A Dog's
Purpose is a 2010 novel written by American humorist W. Bruce Cameron,
author of 8 Simple Rules
for Dating my Teenage Daughter and How to Remodel a Man.
The book chronicles a dog's journey through four lives via reincarnation and
how he looks for his purpose through each of his lives.
The
novel stayed a New York Times bestseller for
forty-nine weeks, garnering critical praise from such sources as Temple Grandin,
famous for her study of cattle behavior; Kirkus Reviews;
and Marty Becker,
resident veterinarian on the early-morning television show, Good Morning
America. A sequel followed in May 2012, titled A Dog's Journey,
following the same dog after the events of the previous book. The film rights
of the book were bought by DreamWorks.
A film of the same name was
released in January 2017. The book has been released in a new form recently.
The narrator first starts out as a feral puppy. A few weeks
later, after being nursed by their mother, a feral as well, the dog and his
siblings Fast, Sister, and Hungry go outside of their den to explore the woods
around them. Soon after, men come and capture them. The dogs arrive at a place
called the Yard, where dozens of abandoned dogs reside under the guidance of a
gentle old woman whom the narrator calls Señora. The narrator, who is soon
named Toby by Señora, adjusts to his new lifestyle. One day, many of the newer
dogs at the Yard are whisked off to a building (a veterinarian office).
A new dog arrives, named Spike, who is very aggressive towards the other dogs..
Not long after, animal control agents
arrive with orders to shut down the place due to poor sanitation and welfare
conditions. Many dogs, including Toby, are subsequently euthanized.
Toby
is reincarnated as
a Golden Retriever and
is nursing from a new mother. A few weeks after birth, when Toby and his new
brothers and sisters have matured enough, he and the others are allowed to play
outside the cage. Toby climbs up onto a table and bites the doorknob, opening
the gate to the outside world and leaving him to explore the real world. A
truck driver picks up Toby on the road and calls him "Fella." The man
drives to a bar. After the man has been gone for several hours, Toby begins
suffering from heat exhaustion in
the cab.
However,
a woman appears and breaks the car window. She revives Toby with water from a
water bottle. The woman brings him to her car and returns home. The woman
introduces Toby, renamed Bailey, to her son, Ethan, who is overjoyed to have a
puppy of his own. Over the summer, Bailey enjoys himself, playing with Ethan
every day. Bailey becomes accustomed to Ethan's school routine and the summer
tradition of going to the Farm, where Ethan's grandparents live. Bailey ends up
causing trouble at both houses.
Over
the course of many years, Bailey lives a full life with Ethan. He accompanies
Ethan through many difficulties, including arson, causing a permanently injured
leg, ending Ethan's athletic career. Ethan goes to live with his grandparents
at their farm in Michigan so
he can be with his girlfriend Hannah and to finish his senior year in
high school. Around that time, things are not going well in the family, with
Ethan's injury, an eventual break up with Hannah, and a divorce between Ethan's
parents. Soon after moving, Ethan goes off to college, leaving Bailey with
infrequent visits from him during the holidays. Bailey's health starts to
decline, with him taking naps very often and being weak. Soon, Ethan's mother
and grandparents take him to the vet, where he is once again put down.
Bailey
wakes up once again as a German shepherd. Bailey,
who realizes that he is now a girl, is picked out and named Ellie by a police
officer, named Jakob, and trained to be a search-and-rescue dog.
Jakob and Ellie find a kidnapped girl but while getting the man into custody he
shoots Jakob, injuring him so that he can no longer be a police man.
Ellie
then gets put into the care of one of Jakob's colleagues, Maya. After passing
of old age, he is reborn but this time as a black lab with Wendi, his new
owner, is ecstatic with her new pet (whom she names Bear), but she is unable to
keep him because of a no-pet rule in her apartment building. Instead, she gives
him to her mother, who is dating an alcoholic. The mother's
boyfriend, fed up with the dog upon receiving a notice that he needs to provide
better living conditions, ditches him on a country road. Bear recognizes his
surroundings, having been there before with Ethan. Using the skills he learned
as Ellie, Bear is able to trail the scent of one of the farm's animals to the
Farm, where Ethan lives. Ethan, now an elderly man, decides to keep Bear, who
he renames Buddy, and marries Hannah.
