The Plague Dogs
Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down, creates a lyrical and engrossing tale, a remarkable journey into the hearts and minds of two canine heroes, Snitter and Rowf. After being horribly mistreated at a government animal research facility, Snitter and Rowf escape into the isolation--and terror--of the wilderness. Aided only by a fox they call ''the Tod,'' the two dogs must struggle to survive in their new environment. When the starving dogs attack some sheep, they are labeled ferocious man-eating monsters, setting off a great dog hunt that is later intensified by the fear that the dogs could be carriers of the bubonic plague.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about The Plague Dogs
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Snitter, a fox terrier with a head wound, and Rowf, a black mongrel half-drowned in survival tests, escape a remote Lake District animal research station. Across the fells, with a tod fox as a guide, they live as wild dogs and become tabloid celebrities as the human hunt for them grows.
The Plague Dogs was written by Richard Adams and published in 1977. Adams is also the author of Watership Down. Both novels feature animal protagonists, though The Plague Dogs is notably bleaker.
Yes. A 1982 animated film adaptation directed by Martin Rosen was released. The film is widely considered one of the most emotionally devastating animated films and faithful to the novel.
The Plague Dogs is 480 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Plague Dogs takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
The Plague Dogs is a standalone novel by Richard Adams, not part of a series.
The Plague Dogs is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.