The Plague Dogs is a book by Richard Adams, who also wrote Watership Down.

The book tells the story of Rauf and Snitter, two dogs that are being horribly experimented on at a scientific research center in Cumbria, England. After some time going through dangerous experiments the two dogs manage to escape. They run off into the countryside but are soon pursued by the workers from the centre, police and farmers who have been told that the dogs are infected with Plague.

The story follows their escape and how the story is told in the local paper. On their journey they meet a fox called the Tod. He helps them understand how to evade hounds that are chasing him.

In the end their success or failure, and life or death for the dogs depends on possible skills they learnt back at the research centre.

I don’t remember the story in full as its been a few years since I read it. But when I did it was overnight, from cover to cover. If I can find it or get another copy I will definitely read it again. The atmosphere of the landscape is so well told. If you don’t mind being upset by the details of the experiments and want to read an interesting story please read it.