18 Sad Dog Books Guaranteed to Make You Cry

Some books just wreck you, and books about dogs are the worst offenders. There's something about the bond between a person and their dog that hits differently on the page. Maybe it's because we know dogs love us more honestly than most people ever will. Whatever the reason, these 18 sad dog books will absolutely destroy you, and you'll thank them for it.

The Best Sad Books About Dogs

1. Where The Red Fern Grows

By Wilson Rawls

• 5-star rating
• Reading Level: ages 8 - 12
• Where to read: Where The Red Fern Grows is a classic of children's literature. It can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at your local library.

You may have read Where the Red Fern Grows in school at some point, though some teachers hesitate to give this sad story to younger readers. It's a semi-autobiographical story with the main character, Billy Colman, standing in for author Wilson Rawls.

As an old man, Billy looks back on the two dogs he had as a boy, dogs named Dan and Ann, and the experiences he had with them.

Of course, it's a sad book because the dog dies at the end, but the book's message is a strong one of faith and that even sad things can ultimately be for the best.

2. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Photo credit: thefirstedition.com

By David Wrobleski

• 4-star rating
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle was an Oprah book club pick and was widely hailed as a brilliant first novel from this author. Calling it a sad story about dogs might be an understatement, however, as Edgar's story is pretty tragic for everyone. Edgar is a young, deaf boy whose family breeds dogs for a living.

Along with his dog named Almondine, Edgar tries to take over his family's business after his father mysteriously dies. That's not the end of the troubles, though, and this book follows a plot somewhat similar to that of Hamlet.

3. The Art of Racing in the Rain

By Garth Stein

• 4.5 stars
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

This is the first book on this list told from the point of view of the dog, rather than his human owner.

The dog, Enzo, believes that if he prepares himself properly he will be reincarnated as a human in his next life. To that end, he spends his time observing the humans around him and trying to understand their lives.

The name 'Enzo' is taken from Enzo Ferrari, founder of the car company, as the human in the story, Denny, is a fan of race car driving. Enzo helps Denny throughout the two's lives and, while this is a sad story, the ending is ultimately hopeful.

4. Love That Dog

By Sharon Creech

• 4.5 Stars
• Reading Level: ages 8 - 12
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Unlike the other books on this list, Love That Dog is actually a book of poems, though all telling one story. They are written from the perspective of a young boy who would rather not write poetry at all, which the author manages to imitate with some humor.

The book was a finalist or winner of several awards for children's books, including the Carnegie Medal.

5. Sad, the Dog

Photo credit: childrensbooksdaily.com

By Sandy Fussell

• 5 stars
• Reading Level: Ages 3 - 7
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

This story is also told from the point of view of a pup. In this case, the main character isn't even given a name by his first family, instead choosing the name of 'Sad' for himself.

That tells you everything you need to know about how he is treated. While it seems like things get as sad as they can when his family moves and leaves him behind, things quickly begin to look up for him.

Ultimately about accepting people for the things that make them special, Sad ends up with a new and better name by the end.

6. Old Yeller

By Fred Gipson

• 5 stars
• Reading Level: Ages 10 - 13 years
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

This has got to be the quintessential sad book about dogs. A farm family struggles, the father absent and working, with the bulk of the work falling on the main character, Travis.

A stray dog, Old Yeller, appears and sticks around to help, though Travis initially tries to get rid of the dog. Old Yeller proves his worth more than once, saving each member of the family from a threat in a different way.

Old Yeller saves them one last time, forcing Travis to face an incredibly difficult decision.

7. Hachiko Waits

By Leslea Newman (writer) and Machiyo Kodaira (illustrator)

• 4.5 stars
• Reading Level: Ages 8 - 11 years old
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

This illustrated children's book tells the true story of Hachiko, an Akita dog who lived in Japan during the 20s and 30s. The dog and owner had a very particular schedule every day, and every day the dog would meet his owner at the train station at the same time.

One day, Hachiko's owner goes to work and never returns. Hachiko's care is taken over by a young boy named Yasuo and the master of the train station the dog still came to every day, waiting for the master that will never return.

