daily life.
September 15, 2021
Loved the book, it created a whole raft of emotions, happy tears sad tears, and complete admiration for Pen and his charity. The beautiful trus story of endurance and love that a dog can give. Wylie you are a beautiful soul. Well worth the read, by buying this book you also help a wonderful charity
July 30, 2022
Loved all three books by Pen. Must read by all animal lovers.
October 3, 2022
Enjoyed reading about Wylie, upsetting to hear
About how animals can be treated in Afghanistan though
About how animals can be treated in Afghanistan though
March 25, 2018
Great to learn more about animal rescue and the the charity Nowzad that rescues street dogs in war torn Afghanistan from horrible conditions. Wylie's story is quite heartbreaking, but ultimately heartwarming. Conditions for dogs are terrible there what with dog fighting, extreme heat and mistreatment from some locals who consider dogs 'dirty' and disease ridden.
April 15, 2016
I was quite disappointed in this book. One Dog at a Time by Pen Farthing was such a touching book, and I expected more of the same when chronicling the life of one of the Nowzad Dogs. The difference between these two books is that One Dog at a Time is a memoir of how the Nowzad Dog charity began whereas there is a lot of poetic license taken into Wylie as Pen fills in the blanks for the pup’s early life and events that took place while Pen wasn’t there, including narrating from the dog’s perspective. For me, the story of Wylie didn’t work. As it wasn’t entirely factual, it lacked the heart that his earlier book had.
Pen’s writing leaves a lot to be desired. It didn’t bother me in One Dog at a Time as I was so invested in the pups' rescue. However, his writing flaws become more apparent when he writes more in the style of a novel. Sticking to the facts of rescuing these Afghan dogs is where Pen shines. As of the writing of Wylie, Nowzad Dogs had saved over 500 dogs. Telling the tales of the soldiers and how they came to rescue those dogs would make for a much more engaging book.
All that being said, if my buying the book Wylie helped contribute to the cause of the Nowzad Dogs, then by all means, I’m happy to have done it.
Pen’s writing leaves a lot to be desired. It didn’t bother me in One Dog at a Time as I was so invested in the pups' rescue. However, his writing flaws become more apparent when he writes more in the style of a novel. Sticking to the facts of rescuing these Afghan dogs is where Pen shines. As of the writing of Wylie, Nowzad Dogs had saved over 500 dogs. Telling the tales of the soldiers and how they came to rescue those dogs would make for a much more engaging book.
All that being said, if my buying the book Wylie helped contribute to the cause of the Nowzad Dogs, then by all means, I’m happy to have done it.
September 21, 2014
It took me a while longer than the other Pen Farthing book I've read to get into this one. One hundred pages in and I still felt a little disconnected, I suppose because his other book about the strays was deeply personal and more from his own perspective. This book, while good, deals with more people and places and I started to get lost. I was pulled back in however, by the story of Wylie which seemed to overcome this writing flaw and it was after all the story I came to find.
A good companion to the first book, but I would recommend reading it first. Also, I want more pictures! :)
A good companion to the first book, but I would recommend reading it first. Also, I want more pictures! :)
October 25, 2014
An abandoned dog is rescued from Afghanistan.
The story is quite up setting / moving, but the narrative of the story was all over the place (jumping from one time / person / place to another) and large chunks of the book didn’t have anything to do with the title dog.
The story is quite up setting / moving, but the narrative of the story was all over the place (jumping from one time / person / place to another) and large chunks of the book didn’t have anything to do with the title dog.
August 8, 2015
fantastic read, heart wrenching in parts. I support Nowzad and to know that the nowzad team go through this every day - they are amazing!
I am proud to say I know Pen, Sarah ans Wylie - the whole of the Nowzad team ans supporters rock!
I am proud to say I know Pen, Sarah ans Wylie - the whole of the Nowzad team ans supporters rock!
January 31, 2016
As a dog lover I really enjoyed this factual book. It brings home the plight of not just the animals but also the people in Afghanistan. A plight which is still on going. Well written, the author has done a great job.
September 1, 2015
3.5 stars
September 5, 2015
A heartwarming 'tail'! :-)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews