Old Yeller Chapter Titles
Ch. 1 - Now a Man – Papa leaves for Abilene, Kansas to sell the family cattle for cash money. When he is
gone Travis must be the “man of the house” and take on new responsibilities. Travis is now in charge of
protecting Mama and Little Arliss. He must also punish his brother along with the maintaining of the
land.
Ch. 2 - A Helping Paw – One morning a dog shows up on the farm and immediately Little Arliss wants to
keep him. He calls him Old Yeller and protects him with all his heart. Having a dog on the farm helps
with many tasks Travis needs to accomplish. Old Yeller can help hunt, round-up cattle or hogs, and
protect the family from any danger.
Ch. 3 - Fresh Meat – Mama wants Travis to take Jumper out and go kill them a fresh, fat doe. When
Travis arrives at the Salt Licks he notices two squirrels chasing each other in a tree. The site amuses
Travis and he begins to laugh when he should be quiet. At that moment a doe begins to run off on the
other side of the licks. Quickly Travis aims his gun and shots the doe. He thinks he has missed the doe
until she runs into a tree and falls to the ground.
Ch. 4 - Bullish Entertainment – As the Coates Family was eating their supper a bull called out on the hill
and was responded to by another bull coming towards it. A bull fight is entertainment so the family runs
out to watch the fight. The two bulls lock horns and begin to fight to the death. But then things go
horrible wrong and the bulls crash into the fence Travis, Mama, and Little Arliss were perched on. They
run into the house but the bulls hit the house to. Now Travis needs to stop the bulls before the farm is
destroyed. Luckily the bulls eventually stop fighting and the land is only somewhat destroyed by the
fight.
Ch. 5 - Bad Habit – Little Arliss is always catching little creatures like frogs, snakes, lizards, and other
varmints. But one day he goes too far when he attempts to collect a baby bear and the mother bear is
going to get to him before Mama or Travis can. Travis and Mama are racing to save Arliss but the mother
bear will get there first until Old Yeller attacks her. This allows Mama to snatch up Little Arliss and run
into the cabin. If it wasn’t for Old Yeller, Little Arliss would have been killed by the she bear.
Ch. 6 - Salt Lick’s Thief – When Bud Searcy visits the Coats he tells them of a problem in town involving
some animal stealing the meats. Then his granddaughter Lisbeth tells Travis in private that she saw Old
Yeller steal the meats from the settlement. She then mentions she will not tell people it was Yeller
because Old Yeller and her dog, Miss Prissy, are having pups.
Ch. 7 - Team Effort – Now that Old Yeller and Travis are on the same page, they need to take care of the
problems on the farm. Well for starters raccoons keep eating the corn in the fields and Travis can’t catch
them himself so he uses Old Yeller to catch and kill the coons. Then when one of the cows, Spot, goes
out into the woods and has her calf, the two need to go to bring her home. Old Yeller rounds her up and
chases her when she tries to run off. When home Spot won’t let Travis milk her so Old Yeller stands at
her head. The cow stands as still as ever and Travis can get milk for the family.
Ch. 8 - Burn Sanderson’s Arrival – Burn Sanderson is a cattle driver who is taking his cattle to market and
uses his dogs to keep the cattle together. He came to our farm to claim Old Yeller and said the dog was
his best dog. Burn believes be must have wandered off one night and did not come back. Little Arliss
throws rocks at the man when he begins to take Old Yeller away. Burn Sanderson tells Arliss he can keep
the dog if Mama can cook him a great home-cooked meal. Little Arliss agrees and keeps Old Yeller which
will help the family in the future. Before he leaves the man tells Travis to look out for any signs of
hydrophobia and kill any animal that has the signs.
Ch. 9 - Marking Hogs – Another chore Travis must do is notching the newborn pigs ears, which is a lot of
work. He takes Old Yeller out to help herd the hogs to where Travis can mark them. Travis sits up in a
tree and lowers a rope down to get the baby hogs. Then he brings them up to be notched and inspected.
Old Yeller enjoys herding the hogs around and helping Travis.
