A Story on a Dog That Saved a Life: Model Answer and Marking Notes
Quick answer: An original 180-word exam story about a dog that saved a life in a Himachal orchard fog, with notes on why it scores under content, organisation and expression.
A dog-saves-a-life story earns marks when the dog behaves like a dog, not like a person: it barks, pulls, refuses to move, runs back and forth. The rescue should follow from that behaviour and from a human finally paying attention. Keep the danger natural, fog, cold, a fall, a gas leak, and keep the rescued person alive and grateful at the end. The model below is about 180 words and set in an apple orchard in Himachal Pradesh on a winter evening.
The weak version has a dog that understands speech and carries a message. Examiners smile at it and mark content down for implausibility. A dog that will not stop barking at a closed door is worth more.
The task
Typical wording: 'Write a story in 150 to 200 words on a dog that saved a life.' Outlines often run: 'a family pet ... an ordinary evening ... the dog behaves strangely ... nobody listens ... the discovery ... the rescue.' The heart of the story is the gap between the dog's behaviour and the humans' attention.
Model answer
Sheru. The fog came down over the orchard at Kotgarh so fast that by five o'clock Tara could not see the second row of apple trees from the kitchen window. Her grandfather had gone out at four to check the netting. He was seventy-three and did not carry a phone.
Sheru, who usually slept under the stove until dinner, would not settle. He went to the door, came back, went to the door again, and finally stood there and barked until Tara's mother told him sharply to be quiet. He was quiet for perhaps a minute.
Tara put on her coat. It was not a decision so much as a giving in. Sheru went ahead of her into the white, stopping every few metres to make sure she was following, and led her down the slope to the bottom terrace, where the ground was steep and the grass was slick with frost.
Her grandfather was sitting against a tree trunk with his ankle turned the wrong way, too cold to shout. Sheru lay down against him at once. Tara ran for her mother, and afterwards nobody ever again told Sheru to be quiet.
Why it earns marks
Against content, organisation and expression:
Three other ways to take the same topic
Each keeps the dog a dog.
What writers can take from this
- Let the dog behave like a dog: bark, pull, refuse, return.
- Have the humans ignore it first; that gap is the tension.
- Plant the reason the person cannot call for help.
- Keep the danger natural and the rescued person alive.
- Show the fog or dark by what cannot be seen.
- Return to an early line about the dog in the ending.
Try it yourself
Write a 180-word story in which a dog saves a life without anyone realising until the next morning what the dog had done, and the story ends with the moment they realise.
Questions
How long should a dog story be for the exam?
Follow the paper: 100 to 120 words for CBSE Class 9, 150 to 200 for school exams, 300 to 350 for ICSE. Cut the third paragraph's descent to reach 120; the barking and the discovery are enough.
Can the story be told from the dog's point of view?
It can, but it is risky in an exam, because a dog narrator who thinks in sentences invites the implausibility examiners mark down. A child who watches the dog is safer and usually stronger.
Is a moral required in a dog story?
Only if asked. 'Listen to those who cannot speak' would fit the model above. Where no moral is required, the last line about never telling Sheru to be quiet already carries it.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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