One day, in the depths of a Swedish winter, a little grey puppy gets lost in the woods. He had followed his mother as she followed the snow ski, but he couldn’t keep up. The owners searched for him. But they didn’t find him, and gave up, believing that he couldn’t have survived a night in the snow.

But he did. And although it was touch and go he survived the winter too.

This is the story of his life by himself and how he finally found his way home. I know, that could be a spoiler, but I know there are plenty of people who won’t read an animal book if they think it’ll end badly for the poor dog. So now you can feel safe and pick this one up.

Not that it is easy for the puppy of course. He must learn how to fend for himself. How to keep the fox neighbours from stealing his food. And he, in the course of surviving, picks up knocks and injuries.

It is a short book. Less than a hundred and fifty pages, and supposedly a classic in Sweden. I’m not Swedish, so I can’t comment on that.

But it is a lovely little story that is well worth reading. And for those of you who might be worried that it is overly sentimental, it isn’t. And there is no animal-thoughts, apart from the narrator telling the reader that the puppy felt hungry or angry, or what have you.

It certainly isn’t one I’d recommend to everyone, but at the same time I think that if you gave it a chance, anyone could enjoy it. ( )

This is the story of a wee puppy in the Swedish countryside who goes missing and gets lost from his Mum and owners. He struggles but manages to survive in the cold winter.
He comes across men hunting Moose with dogs.
Slowly one of the Hunters wins the dogs trust by leaving food out.
The dog goes home with the man.
The Dog never ever lost the bound he shares with humans. ( )

En oerhört fin liten historia. ( )

The Dog is a novella which recounts a year in the life of a lone dog surviving in the wild. Hopelessly lost (although in fact not very far from home) a puppy takes cover below a snow covered spruce. Thus begins a new life away from his warm and friendly home. Ekman takes us with the dog through the seasons, to near starvation, injury, escape and rough territorial journeys. ( )

What a fascinating little book this is! It is a tale of loss, survival and ultimately trust, and relates the story of a young puppy who becomes lost whilst running after his mother in the snow. What follows is an incredible journey through the seasons as the young puppy learns how to survive in the harsh Swedish wilderness. The writing is wonderfully descriptive, sometimes a little harsh, just like the landscape being described.
The story is not a sentimental Disney-style account of animal life but rather an honest, grim but ultimately rewarding tale of how animals interact with nature and themselves to survive, where the fittest are definitely the luckiest. It also displays an awareness of the rewards that love and patience can give when man and animal work at co-existence. ( )