Dog Celebrates National Dog Day By Reading The Call Of The Wild

Aug 27, 2018

Today marks National Dog Day.  It is observed annually on August 26th.

To celebrate, Jennifer Smith’s pet Maltese, Petunia, picked up a copy of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild and read it from cover to cover.  It seems Petunia was profoundly affected by the tale and couldn’t put it down.

The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel published in 1903.  It is set in the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush.

The central character is a sled dog named Buck. The story begins when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as an Alaskan sled dog.  Buck becomes progressively feral in the harsh environment, where he is forced to fight to survive and dominate other dogs. 

By the end, Bucks sheds civilization and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.  London's story is a tale of survival and a return to primitivism.

Last seen, Petunia had ripped off her pink ribbon, burrowed a hole through the back yard fence, and was living of the carcasses of rats it hunted and killed with her own fangs… fangs she’d never quite realized were so sharp before.