Further Adventures of Lad
Encyclopedia
Further Adventures of Lad, also known as Dog Stories Every Child Should Know, is a 1922 American
novel written by Albert Payson Terhune
and published by George H. Doran. A follow up to Lad: A Dog
, it contains an additional eleven short stories featuring a fictional version of Terhune's real-life rough collie
Lad, including the stories of Lad's initial arrival at the "Place", the death of his mate, and the day of his own death. Most of the stories were originally published in various magazines, and touch on themes of justice and the concepts of right and wrong. Terhune notes that he decided to publish the novel due to numerous letters received in response to the first novel, and the thousands of visitors who came to Sunnybank to visit the real-life Lad's grave. Though he initially intended for Further Adventures of Lad to be the final book of Lad stories, he would eventually publish one more book of stories, Lad of Sunnybank in 1929.
The novel was a bestseller and well received by fans of the first novel, as well as new readers. Critics praised the stories as "charming" and "entertaining", finding Lad a "delightful" and desirable dog. A critic for the New York Tribune
, however, criticized Terhune's writing style and felt Lad was an unbelievable character, while also still noting that book lovers would enjoy it. It was listed among H.W. Wilson Company's 1922 list of 10,000 books they deemed the "most useful". Warner Brothers purchased the film rights for Lad: A Dog, Further Adventures of Lad, and Lad of Sunnybank, intending to produce a series of films and possibly a television series. The first film, Lad: A Dog
, was released in June 1962 but it was unsuccessful in the box office
and the project was dropped. The novel is now a public domain
work.
A couple, referred to only as the Master and Mistress, purchase a pure-bred rough collie
named Lad to be the guard dog of their home, the Place. Though they are surprised when they receive a puppy instead of an adult dog, they decide to keep him and he quickly shows himself to be very intelligent and easily trainable. At first, Lad views all people as friends, including a burglar who robs the house one night. When the man climbs out the window with a bag of loot, Lad thinks he is playing a game and snatches the bag in play. The thief chases Lad, then shoots him to get back the bag. Lad realizes the man is not friendly and turns to attack him, but the thief falls into a ditch, knocking himself unconscious. Afterward, Lad no longer trusts strangers so easily and has become a true watchdog.
"The Fetish"
While in town with the Mistress, Lad saves her from an attack by a sick dog being chased by the police and other citizens, who believe it to be rabid
. The dog is shot and the upset Mistress, who knew it was not really rabid, goes home. The next day, the town constable
comes by boat to the Place to execute Lad under the notion that he is now rabid. The Master argues that the other dog was not rabid and refuses to allow Lad to be shot, ordering the officer off his property. As the man is leaving, his boat overturns. Unable to swim, he is in danger of drowning until Lad jumps in and brings him back to shore. The grateful officer states that he killed the dog he came to kill and Lad only looks a little like him.
"No Trespassing!"
Two young couples trespass on the Place's lake shore, only to be driven off by the Master and Lad. A week later, Lad is taken to compete in a dog show in Beauville. One of the men from the lake is there to show his boss' champion Lochaber King. He plots to dye Lad's coat red to embarrass the Master for the earlier incident, but accidentally dyes Lochaber King's coat instead, after the two dogs change locations. He is left having to answer for the dog's ruined coat while Lad wins the silver trophy.
"Hero-Stuff"
The Master and Mistress buy a female collie puppy named Lady to be Lad's companion and mate. Lad becomes her protector and slave, as she bullies him from his food and the best places to lie, and endures the flashes of nasty temper that lead her to bite his ears and paws. As she grows older, she becomes a generally well-behaved house dog, but when she is eight months old, she tries to attack a beloved mounted bald eagle
belonging to the Master. He whips her and then locks her in a shed for the night as punishment; however, during the night it catches on fire. Lad desperately tries to break down the door to free her, then howls in agony, before jumping through its high window to join Lady inside. The Master, awakened by Lad's howl, arrives in time to free them both, though both have badly burned coats.
"The Stowaway"
When Lady returns from a fifteen-week hospital stay, she abandons Lad to play with their son Wolf, whom she no longer recognizes. The moping Lad takes to hiding in the car to beg for a ride, and accidentally becomes a stowaway when the Master and Mistress go to the Catskills to visit friends. As dogs are not allowed in the residential park where they are staying, they take Lad to a kennel, but he quickly escapes and returns to the park. While waiting for the Master and Mistress to wake up, he follows a strange scent through a neighbor's house, leading to his being blamed for destroying a room in that house. However, it's quickly discovered that the vandal was another neighbor's pet monkey
, hidden by its owner who did not like the park's new "no pet" rules. When Lad returns home, Lady effusively greets her returned mate.
"The Tracker"
Cyril, an eleven-year-old with a nasty penchant for making trouble, comes to stay at the Place for three months. While there, he frequently lies, sneakily torments Lad, and plays such horrible pranks on the staff that two quit. After he is caught kicking Lad in plain sight, the Master loses his temper and scolds him. Cyril goes into a rage and runs away in a snowstorm. He gets lost and falls off a high cliff, landing on a small ledge. Lad finds him there, but has to jump down to the ledge to save the boy from a bobcat
. Now trapped with the boy, Lad keeps him warm until a rescue party arrives.
"The Juggernaut"
Lad's mate Lady is run over and killed by a speeding driver who deliberately aimed his car at her. Lad and his owners both saw the crime, but were unable to catch up to the driver in time. Lad grieves terribly until they go to a local tennis tournament where he finds Lady's killer. He attacks the man to kill him, but the Master calls him off. The Mistress explains to the shocked crowd what the man had done, then takes a cured Lad home. They later learn that the crowd destroyed the man's expensive car and he was expelled from the club for killing Lady.
"In Strange Company"
The Master and Mistress take Lad on their annual fall camping trip to the mountains for two weeks. During the trip, Lad playfully teases a bear, leading to a fight, which the master ends by scaring off the bear. At the end of the trip, Lad is accidentally left tied to a tree at the camp site. While his owners are returning to find their missing dog, Lad is trapped by a forest fire. When the bear he fought earlier rushes past with singed fur, Lad chews through his rope and follows the other animals of the forest to sit in a nearby lake. When his owners arrive, he runs through the burning fire to join them, blistering his paws on some coals.
"Old Dog; New Tricks"
After 12-year-old Lad is praised for bringing the Mistress a lace parasol that he found on the road, he begins searching the road for more things to find, sometimes stealing them unintentionally from people who were nearby but not watching their items. As he had gotten more sensitive in his older age, his owners always praised him for the gifts, which ranged from a full picnic basket to roadkill. One night, he "finds" a baby, who was kidnapped from a wealthy household by a disgruntled former employee and his kin. The baby had been set in the grass by his two kidnappers while they changed a flat tire. The kidnappers eventually catch up to Lad, who is carrying the child home. He fights off the men when they attack him, eventually chasing them back to their car, and they escape. The baby is returned to his parents and the kidnappers arrested, but Lad is hurt that his present results in no praise, just a lot of activity around the house.
"The Intruders"
A large, cranky sow
escapes from its herd and attacks the Mistress after she tries to shoo it out of her garden. Lad charges between them and battles the sow, but with his old age and blunt fangs he struggles with the fight and is badly injured. Bruce and Wolf return from a forest romp in time to aid him, and the younger dogs are able to easily drive her off. While fleeing, the pig runs directly into the path of one of the Place's cars, driven by a car thief who is knocked unconscious. Lad's feelings are hurt by the battle being finished by the other dogs and the Mistress' holding him back from joining them at the end, but he quickly forgives her.
"The Guard"
At 16, the aging Lad befriends Sonya, a seven-year-old girl whose father works at the Place. Her father forces her to assist him with his work, then brutally mistreats her if she is slow. The Master and the Place's superintendent try to quell the behavior, with no success. During a walk with the girl, Lad protects her from her father. The next day, while the Master and Mistress are at a show and the other workers are off on holiday, Sonya's father starts to beat her for accidentally dropping a heavy basket. Lad comes to her rescue and they retreat to the veranda where she pets him while he sleeps. When Sonya goes to the barn, her father is waiting for her and closes the door. Somehow she senses Lad beside her, which gives her the courage to stand up to her father. The man imagines he sees Lad beside her and runs away in fear. Unknown to both, Lad had died in his sleep and the Master and Mistress were crying over his body on the veranda.
