Arachnophobia Inspired Dog Names

In the movie, “My Pal Wolf,” a young child named Gretchen finds a German Shepherd dog trapped in a dried up well and tries to save him. Gretchen has a very strict governess who takes care of her while her mother works and she is not allowed to play with other children besides the neighbor kids, so she is lonely. After finding the pooch, she decides he is her new pup, and she names him Wolf, not knowing that he is actually an Army dog who has gone missing from Army Post 82.

The night after she finds Wolf, she tells her governess, Miss Munn, about the dog but the stern woman scolds her, thinking she is making it up. Later, Gretchen sneaks out to feed the dog, who is still stuck in the well and Miss Munn catches her and asks where she went, but Gretchen gets scolded again for telling a lie when she says she went out to feed Wolf. Miss Munn sends her to bed, and the next morning when Gretchen wakes up, she goes out to give Wolf food and water. While lowering herself into the well to give the dog water, the rope breaks, leaving Gretchen trapped. 

She helps Wolf jump out of the well but instead of him running away or going back to his army post, he goes to the neighbor’s and gets Gretchen’s friends to save her. In the confusion, the family handyman finds the dog’s collar but forgets to tell Gretchen and just puts it in her room. Gretchen begs to keep the dog, but Miss Munn believes Wolf has an owner since there is a spot on his neck that is rubbed raw from his collar. She searches Gretchen’s room and finds the collar, which has the identification “U.S. Army 82” written on the tag, and she calls the Army to tell them. 

After the Army picks up Wolf, Gretchen misses him so much that she and the neighbor kids decide to go buy him back from the Army. The sergeant at Army Base 82 tells the kids that he cannot sell Wolf for any amount of money because he belongs to the Army and the only way she can have him is to talk to the Secretary of War. So, the kids decide to go to Washington and ask the Secretary if they can buy Wolf. But as they are leaving the army post, Wolf sees Gretchen and follows her home. 

The children go to Washington anyway to petition the Secretary to keep Wolf. As they hitchhike across the country to get to Washington, they attract the attention of the news media, and their story gets newspaper coverage. When they get to Washington, Gretchen says she is the Secretary of War’s niece so she can get inside and then she asks him about keeping Wolf. He remembers reading the story in the paper and calls her parents. 

As the parents are driving down to get the kids, the Secretary explains that Wolf is a special dog trained to deliver messages in battle and that without him, soldiers may get hurt or killed. So, Gretchen tearfully tells Wolf goodbye. Her mother realizes how lonely Gretchen is and quits her job to stay home with her. A few days later, the Secretary of War brings Gretchen a puppy.