In the story A Street Dog Named Pup, Rex is a pit bull terrier cross – a dog bred for the cruel world of illegal dog fighting.

Rex – “I was bred to be a fighter – bred to be a monster – but the only true monsters I’ve met are men.”

Rex’s ears have been cropped. Cropping ears is a painful unnecessary mutilation, usually performed without any analgesia.  People do it because in their eyes, the dog looks more desirable. They claim it’s for health reasons. This is utter nonsense.

Ear cropping is cruel. 

Ear cropping is barbaric.

It is illegal to crop in this country, but is it not illegals to import cropped breeds. 

Please sign this campaign from the British Veterinary Association to make importing, the buying and selling of ear-cropped dogs illegal. 

Pup and his boy are inseparable. But both their worlds change forever when Pup is cruelly taken away and abandoned in Dead Dog Alley. With nowhere else to turn, Pup joins a pack of misfit street dogs who help him learn to fight for survival on the streets. Pup holds onto the hope of one day being reunited with his boy. But as hope shrinks with every passing day, Pup begins to wonder if their bond is irreversibly broken….

Michael Morpurgo “I’m not sure I’ll ever look at a dog the same way again. Unforgettable.” 

Lauren St John “A masterpiece. Gill Lewis does for Pup what Anna Sewell did for horses in Black Beauty. A wise, brave book, steeped in kindness.”