A Dog's Life

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2005

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary: “Squirrel Alone”

Squirrel lives in the woods for a year. She experiences the seasons for the first time, including winter. She explores the setting, finding shelter in trees, drinking and bathing in streams, and finds many other animals (including chipmunks, which she can hunt). Squirrel survives by hunting and walking to nearby houses to eat from garbage cans.

While wandering for food one day, Squirrel sees Bone across the highway. She rushes toward him but realizes that it’s a different tan dog, who is smaller than Bone. The dog’s name is Moon. They become friends right away. Moon is playful and loyal. They go to the woods together.

Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary: “On the Move”

Squirrel and Moon ransack the garbage of nearby houses. Moon is brave and bold like Bone, so she rushes to the garbage. The humans start tying down their garbage lids.

Soon after, Moon leaves their nest in the woods. Squirrel is more independent but wants to stay with Moon, so she follows along. They wander the land while the wintry weather comes and finally find a barn to sleep in.

The two friends continue to travel together for many days, not spending more than a week at each place. They hunt, scavenge, and find water together.

Part 2, Chapter 10 Summary: “The Fight”

In the summer, Squirrel and Moon discover a rest stop near the highway. Many humans stop there and have picnics, so the garbage containers are full of discarded food. When the humans leave, Squirrel and Moon have a feast.

A pack of mean, starving dogs attacks them at the rest stop. Squirrel and Moon fight wildly, but they’re both injured. Moon defends Squirrel until the old dogs back down and return to eating the food. Squirrel and Moon escape the dogs and leave the pack’s territory. In the woods, they rest and lick each other’s wounds.

Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary: “Healing”

Squirrel licks her wounds all night. She’s in severe pain and has deeper gashes than Moon does, so it takes her longer to recover. Moon leads her to a stream, which Squirrel realizes is the stream near the Merrions’ house. Drinking and bathing help relieve the pain.

Moon hunts for them both until Squirrel is healthy enough to move again. One morning, they feel strong enough to wander again.

Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary: “Town Dogs”

Squirrel and Moon travel through woods, fields, and towns. They see children in costumes for Halloween. When the first snow hits, Moon is tired. She’s getting weak, and her ribs showing. Squirrel pushes them onward to find better food and shelter. They find the small town of Claremont, where they live all winter.

Claremont has many shops, garbage cans, and shelters, like sheds and garages. They find plentiful food. They watch the rhythm of life in Claremont, like shop owners’ routines, children going to and from school, and the happy Christmas celebrations, including a parade.

Part 2, Chapter 13 Summary: “The Long Winter”

On Christmas night, Squirrel and Moon hear some women approaching their hideaway. They duck between dumpsters while the women put out tins filled with hamburger meat. After the women leave, Squirrel, Moon, and other dogs nearby hurry to the hamburger.

For the next few days, the women continue to bring hamburger meat. Whenever a dark van is nearby, though, the women wait until it disappears. It’s the van from the pound.

One day while the dogs are eating, men from the van use catch poles to capture some of the stray dogs. When Squirrel and Moon see the pound van again, they leave Claremont.

Part 2, Chapter 14 Summary: “Moon”

Squirrel and Moon stick to the outer limits of towns now. They watch for positive signs, such as people who feed strays, and then they move on. They shelter in barns or the woods when necessary.

One day, Moon and Squirrel see chipmunks across the road, and Moon runs toward them. They don’t see the truck in the bend in the road. The truck hits Moon and clips Squirrel. The accident reinjures her shoulder, and she can’t walk. She yelps for Moon, but Moon makes no sound. The truck stops, and the people put both dogs in the car, but Squirrel knows that her friend Moon is dead.

Part 2 Analysis

Suspense and tension build through a strong twist, and Squirrel’s search for Bone intensifies—introducing The Search for Belonging and Companionship as a theme. The slowly rising actions of Squirrel seeing Bone across the dangerous highway add drama as the scene unfolds through sharp details: “I saw that the dog was the same shade of color as Bone, had Bone’s face, was Bone grown up” (64). Squirrel’s excitement and the descriptions give the impression that this dog is indeed Bone. The language makes it sound obvious, particularly that the dog “was Bone grown up” (64). When Squirrel reaches the dog, the growing suspense and tension are released through the revelation that it is a female dog. The false details increase suspense and emotion about a possible reunion, but the outcome yields an unexpected result. The dog isn’t Bone but Moon, surprising readers, yet the meeting still fulfills the theme of belonging and companionship because Moon becomes Squirrel’s closest friend, a pal she needs and values.

The dog fight dispute prominently helps characterize Moon, build the theme of companionship, and introduce a third theme, Animal Resilience and Ability to Adapt. Not only does the dog fight showcase personal conflict (dogs versus dogs in this case), but it proves that Moon is a brave, faithful companion for Squirrel. She may be small, but she doesn’t give up protecting Squirrel: “Moon was at my side, still snarling, still baring her teeth, still menacing the other dogs” (80). Moon would have died defending her friend, and her tender care afterward reveals that she’s dependable and loving. She’ll never abandon her friend. Instead, she shows strength and friendship because she stays persistent in the face of danger and adjusts to providing for Squirrel after they’re injured. Moon’s refusal to give up inspires Squirrel to harness her inner courage, an instinct that pushes her to survive through the dog fight and every hardship she faces in the future—especially after Moon is gone.

The theme of Human Influence on Animal Lives is likewise significant in this section, which demonstrates it through both positive and negative interactions. To show the various forms of human impact on animals, Squirrel experiences both altruism and cruelty. Showing the good side of humans, Squirrel receives free food like hamburger meat and plates set out on porches during Christmas. Showing the bad side of humans, she watches as pound employees capture other dogs. Squirrel and Moon fear the pound men since they force the dogs they catch into submission. Most importantly, Moon’s death shows the negative impact of humans because the Beckers hit and kill her with their truck: “Moon had already reached the middle of the road, though, and the truck hit her at high speed and sent her flying” (108). Although it’s an accident, the Beckers killed Squirrel’s best friend, taking away her only companion after Bone. The family balances their mistake by taking Squirrel to the vet, though they can never take away Squirrel’s grief or replace her friend. The joys and difficulties of these anecdotes about how humans affect animals thread a realistic, important message about kindness and animal welfare throughout the book.