It's a bittersweet story, one that highlights the deep relationship between dogs and their people, that ultimately lingers on the lives Hachiko impacted during his life.

A statue of Hachiko now sits in a prominent square outside Shibuya train station, where Hachiko once waited for his master.

8. A Wolf Called Romeo

By Nick Jans

• 4.5 stars
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

At once beautiful and heartbreaking, the story of Romeo the wolf offers a glimpse at the first friendly interactions between humans and dogs' long-ago ancestors, wolves.

Romeo was a black wolf who lived near Juneau, Alaska. While initially wary of him, the residents of Juneau found that he was gentle and curious. He would join cross country skiers on their trips across the snow, play fetch with dogs, or sit and keep quiet company with people.

Everyone knew him and liked to say hi. None of the books on this list have happy endings and you might have guessed that Romeo is not left to live long and peacefully. However, it's plain that while he lived, he was loved.

9. Rescuing Sprite

By Mark R. Levin

• 4.5 stars
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Another memoir, Rescuing Sprite is the story of the author and his family adopting a new dog. Sprite proves to be happy and friendly, so that every member of the family quickly falls in love with him.

Unfortunately, as sometimes happens with rescue dogs, Sprite proves to have some serious health problems. Soon, Sprite's short time with Levin's family comes to an end.

Many people have cited this book as being helpful after the loss of a pet, the writing being so authentic and beautiful as to be cathartic.

10. Say Goodbye For Now

By Catherine Ryan Hyde

• 4.5 stars
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

A woman doctor in mid 50s America struggles with her past, caring for abandoned animals. Soon, she finds love and family in an ad hoc family, consisting of an African American father and son, a neglected boy, and a wounded dog.

After all, life is better with a dog. While the small town they live in is not accepting of the little family, friendship eventually stands the test of time. This book highlights the fact that found families can be as strong as those connected by blood, and that dogs are as much a member of the family as any person.

11. Barry: The Bravest Saint Bernard

By Lynn Hall (author) and Antonio Castro (illustrator)

• 4.6 stars
• Reading Level: Ages 5 - 8 years
• Where to Read: Amazon

Barry was a Saint Bernard who lived at the beginning of the 1800s in Germany. If you ever think of a big, sloppy Saint Bernard saving people from avalanches or the cold, it's because of Barry.

Like a lot of big dogs, he had a shorter lifespan, dying at the age of 12. However, during his life, he was credited with saving at least 40 people in the mountains around his home.

Barry has been long remembered, recognized as the most famous Saint Bernard ever. The hospice where Barry lived has kept a Saint Bernard named for him ever since.

12. Timoleon Vieta Come Home

By Dan Rhodes

• 4 stars
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

There is a whole genre the describes the adventures of dogs and other pets on epic journeys. One of the best known is Lassie Come Home.

This book is something of a twist on that classic, with a little mongrel taking the main role. Timoleon Vieta is left by his owner in Rome, abandoned to please a demanding lover. The book describes Timoleon's journey across Italy back to his home.

Like a lot of these sorts of stories, it may make you miss your dog. It's an irreverent take on a classic that still displays affection for the pup at the center of the story.

13. Letters From Wolfie

By Patti Sherlock

• 5 stars
• Reading Level: Ages 10 - 12 years old
• Where to Read: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

This story isn't just sad, it's heartbreaking in a particularly affecting way. Wolfie is a German Shepherd mix who lives with a family in the United States during the Vietnam War.

The young boy who is Wolfie's friend decides that he can help out with the war and keep the soldiers safe by sending his dog to be a scout in the army.

The book tells the story of Wolfie's time in Vietnam and that of the young boy who volunteered him. While just the plot is sad enough, the book depicts some of the complexities of patriotism and sacrifice.

14. Because of Winn-Dixie

By Kate DiCamillo

• 4.8 stars
• Reading Level: Ages 6 - 9
• Where to Read: Amazon

Ten-year-old Opal walks into a grocery store and walks out with a dog. That's the kind of beginning that makes you think you're in for a lighthearted ride. You're not. Winn-Dixie is a scruffy, grinning mutt who helps Opal make friends in a small Florida town where she knows nobody, all while she's quietly aching over the mother who left when she was three.