Lad. After the short story's publication in the January 1916 issue of Red Book Magazine
, Terhune began writing additional short stories. The Lad Stories were published in the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal
, Hartford Courant, and the Atlantic Monthly, though Red Book remained the most consistent purchaser of the stories. Terhune collected twenty of the stories into a novel form, publishing it as Lad: A Dog
in 1919, the year after the real Lad died. The novel was well-received by critics and readers, becoming a best seller.
Available evidence indicates that the real Lad was born in December 1902, and that unlike his fictional counterpart, Lad was a collie of unknown lineage with no American Kennel Club
registration papers. After living five years with a heart tumor, the dog died on September 3, 1918 and his obituary was featured on a multi-page spread of the September 14, 1918 issue of Field and Fancy magazine. Terhune reported that he received hundreds of letters from fans asking him to publish more stories about Lad, and that over 1,700 people visit Lad's grave at Sunnybank. In 1922, he collected together eleven more short stories into a novel; the stories were published earlier in The Ladies' Home Journal, with some new stories and some from other magazines. The new set of stories primarily revolved around the themes of right and wrong, abuse of authority, and justice
. Intending it to be the last book he would write about his late collie, Terhune killed the fictional Lad in the last chapter of the novel. The novel was published by George H. Doran as Further Adventures of Lad. Seven years and twenty other novels later, he would change his mind and release one more Lad novel, Lad of Sunnybank, which was published by HarperCollins
.
After the initial publication, Further Adventures of Lad was re-released in the same year by Grosset & Dunlap
. In 1941, it was republished by Doubleday as Dog Stories Every Child Should Know, and has since entered the public domain
. It has released online by Project Gutenberg
, in print-on-demand form by Echo Library, and as a downloadable eBook by Ebookslib.
called the stories "delightful sketches" that invoked a feeling of "privilege [at being] admitted to the friendship and to obtain the devotion of an animal like Lad." The reviewer for the Springfield Republican
found it as "entertaining" as the previous novel, and felt it was "written with the same understanding of dog nature which made the other stories universally read." A reviewer for the Olympia Daily Recorder considered it a "charming story" and a "worth while" book, calling Lad both "delightful"and a "great hero". However, Isabel Paterson, of the New York Tribune
, considered Lad to be an unbelievable and undesirable dog and felt that Terhune wrote in a "rather hysterical style" whose "incessant piling up of the agony and adjectives [was] wearing." Despite these failings, she did note that dog lovers would likely enjoy the book.
The H.W. Wilson Company listed it in its 1922 Standard Catalog Bimonthly, a selection of "10,000 titles of the most useful books covering all classes of literature." In the 1960s, Warner Brothers purchased the film rights for the novel from the late Terhune's wife Anice Terhune, hoping to produce a sequel and possible television series as a follow-up to Lad: A Dog
, the film adaptation of the first novel it released in June 1962. However, the film was not as successfully as the studio hoped, and plans for follow-ups were dropped.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novel written by Albert Payson Terhune
Albert Payson Terhune
Albert Payson Terhune was an American author, dog breeder, and journalist. The public knows him best for his novels relating the adventures of his beloved collies and as a breeder of collies at his Sunnybank Kennels, the lines of which still exist in today's Rough Collies.-Biography:Albert Payson...
and published by George H. Doran. A follow up to Lad: A Dog
Lad, A Dog
Lad: A Dog is a 1919 American novel written by Albert Payson Terhune and published by E. P. Dutton. Composed of twelve short stories first published in magazines, the novel is loosely based on the life of Terhune's real-life rough collie, Lad. Born in 1902, the real-life Lad was an unregistered...
, it contains an additional eleven short stories featuring a fictional version of Terhune's real-life rough collie
Rough Collie
The Rough Collie is a long coated breed of medium to large size dog that in its original form was a type of collie used and bred for herding in Scotland. Originating in the 1800's, it is now well known through the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and through the Lassie novel, movies, and...
