Author hopes to raise money for retired police dogs

A new series of children's books is helping raise money for retired police dogs across the West of England.

Author Michael Fleet said he was inspired to write "The Adventures of Bruin" after wondering what happened to prospective police dogs if they "don't make the grade".

The titular character of his series was bred to be a police dog but is "too kind and gentle" so is adopted.

A donation from each book goes to W.A.G.s Retired Police Dogs, a charity that supports retired dogs from from Wiltshire, Avon and Somerset, and Gloucestershire police forces.

Although Bruin, a German Shepherd, is brought home by a family, he still has the instincts of a police dog.

Mr Fleet, who lives in Cornwall, was inspired to write the series after reading a newspaper article.

"A champion police dog in Germany had won all sorts of awards but then it became too gentle and kind to do its police work and was put up for adoption," he said.

But Bruin shares some characteristics with a dog even closer to Mr Fleet's heart than police dogs - his cavapoo named Maisie - as they both love going to the beach.

"One of the books actually concerns the problem of fly tipping; the children in that book investigate a nasty case in a lane on the way down to the beach.

"It leads them to all sorts of dangers and adventures."

Mr Fleet chose to help W.A.G.s as it is "the closest charity" to him that supports "wonderful" police dogs.

"W.A.G.s helps retired, or in the case of Bruin, failed police dogs, ones which don't make the grade," he said.

"They help out with finding new families for them and then helping the families, particularly with vet bills."

The books have been published in a font that is more accessible to readers with dyslexia, which was created by teacher and specialist Alice Frendo, who felt other fonts were considered "babyish" by some readers and isolated those with dyslexia.

Wiltshire artist Claire S Bicknell illustrated and designed the books with pastel tinted pages, so the series is "as accessible as possible", she said.

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