Bobbie: A Great Collie
by Charles
Alexander
Illustrated by Salem Tamer
 This story, based on actual facts, of a
heroic dog that, separated from his owners in Indiana, alone and unaided
made his way home to Oregon through the depth of winter. Fording icy
rivers, fighting deadly blizzards on the northern plains, crossing almost
impenetrable mountain ranges, harassed by savage animals and cruel men,
this great sheep collie will move the hearts of readers everywhere by his
superb performance of instinct and indomitable will. Told with sympathy
and clarity, Bobbie's great journey through winter to find the master he
had lost is one of the finest of authenticated records of the homing
instinct in action.
When newspapers in widely separated states first carried the story of
Bobbie's great adventure, many writers considered the feat of a six
month's, three-thousand-mile trek across two-thirds of the country far too
incredible for fiction. It would be dismissed as the fanciful maunderings
of an unreigned imagination.
After seeing the dog, however, Charles Alexander, with the aid of
newspaper records and with realistic filling in of inevitable episodes
between the reports, determined to recount the heroic journey in a book.
The amazing point is that for three and a half months the great dog in a
cold and desolate country wandered in circles without losing his desire
and determination. And once he reached Des Moines, Iowa, his westward
instincts awoke abruptly and carried him home to Silverton, near Portland,
Oregon.
Charles Alexander was acclaimed for his telling of Bobbie's story when
the book was first published. Because of the timelessness and magnificence
of the dog's accomplishment, this new version of his journey is being
published.
(From the dust cover of the 1966 edition, published by Dodd, Mead
& Co., New York)
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