Renni, the Rescuer: A Dog of the Battlefield

Felix Salten, exiled from his beloved Vienna, wrote this book in Switzerland, with a world in arms around him. Renni, the Red Cross dog, ranks with the greatest of his creations, the princely Bambi. And Renni's story surely comes more closely home to us, even as the life of the dog is nearer the life of man. The them is the service of the dog to mankind. This is no tale of the forest fastness, but a story of the busy haunts of human beings, including the grim fields of war. Men and women, young and old, are constantly on the scene in Renni. Here man is not the distant, the feared and the shadowy "He" of Bambi, Bambi's Children, and Perri. The people are masters and trainers, to whom the dogs give unswerving loyalty, complete devotion, noble friendship. Dogs do not understand this business of battle. It is beyond their comprehension what gigantic insults and challenges could cause the man-made madness that rocks the world. But their part in it is beyond all praise -- to help the helpless while there is still time for help, to glean a harvest of life where men have sown destruction. This is also the story of George, Renni's gentle master, who, entirely by kindness, altogether without punishment, trains him for his work of finding the wounded. George's friends and acquaintances represent a wide range of good and evil, love and sympathy, harshness and abuse, quaint charm and ready humor. He meets the brave and the cowardly, the humane and some afflicted with the cruelty rampant in Europe. George's country is no-man's land. You will not find it on the map. But it is also everyman's land where peace and happiness are overcast by war and the shadow of war turns into man's reality. We grow to love George, but we love Renni more -- if we can think of them apart. Renni is the hero of this book. His courage and service make him the pride and joy of a whole army. He becomes our personal friend. He is our dog.