Ch. 10 - Dangerous Business – Bud Searcy comes back to check on the Coates family when Papa is gone
and informs Travis about one bunch of hogs he missed. So Yeller and Travis go into the backcountry to
find the last bunch. Finally the bunch is located in a dry wash. Old Yeller rounds the hogs into an indent
along the bank and Travis goes on the top of the bank to catch the young hogs. After he successfully
notches two off the pigs he throws down the loop to catch the next hog. But then the bank brakes away
and the hogs attack Travis, cutting his leg badly. Old Yeller saves Travis by getting in the middle of the
hog fight and Travis gets away from the hogs. Then Travis goes back to get Old Yeller and the dog is in a
horrible state with his stomach ripped open. So Travis decides to go back to the cabin and get Mama to
help bring Old Yeller home.
Ch. 11 - Rescue – Travis arrives home and Mama is in panic but cleans his wound with turpentine. Then
they get Jumper and put a bed on the back to place Old Yeller on when they ride home. Finally they get
to the dog to help him. Mama sews up his belly and cleans anymore wounds on his body. Then his body
is transferred to the bed and they begin the long ride to the cabin. Little Arliss sits in the back with Old
Yeller to care for him. When they get home Old Yeller is asleep and Travis knows that Old Yeller will
survive the accident.
Ch. 12 - Farm Work & A Little Gift – Since Travis is unable to accomplish the chores, Mama must run the
farm. She is caring for Little Arliss and Travis, working the fields with Jumper, cutting wood, and dealing
with all the other chores that need to be done on the property. Then Bud Searcy comes to visit with
Lisbeth at his side. Lisbeth has brought Travis a gift to cheer him up and immediately gives the present
to him. She brought the best pup of Old Yeller’s litter. Travis’s reaction upset Lisbeth because he says
that Little Arliss will enjoy the new pup. He is saying that he doesn’t need a new dog because he still has
Old Yeller. Then when Bud Searcy leaves he says Lisbeth will stay to help the family.
Ch. 13 - The Signs – When Spot goes missing the Coates are wondering why the cow left her calf here
when it depended on her. She returns acting quite odd and walks around in a large circle bawling when
she appears very weak. Travis and Mama ponder what could be ailing the cow and think that she is
showing the signs of hydrophobia. Not long after they believe Spot has the sickness the roan bull shows
up and attacks the family showings signs of the disease. Travis hobbles out with his gun in hand and
shots the bull between the eyes.
Ch. 14 - Taking Care of Business – Mama tells Travis and Lisbeth that they can’t let the bull’s carcass just
lay there because other animals will eat the roan bull and spread the rabies. So Mama and Lisbeth
gather wood and burn the bull till he is just ashes. Then Mama decides to shoot Spot and Travis tells
Mama he will go out to kill the cow. Finally she crosses a place where fire won’t spread; Travis shoots
Spot to stop the rabies from continuing. When he returns home he tells Mama where the cow is and
Mama goes with Lisbeth to set fire to her body. Old Yeller trots out after them and it’s a good thing he
goes to protect them.
Ch. 15 - A Bad Day – Travis begins to worry about Lisbeth and Mama because they have been gone quite
a long time. Mama is approaching the cabin and yells at Travis to make light and grab his gun quick.
When Travis comes from the cabin Old Yeller is in a fight with an old Loafer Wolf and Travis must shoot
into the fight to kill the wolf. At first he thought he killed Old Yeller but Yeller gets up and comes over to
his side. The wolf is dead but attacked Mama and Lisbeth, now Mama thinks the wolf might have had
hydrophobia. She tells Travis since Old Yeller got bite by the wolf that he needs to kill the dog so the
rabies won’t spread to other animals or themselves.
Ch. 16 - Misery & Hope – At the start of the chapter Travis is incredible depressed and won’t eat, sleep,
or do much of anything. Then when the rain comes the hydrophobia plague is washed out and Papa
comes back from Kansas. He brought back money, gifts for Little Arliss and Mama, and a great horse for
Travis. But quickly Papa notices Travis is down and talks with him about the events that occurred in his
absence. Travis becomes a little happier but still has a spot missing in his heart. One night when Travis is
feeding the mule and horses Old Yeller’s blue spotted pup comes running out from the house. He has
stolen the meat just like Yeller did. Mama hit the pup and now the pup is playing hurt like Old Yeller did.
This event lifts Travis’s spirit and he now knows that Old Yeller never left them because they have this
pup who acts just like him.