Lad, including the stories of Lad's initial arrival at the "Place", the death of his mate, and the day of his own death. Most of the stories were originally published in various magazines, and touch on themes of justice and the concepts of right and wrong. Terhune notes that he decided to publish the novel due to numerous letters received in response to the first novel, and the thousands of visitors who came to Sunnybank to visit the real-life Lad's grave. Though he initially intended for Further Adventures of Lad to be the final book of Lad stories, he would eventually publish one more book of stories, Lad of Sunnybank in 1929.
The novel was a bestseller and well received by fans of the first novel, as well as new readers. Critics praised the stories as "charming" and "entertaining", finding Lad a "delightful" and desirable dog. A critic for the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, however, criticized Terhune's writing style and felt Lad was an unbelievable character, while also still noting that book lovers would enjoy it. It was listed among H.W. Wilson Company's 1922 list of 10,000 books they deemed the "most useful". Warner Brothers purchased the film rights for Lad: A Dog, Further Adventures of Lad, and Lad of Sunnybank, intending to produce a series of films and possibly a television series. The first film, Lad: A Dog
Lad, A Dog (film)
Lad: A Dog is a 1962 American dramatic film based on the 1919 novel Lad: A Dog written Albert Payson Terhune. Starring Peter Breck, Peggy McCay, Carroll O'Connor, and Angela Cartwright, the film blends several of the short stories featured in the novel, with the heroic Lad winning a rigged dog...
, was released in June 1962 but it was unsuccessful in the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
and the project was dropped. The novel is now a public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
work.
Plot
"The Coming of Lad"A couple, referred to only as the Master and Mistress, purchase a pure-bred rough collie
Rough Collie
The Rough Collie is a long coated breed of medium to large size dog that in its original form was a type of collie used and bred for herding in Scotland. Originating in the 1800's, it is now well known through the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and through the Lassie novel, movies, and...
named Lad to be the guard dog of their home, the Place. Though they are surprised when they receive a puppy instead of an adult dog, they decide to keep him and he quickly shows himself to be very intelligent and easily trainable. At first, Lad views all people as friends, including a burglar who robs the house one night. When the man climbs out the window with a bag of loot, Lad thinks he is playing a game and snatches the bag in play. The thief chases Lad, then shoots him to get back the bag. Lad realizes the man is not friendly and turns to attack him, but the thief falls into a ditch, knocking himself unconscious. Afterward, Lad no longer trusts strangers so easily and has become a true watchdog.
"The Fetish"
While in town with the Mistress, Lad saves her from an attack by a sick dog being chased by the police and other citizens, who believe it to be rabid
Rabid
Rabid is a 1977 horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg. It features Marilyn Chambers in the lead role, supported by Frank Moore, Howard Ryshpan, Joe Silver and Robert A...
. The dog is shot and the upset Mistress, who knew it was not really rabid, goes home. The next day, the town constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
comes by boat to the Place to execute Lad under the notion that he is now rabid. The Master argues that the other dog was not rabid and refuses to allow Lad to be shot, ordering the officer off his property. As the man is leaving, his boat overturns. Unable to swim, he is in danger of drowning until Lad jumps in and brings him back to shore. The grateful officer states that he killed the dog he came to kill and Lad only looks a little like him.
"No Trespassing!"
Two young couples trespass on the Place's lake shore, only to be driven off by the Master and Lad. A week later, Lad is taken to compete in a dog show in Beauville. One of the men from the lake is there to show his boss' champion Lochaber King. He plots to dye Lad's coat red to embarrass the Master for the earlier incident, but accidentally dyes Lochaber King's coat instead, after the two dogs change locations. He is left having to answer for the dog's ruined coat while Lad wins the silver trophy.
"Hero-Stuff"
The Master and Mistress buy a female collie puppy named Lady to be Lad's companion and mate. Lad becomes her protector and slave, as she bullies him from his food and the best places to lie, and endures the flashes of nasty temper that lead her to bite his ears and paws. As she grows older, she becomes a generally well-behaved house dog, but when she is eight months old, she tries to attack a beloved mounted bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
belonging to the Master. He whips her and then locks her in a shed for the night as punishment; however, during the night it catches on fire. Lad desperately tries to break down the door to free her, then howls in agony, before jumping through its high window to join Lady inside. The Master, awakened by Lad's howl, arrives in time to free them both, though both have badly burned coats.
