Desert Dog, by Jim Kjelgaard

[rachelmanija]

Tawny, a promising racing greyhound, is left with his future in question when his owner drops dead of a heart attack. Two of his owner’s friends take him for a walk in the desert near where his owner dies, and he bolts off into the desert at top speed, leaving them far behind.

Most of the book consists of Tawny’s adventures surviving in the desert, learning to hunt and find water, fighting a pack of feral dogs, and mentoring a young abandoned collie, who looks up to him and adores him. The survival is good but the dog-dog hero worship is one of the most adorable things I’ve ever read, and it really made the book for me. The dog characterization is excellent - they don't speak, they're not more intelligent than a normal dog, but Kjelgaard gives them vivid personalities (Tawny is introverted and aloof, for instance) and uses omniscient narration to explain what the dogs don't know.

Some dogs die and it discusses the short lives of abandoned strays and racing greyhounds, but the two main dogs survive and are headed for a happily ever after at the end.

This is probably not Kjelgaard’s best book and I suspect that it’s uncharacteristic in the lack of time spent on the relationship between human and dog, but I enjoyed it and it made me want to read more. I have Big Red and Outlaw Red at home.

Desert Dog on Project Gutenberg

Comments

[sholio]

Yeah, with the admitted caveat that I haven't read any of these book since my teen years at the most recent (and don't recall ever reading this one), one thing I remember enjoying about his books is that the animals are just animals, combined with a fairly insightful understanding of animal behavior and animals' inner lives.

[rachelmanija]

That is exactly what this is and it was done really well.

[marjorie1170]

Dog-dog hero worship!

[brownbetty]

Oh boy, memories. My local library had nearly a dozen of his and I read them all.

[cofax7]

Oh I loved his dog books as a kid, but never saw this one!

[mific]

Oh yeah, I remember thinking that the Incredible Journey uses omniscient narration as well, when I read that not long ago.

[minim_calibre]

This is one I haven't read! As a greyhound owner (who also used to volunteer a lot for the rescue and has met many, many greyhounds), I am curious to read this book and see if Tawny at all resembles the greys I know. (Thus far, my response has been, "Have you MET greyhounds?" Even the most standoffish of them are huge dorks. They only look elegant and sophisticated.)

(Greyhounds and other sighthounds are less scent-driven than many dogs, but that doesn't mean they're not scent-driven. Those long noodle noses are very fond of sniffing things.)

(Also, greyhounds sleep. A lot. They love it. We're talking cat-like amounts of snoozing. In fact, they are basically giant, friendly, undignified cats with bad breath.)

[rachelmanija]

Hahaha, Tawny is not at all like that. He is very aloof and dignified, and uses sight over scent almost exclusively.

[minim_calibre]

I'm on chapter 2 and have gathered! (I'm still enjoying it, even though I'm laughing at how...public perception of greyhounds that hound seems to be.)

An image search on "greyhound roaching" will give a person a general idea of what they look like about 75% of the time. (Though my remaining grey fails at roaching and has given up on it. She just sprawls out and looks like a corpse instead--they also often sleep with their eyes open and really do look like you should poke them with a stick to make sure they're not dead.)

[ejmam]

I loved Kjelgaard, although they have all mushed together in my brain. I don't think I my library had this one.

I also fondly remember that I had completely forgotten the author's name within ten years, but was able to figure it out as an adult by remembering where in my school library his shelf was and then looking in the equivalent section of my current local library.

[indywind]

Aw, Jim Kjelgaard, the Walter Farley of dog stories. Why don't we have good realistic-animal adventure-stories these days. (Or if we do have them, where do I find them?)