Saturday, April 16, 2016

What is the summary of each chapter of A Dog's Purpose?

A Dog’s Purpose is a 32 chapter novel narrated from the perspective of a dog who is repeatedly reincarnated, with his ultimate goal of discovering his true purpose. To avoid an overly long post, I will be brief in my chapter discussions.
Chapter 1: The puppy is first born and lives in the wild with its mother and siblings. Men in a truck capture Mother, the narrator, and his brother Fast.
Chapter 2: The three dogs arrive at a dog rescue sanctuary in the desert. The owner names the narrator Toby, which he likes. Mother escapes through the fence, and Toby follows.
Chapter 3: The owner, Senora, finds Toby and takes him back to the sanctuary. Toby is neutered. Sister, the puppy who didn’t get captured, is brought there, too.
Chapter 4: Spike is brought there and becomes the new top dog. He viciously attacks other dogs, and Toby ends up crippled (with three legs) after a scuffle with Spike. Authorities show up and confiscate all the dogs.
Chapter 5: Toby “wakes up” as a new puppy, after being euthanized. This time he is a purebred golden retriever. After a man leaves Toby in a hot car for hours, a woman breaks the window and rescues him.
Chapter 6: The woman nurses Toby back to health, and her son Ethan convinces his father to let the family keep the dog, renaming him Bailey. Bailey loves Ethan and his new life.
Chapter 7: Bailey feels lonely and confused when Ethan leaves him in the garage while he goes to school. Bailey escapes the backyard one day and is lured into Bailey’s creepy friend Todd’s backyard.
Chapter 8: Bailey escapes Todd’s room, and he enjoys his new life. He and Ethan spend the summer at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm.
Chapter 9: Ethan goes back to school, and Bailey is once again stuck in the garage.
Chapter 10: Years have passed. On the farm that summer, Ethan meets a girl named Hannah.
Chapter 11: Ethan takes a horse out riding into the countryside. A snake scares the horse, who bucks Ethan off and strands them without knowing how to get home.
Chapter 12: A man finds Ethan and Bailey. When Ethan beats Todd in a go-cart race, Todd throws a rock through Ethan’s window.
Chapter 13: Ethan learns to drive, and Bailey enjoys riding in the truck. Hannah essentially becomes Ethan’s girlfriend. Todd tries to poison Bailey with bad meat.
Chapter 14: Todd sets the house on fire at Christmas. Bailey attacks him, but Todd escapes.
Chapter 15: Ethan escapes from the burning house with injuries; the police easily track Todd as the suspect.
Chapter 16: Ethan walks with a cane after the house fire; Ethan goes to college, leaving Bailey with Grandma and Grandpa.
Chapter 17: Bailey grows old and has to be put down at the vet.
Chapter 18: A policeman named Jakob raises Ellie, who is really Bailey reborn as a female dog.
Chapter 19: Ellie is a trained search dog; she finds an elderly woman who wandered off.
Chapter 20: Ellie finds a kidnapped young girl, but then she has to be kept in a kennel alone because Jakob was shot by the kidnapper.
Chapter 21: Maya takes Ellie home to live with her.
Chapter 22: Maya becomes certified to be on the canine unit. She takes Ellie on a rescue mission to El Salvador.
Chapter 23: Ellie loses her sense of smell after inhaling a chemical in El Salvador; she is retired from the canine unit, and Maya gets engaged.
Chapter 24: Ellie is the ring bearer at Maya’s wedding. She and Maya go to elementary schools and give talks about what to do when you get lost.
Chapter 25: Ellie miraculously saves a little boy from a storm drain; Ellie grows old and has to be euthanized again.
Chapter 26: Reborn as a black puppy and renamed Bear, the dog isn’t well taken care of or wanted by any of the people he meets.
Chapter 27: Bear is dropped off in the middle of the woods when he suddenly recognizes where he is.
Chapter 28: Bear finds himself back it his old haunts, when he recognizes Hannah’s scent on a dog named Carly.
Chapter 29: Bear is nearly euthanized again after being captured. Bear finds his way back to the farm, and Ethan opens the door.
Chapter 30: Ethan doesn’t let Bear in the house, and he calls animal control the next day. Having regrets, Ethan goes to the shelter and adopts Bear, whom he renames Buddy.
Chapter 31: Buddy realizes that his purpose is to save people. Buddy plays matchmaker by going to Hannah’s house. Ethan and Hannah have dinner.
Chapter 32: Hannah moves in with Ethan. Ethan eventually has an aneurysm and is dying. Buddy proves to Ethan that he is Bailey by catching the flip, an old toy Ethan has made for Bailey long ago. Ethan dies with Buddy by his side.

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