Dog Names that Start with Ol

Old Yeller was a book written in 1956 by Fred Gipson about a yellow dog and a young boy. The novel also became a Disney movie. However, Old Yeller’s breed is not 100% certain because some reviews say he was a Blackmouth Cur while others say he was a Mastador, which is a mix of a Mastiff and Labrador Retriever. The book won several awards; the Newbery Honor, Young Reader’s Choice Award, Sequoyah Book Award, Nēnē Award, and the William Allen White Children’s Book Award. 

The plot of the book is set in Texas in the late 1860s when young Travis Coates is taking care of the family ranch as well as his mom and younger brother, Arliss, when his dad goes on a cattle drive. One day when Travis is out taking care of the farm, a yellow dog just shows up and decides to stay. He calls the pooch Old Yeller because he is yellow. At first, he really does not like Old Yeller and tries to get him to go away. He does not want another mouth to feed and take care of, especially when the dog starts stealing their smoked meat and eggs. 

However, when Old Yeller saves Arliss from a bear after he tries to hold her cub and Travis from a pack of wild hogs he is trying to catch, Travis decides he can stay. One day after Old Yeller has been there for a while, a man named Burn Sanderson comes along looking for his dog but after he sees how much the family loves the pooch and vice versa, he lets them keep the pup for a trade of a home-cooked dinner from their mom and a horned toad from Arliss. Burn warns the family about hydrophobia (rabies), which is going around in the area, but they ignore him. 

A few days later, they notice that their cow is foaming at the mouth and stumbling around and figure out that she has hydrophobia, so Travis has to shoot her. That night when Travis’ mom is burning the cow’s body, a wolf shows up because he smells the meat and tries to steal it. When his mom and her friend Katie try to shoo the wolf away, they are attacked and Old Yeller comes to the rescue, fighting with the angry animal. Travis comes out and shoots the wolf but not before Old Yeller is bitten.

Although Travis is afraid that the wolf may have had hydrophobia, he does not kill Old Yeller right away because he is not sure. He locks the dog in the corn crib to wait and see if he shows any signs of hydrophobia. One night when he goes to feed the pooch, he growls at Travis, and while he goes to get his gun, Arliss opens the corn crib, and Old Yeller tries to attack him. Luckily, Katie is there and slams the door shut. Travis reluctantly shoots his best friend Old Yeller to put him out of his misery and buries him in the yard. A few days later, Travis finds out that Old Yeller got one of the neighbor’s dogs pregnant and Travis gets one of the pups that looks just like his yellow daddy.