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A story all about a man’s best friend, Charlie the dog, whose act of bravery saves his owner. Edward G’s amazing story made it to the top 50 stories in the 5-9 age category for 2020. Read on or play the video below for anyone who is looking for inspiration.

Charlie The Hero Dog

Meet Charlie, he is a 6 year old black Labrador. His job in the army is to find unexploded bombs with his handler Henry. It is 1916 right now and Charlie and Henry are in the trenches in France. It is wet, cold, muddy and there are a lot of rats. Charlie spends part of his day chasing these annoying rats away from the soldiers, who are all tired and need their precious rest.

Charlie loves his handler Henry very much and would do anything for him. They first met back in England in 1914, when Charlie first started his training. Charlie remembers how Henry smelt of bacon, having just had his breakfast, and Charlie spent the first 10 minutes of meeting him licking the bacon grease off of his hands. They have not been apart since that first day and are now inseparable. They also still share a love of bacon, not that they get it very often.

Charlie and Henry spend their days with the other soldiers, trying to sleep in dug out shelters in the walls of the trench. They are exhausted and frightened and they don't know what could happen from one moment to the next. It's hard to sleep in these conditions and there are always lots of loud noises from the bombs blasting near the trench but they have to grab it when they can as they spend their nights hunting for dangerous unexploded bombs and looking for wounded men.

Once it's dark, Charlie and Henry crawl out of their trench into no man’s land, staying low so they don't disturb the tin cans hanging on the barbed wire, which would alert the enemy soldiers in the German trench. Charlie is frightened but tries hard to be brave, he knows that he is saving people's lives. The two of them crawl from crater to crater, listening for sounds from the wounded, Charlie sniffing for bombs.

Suddenly Charlie stopped and pricked up his ears, he heard something. Charlie bolts forward following the sound, searching this way and that way, trying to find where it came from. He lets out a low whine, Henry realises Charlie has led him to a wounded British soldier. He has been shot in the leg and cannot walk. Henry throws him over his shoulder and they race back towards their lines. As they are getting closer to their trench suddenly the Germans start shooting at them. One of the Germans throws a stick grenade that lands close to Henry, Charlie sees that his best friend is in so much danger! He picks up the stick grenade in his mouth and sprints away, dropping it into a deep crater full of mud and water where it explodes, saving Henry and the wounded soldier.

They eventually make it back to the British trench, where Henry tells all the soldiers of their adventure and they all cheer for Charlie the Hero dog.

The End.

By Edward G

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