A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans is a novel by Bruce W. Cameron and is the first in his A Dog’s Purpose series of novels. Written in 2010, the novel was a New York Times bestseller for 49 weeks. The novel is unique in that it is narrated by a dog. The dog lives four lives over the course of the novel, seeking a purpose for his life during each of his incarnations. In the end, the dog recognizes his purpose is to be a good companion and protect, find, and love the humans that enter his life. The novel was made into a movie of the same name in 2017 starring Josh Gad and Dennis Quaid.

This study guide is based on the Kindle e-book version published by Forge Books.

Content Warning: A Dog’s Purpose depicts animal death and both implies and depicts animal abuse and animals in peril—but not in graphic detail.

Plot Summary

Toby, a puppy, is born to a feral mother who lives in the woods near a small neighborhood. He has three siblings, Fast, Sister, and Hungry. Mother teaches the puppies to hunt and fear humans. One day, humans come and force Mother into a cage in the back of a truck. The men catch Fast and Toby as well, but Sister gets away. The dogs are taken to a yard behind a house where there are many other dogs. One of the dogs, Top Dog, is in charge, but he is kind and runs the yard fairly. Mother is unhappy being locked up, so she uses her mouth to open the gate. Toby sees her and decides to leave with her, but he’s distracted when he sees the human woman on her front porch. Toby is taken back to the yard, but Mother gets away.

Sister is located and brought to the yard. Fast, the one who was closest to her, is thrilled to have her back. Life falls into an easy routine, but then the humans bring a dog called Spike to the yard. Spike is violent and angry. Spike fights Top Dog and becomes the new leader. The attitude changes among the dogs in the pack, and the environment becomes more violent. One day, Spike shows attention to Sister, causing Fast to attack him. Toby attacks, too, and Spike injures his leg. Not long after, new humans come and gather all the dogs. One of the humans declares Toby unadoptable, and he is put down with Spike and two other dogs.

Toby is reborn as a golden retriever. Confused about his new situation, Toby uses his mother’s trick to escape out of a gate and run away. A man picks Toby up and leaves him in a hot car, leading to a rescue by a woman who breaks the window to get Toby out. The woman takes Toby home to her son, Ethan. They become quick friends and Ethan renames Toby “Bailey.” Bailey struggles to adjust to living in a home, slowly housebreaking and growing used to coexisting with the family cat, Smokey. He becomes a regular in the neighborhood, often getting out of the fenced backyard to go visit his neighbor, Marshmallow. One day, a new family moves in with a boy Ethan’s age named Todd. Ethan and Todd are initially friends, but Ethan slowly creates distance between himself and Todd when Todd acts carelessly with fireworks.

Over the years, Bailey grows increasingly uneasy about Todd. Once, Todd ordered Bailey to come home with him and Bailey had to be rescued by Todd’s sister, Linda. Another time, Marshmallow disappears, and Bailey can smell her on Todd’s clothing.

Every summer, Bailey accompanies Mom and Ethan to a farm where Grandma and Grandpa live. Bailey loves the farm. During one of these summers, Ethan meets a neighbor girl, Hannah. When Ethan is a teenager, he begins spending more time with Hannah. At the same time, Hannah makes several visits to Ethan’s home. During one of these visits, Todd speaks to Hannah, making her angry at Ethan by lying about Ethan’s relationship with another girl. A year or so later, Ethan and Hannah run into Todd, and Hannah recognizes him as the troublemaker, causing a brief confrontation between the boys. A few days later, Todd lights Ethan’s house on fire. Bailey attacks Todd, biting his ankle. Todd gets away, and a few minutes later, Ethan’s parents come outside without Ethan. Bailey feels helpless to get to Ethan, forced to watch Ethan jump out the second-story window. Ethan is taken away, but the bite Bailey left on Todd’s ankle leads to his arrest.

Ethan is sad after his injuries because he loses his football scholarship. He moves to his grandparents’ farm and goes off to college, leaving Bailey with his grandparents. Not long after, Ethan and Hannah stop seeing each other. Bailey is older and becomes ill. Ethan makes it home just in time to be with Bailey when he is put down.

Bailey becomes aware again as another puppy, a German shepherd. Bailey is now a female dog. A police officer buys Bailey and renames them Ellie. The police officer, Jakob, trains Ellie to be a search-and-rescue dog. After Jakob is shot, Ellie trains with Maya, another police officer. Maya and Ellie conduct several successful searches, but Ellie becomes injured when she and Maya go to help victims of an earthquake. Ellie’s nose is burned by some kind of acid, and this causes a change to her ability to smell. She stops working as a search-and-rescue dog; instead, she and Maya begin going to schools to talk about search and rescue. Ellie sees Jakob again and learns he has remarried and built a new family. She saves one more child after he is washed into a sewer during a storm. Not long after Maya has a child, Ellie becomes old and is put down.

Ellie becomes aware again, and this time, she is saddened because she thought her purpose was fulfilled. Ellie is a male dog again and renamed Bear-Bear by a young woman who owns him briefly. After being evicted from her apartment for having a dog, the young woman gives Bear-Bear to her mother and her mother’s boyfriend who struggles with alcoholism. The boyfriend takes Bear-Bear out into the country and abandons him. Bear-Bear seeks out a river for a drink and realizes the river is one he followed out of the woods with Ethan years ago. He follows the river into town and begins searching for Ethan. Eventually, Bear-Bear finds the farm and Ethan is there. At first, Ethan resists taking in Bear-Bear, but he finally does, renaming him Buddy.

Buddy recognizes a sadness in Ethan and decides, based on Jakob’s happiness after starting a family, that Ethan needs a family too. Buddy finds Hannah and brings Ethan and Hannah back together. They get married, and Ethan is suddenly surrounded by family all the time thanks to Hannah’s three daughters and the daughters’ own children. One day, Ethan has a stroke, and Buddy understands he is dying. Buddy feels he has fulfilled his purpose by being with Ethan in his final moments.