What makes this book so sneaky-sad is that it never tries to be sad. DiCamillo writes with this warmth that feels like sweet tea on a porch, and then suddenly you're crying because a little girl is asking her dad to list ten things about a woman she'll never remember. Winn-Dixie doesn't just keep Opal company. He cracks her whole world open.

It won a Newbery Honor for a reason. If you've got kids, read it to them. If you don't, read it anyway. You'll be a mess either way.

15. The Longest Letsgoboy

By Derick Wilder, Illustrated by Catia Chien

• 4.9 stars
• Reading Level: Ages 4 - 8
• Where to Read: Amazon

This picture book is 40 pages long and it will level you. A boy and his dog go on one final walk together, and the whole story is built around their word: "Letsgoboy." That's what the boy always says when they head out the door. Running, swimming, chasing, napping. Every adventure starts with that one word.

But this walk is different, and you know it from the first page. The dog is slower now. The boy is older. Catia Chien's watercolor illustrations are gorgeous and blurry in a way that feels like looking through tears, which is fitting because that's exactly what you'll be doing by the end.

Parents use this book to talk to kids about pet loss, but honestly, adults need it just as much. It captures something true about how dogs live entirely inside the moments we share with them. And how the last moment doesn't erase any of the others.

16. Marley and Me

By John Grogan

• 4.6 stars
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to Read: Amazon

You probably already know this one. John Grogan and his wife adopt a yellow Lab puppy who turns out to be the most destructive, disobedient, lovable disaster of a dog who ever lived. Marley eats through drywall. He drags people down the street. He fails obedience school so spectacularly that the instructor asks him not to come back.

For most of the book, you're laughing. Grogan writes about the chaos of raising a family alongside an untrainable 100-pound Lab with real humor and zero self-pity. Then the last few chapters arrive and the laughter stops. You know what's coming. Everyone knows what's coming. It doesn't matter. It still guts you.

There's a reason this book spent 76 weeks on the bestseller list. Grogan figured out something every dog owner already knows: the worst dogs are the best dogs, and losing them is the price you pay for all those years of mayhem.

17. Lessons from Lad

By Patty Dann

• 4.5 stars
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to Read: Amazon

Patty Dann got a golden retriever named Lad during one of the hardest stretches of her life. Her husband was battling a brain tumor. Her son was growing up fast. And this sweet, goofy dog walked into the middle of all that grief and somehow made the house feel like a home again.

This is a short, quiet memoir that reads more like a journal than a traditional book. Dann writes about walking Lad through New York City, about the strangers who stop to pet him, about the way a dog forces you outside when all you want to do is stay in bed. It's not dramatic. It's just honest.

If you've ever leaned on a dog to get through something terrible, this book will feel like someone finally wrote your story down. Keep tissues nearby.

18. The Heaven of Animals

By David James Poissant

• 4.2 stars
• Reading Level: Adult
• Where to Read: Amazon

This isn't strictly a dog book. It's a short story collection about people falling apart and the animals that witness it. But the title story, which centers on a father, his dying dog, and his son's unraveling marriage, is one of the most devastating pieces of fiction about pet loss you'll ever read.

Poissant writes about messy, complicated people who do selfish things and still somehow deserve your empathy. Dogs and other animals show up throughout these stories as mirrors, reflecting back the parts of ourselves we'd rather not look at. The writing is sharp and surprising, and several of these stories will stick with you for weeks.

Pick this one up if you want something more literary. It won the Matt Clark Prize and got compared to Flannery O'Connor, which should tell you the kind of emotional territory you're walking into.

Eighteen books. Eighteen chances to completely fall apart on your couch, on the subway, or in a waiting room where strangers will pretend not to notice you crying. That's the thing about sad dog books: they don't just make you sad. They remind you what it felt like to love something that loved you back without conditions or complications. So grab a box of tissues, pick one of these off the list, and let yourself feel it. Your dog would want you to.