"The Stowaway"
When Lady returns from a fifteen-week hospital stay, she abandons Lad to play with their son Wolf, whom she no longer recognizes. The moping Lad takes to hiding in the car to beg for a ride, and accidentally becomes a stowaway when the Master and Mistress go to the Catskills to visit friends. As dogs are not allowed in the residential park where they are staying, they take Lad to a kennel, but he quickly escapes and returns to the park. While waiting for the Master and Mistress to wake up, he follows a strange scent through a neighbor's house, leading to his being blamed for destroying a room in that house. However, it's quickly discovered that the vandal was another neighbor's pet monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
, hidden by its owner who did not like the park's new "no pet" rules. When Lad returns home, Lady effusively greets her returned mate.
"The Tracker"
Cyril, an eleven-year-old with a nasty penchant for making trouble, comes to stay at the Place for three months. While there, he frequently lies, sneakily torments Lad, and plays such horrible pranks on the staff that two quit. After he is caught kicking Lad in plain sight, the Master loses his temper and scolds him. Cyril goes into a rage and runs away in a snowstorm. He gets lost and falls off a high cliff, landing on a small ledge. Lad finds him there, but has to jump down to the ledge to save the boy from a bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
. Now trapped with the boy, Lad keeps him warm until a rescue party arrives.
"The Juggernaut"
Lad's mate Lady is run over and killed by a speeding driver who deliberately aimed his car at her. Lad and his owners both saw the crime, but were unable to catch up to the driver in time. Lad grieves terribly until they go to a local tennis tournament where he finds Lady's killer. He attacks the man to kill him, but the Master calls him off. The Mistress explains to the shocked crowd what the man had done, then takes a cured Lad home. They later learn that the crowd destroyed the man's expensive car and he was expelled from the club for killing Lady.
"In Strange Company"
The Master and Mistress take Lad on their annual fall camping trip to the mountains for two weeks. During the trip, Lad playfully teases a bear, leading to a fight, which the master ends by scaring off the bear. At the end of the trip, Lad is accidentally left tied to a tree at the camp site. While his owners are returning to find their missing dog, Lad is trapped by a forest fire. When the bear he fought earlier rushes past with singed fur, Lad chews through his rope and follows the other animals of the forest to sit in a nearby lake. When his owners arrive, he runs through the burning fire to join them, blistering his paws on some coals.
"Old Dog; New Tricks"
After 12-year-old Lad is praised for bringing the Mistress a lace parasol that he found on the road, he begins searching the road for more things to find, sometimes stealing them unintentionally from people who were nearby but not watching their items. As he had gotten more sensitive in his older age, his owners always praised him for the gifts, which ranged from a full picnic basket to roadkill. One night, he "finds" a baby, who was kidnapped from a wealthy household by a disgruntled former employee and his kin. The baby had been set in the grass by his two kidnappers while they changed a flat tire. The kidnappers eventually catch up to Lad, who is carrying the child home. He fights off the men when they attack him, eventually chasing them back to their car, and they escape. The baby is returned to his parents and the kidnappers arrested, but Lad is hurt that his present results in no praise, just a lot of activity around the house.
"The Intruders"
A large, cranky sow
Sow
Sow may refer to:* Sowing seed* Female animals: badger, bear, pig family* Shape in which metal is cast* Type of siege engine* River Sow, England* "Sow", a poem by Sylvia Plath* Sow , the band/spoken word project comprising Anna Wildsmith-People:...
escapes from its herd and attacks the Mistress after she tries to shoo it out of her garden. Lad charges between them and battles the sow, but with his old age and blunt fangs he struggles with the fight and is badly injured. Bruce and Wolf return from a forest romp in time to aid him, and the younger dogs are able to easily drive her off. While fleeing, the pig runs directly into the path of one of the Place's cars, driven by a car thief who is knocked unconscious. Lad's feelings are hurt by the battle being finished by the other dogs and the Mistress' holding him back from joining them at the end, but he quickly forgives her.
