Scruffy

Posted by Becca
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Dogs, Funny, Jack Stoneley, Out of Print, Sad
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Our rating:

A mixed breed puppy is born in an abandoned house. Its mother had been left, tied to the house, for a neighbor to pick up when her owners moved away. But she chewed her rope and ran back into the house before the neighbor could get there. The puppy ends up as the only surviver of her litter. The house is eventually set on fire to get it out of the way of a building company. After escaping through the chimney, the mother dog and her puppy are found on the roof and rescued by a worker. The man takes the two dogs home for his wife to care for. She immediately falls in love with them and persuades her husband to keep them. But the mother dog has other plans. She is determined to find her way back to her previous owners. On the way back to the old house, she gets lost and ends up getting shot by some shepherds. The puppy is now alone in the world. Throughout the rest of the story, she earns the name “Scruffy,” joins up with a pack of dogs, and unwittingly helps to wreck a car.

This is a great book about a dog who started out as a stray and ended up famous. I’ve read it multiple times and it still remains on my favorite list. The pack of dogs get into many adventures, including blowing up a traffic sign, “guarding” a lady, and rescuing a boot—thought to be a puppy by a deaf collie—from getting run over. The last part of the story is true. Jack Stoneley actually wrote the articles that are talked about in the book. “Scruffy” was originally titled “The Tuesday Dog.”