Old Yeller

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Old Yeller was a hunter,
a rearin', tearin' hunter.
In any chase, he knew just how to run!
And when he got in trouble,
he always found it double,
and that's when Old Yeller had fun!"

—from the opening credits of Disney's Film of the Book

Old Yeller is a book by Fred Gipson about a boy and a stray dog in post-American Civil War Texas, later made into a Walt Disney film in 1957. 15-year-old Travis Coates has enough responsibility taking care of his mother, little brother Arliss, and the family farm while his father goes away on a cattle drive. Then the wilderness blows a stray "yeller" dog into his life whom he initially takes a strong dislike to... until Old Yeller saves Arliss from a Mama Bear (kids shouldn't play with bear cubs). The two become inseparable partners, hunting and facing the dangers of The Wild West together. Then a rabid wolf comes along...

The film version of Old Yeller was named to the National Film Registry in 2019.

Warning, this page has Spoilers, but most people already know what they are.


The novel and highly faithful Disney film contain examples of: