Old Yeller is the story of a young boy, and his dog. Living on a small farm in Texas, the Coate's are a hard-working family. They are struggling with money problems, after the Civil War. Jim, the father, must leave his family to go on a cattle drive to earn money. Travis, the oldest son, is forced to grow up fast as the, “man of the house." Old Yeller, the adopted family dog, helps Travis keep the family going.
The book and movie Old Yeller are alike in several ways. Mr. Coate’s drives cattle to Kansas for "cash" money. Arliss, the youngest son, is known to make up a story or, “a big windy.” Old Yeller saves Arliss from a mother bear. Travis and Old Yeller get hurt by hogs, when they tried to tag the young hogs with the Coate's family mark. Finally, Old Yeller must be killed, because he was bitten by a mad wolf.
There are several large and small differences between the book and the movie. In the book, Old Yeller has a stubby tail and bitten up ears, but in the movie he doesn't have those features. A bull fight is not shown in the movie. The bull with hydrophobia wasn't shown in the movie, so Travis didn't shoot three animals with hydrophobia. Travis fell out of a tree in the movie, unlike the sand cave that collapsed under him in the book. The pup Lisbeth brought to Travis was not speckled; instead it looked liked Old Yeller. After Old Yeller was bitten by the mad wolf, Travis shot Old Yeller right away. In the movie, they kept Old Yeller in the corn crib for a month to see if he was infected.
Old Yeller is a classic story of a boy who misses his first dog, who had died. He tries not to love the new family dog, but as he grows up, so does his love for Old Yeller. In the end, the boy shows his love for the dog by not allowing Old Yeller to suffer when he is bitten by a mad wolf. The story is filled with exciting events. Starting with a bear attack, and then saving Travis from the hogs, Old Yeller finally saves the family one last time in a heroic fight with the mad wolf.
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