"The Guard"
At 16, the aging Lad befriends Sonya, a seven-year-old girl whose father works at the Place. Her father forces her to assist him with his work, then brutally mistreats her if she is slow. The Master and the Place's superintendent try to quell the behavior, with no success. During a walk with the girl, Lad protects her from her father. The next day, while the Master and Mistress are at a show and the other workers are off on holiday, Sonya's father starts to beat her for accidentally dropping a heavy basket. Lad comes to her rescue and they retreat to the veranda where she pets him while he sleeps. When Sonya goes to the barn, her father is waiting for her and closes the door. Somehow she senses Lad beside her, which gives her the courage to stand up to her father. The man imagines he sees Lad beside her and runs away in fear. Unknown to both, Lad had died in his sleep and the Master and Mistress were crying over his body on the veranda.
Development and publication
In 1915, Albert Payson Terhune penned his first canine short story, "His Mate", basing the main canine character on his real-life rough collieRough Collie
The Rough Collie is a long coated breed of medium to large size dog that in its original form was a type of collie used and bred for herding in Scotland. Originating in the 1800's, it is now well known through the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and through the Lassie novel, movies, and...
Lad. After the short story's publication in the January 1916 issue of Red Book Magazine
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
, Terhune began writing additional short stories. The Lad Stories were published in the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States...
, Hartford Courant, and the Atlantic Monthly, though Red Book remained the most consistent purchaser of the stories. Terhune collected twenty of the stories into a novel form, publishing it as Lad: A Dog
Lad, A Dog
Lad: A Dog is a 1919 American novel written by Albert Payson Terhune and published by E. P. Dutton. Composed of twelve short stories first published in magazines, the novel is loosely based on the life of Terhune's real-life rough collie, Lad. Born in 1902, the real-life Lad was an unregistered...
in 1919, the year after the real Lad died. The novel was well-received by critics and readers, becoming a best seller.
Available evidence indicates that the real Lad was born in December 1902, and that unlike his fictional counterpart, Lad was a collie of unknown lineage with no American Kennel Club
American Kennel Club
The American Kennel Club is a registry of purebred dog pedigrees in the United States. Beyond maintaining its pedigree registry, this kennel club also promotes and sanctions events for purebred dogs, including the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, an annual event which predates the official...
registration papers. After living five years with a heart tumor, the dog died on September 3, 1918 and his obituary was featured on a multi-page spread of the September 14, 1918 issue of Field and Fancy magazine. Terhune reported that he received hundreds of letters from fans asking him to publish more stories about Lad, and that over 1,700 people visit Lad's grave at Sunnybank. In 1922, he collected together eleven more short stories into a novel; the stories were published earlier in The Ladies' Home Journal, with some new stories and some from other magazines. The new set of stories primarily revolved around the themes of right and wrong, abuse of authority, and justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
. Intending it to be the last book he would write about his late collie, Terhune killed the fictional Lad in the last chapter of the novel. The novel was published by George H. Doran as Further Adventures of Lad. Seven years and twenty other novels later, he would change his mind and release one more Lad novel, Lad of Sunnybank, which was published by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
.
After the initial publication, Further Adventures of Lad was re-released in the same year by Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....
. In 1941, it was republished by Doubleday as Dog Stories Every Child Should Know, and has since entered the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. It has released online by Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
, in print-on-demand form by Echo Library, and as a downloadable eBook by Ebookslib.
Reception
Further Adventures of Lad quickly became a best-seller and was praised by both new readers and existing fans. Critics, however, gave it more mixed reviews. The Literary DigestLiterary Digest
The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
called the stories "delightful sketches" that invoked a feeling of "privilege [at being] admitted to the friendship and to obtain the devotion of an animal like Lad." The reviewer for the Springfield Republican
Springfield Republican
The Republican is a newspaper based in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is owned by Newhouse Newspapers, a division of Advance Publications. It played important roles in the United States Republican Party's founding, Charles Dow's career, and the invention of the pronoun "Ms."-Beginning:Established...
found it as "entertaining" as the previous novel, and felt it was "written with the same understanding of dog nature which made the other stories universally read." A reviewer for the Olympia Daily Recorder considered it a "charming story" and a "worth while" book, calling Lad both "delightful"and a "great hero". However, Isabel Paterson, of the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, considered Lad to be an unbelievable and undesirable dog and felt that Terhune wrote in a "rather hysterical style" whose "incessant piling up of the agony and adjectives [was] wearing." Despite these failings, she did note that dog lovers would likely enjoy the book.
The H.W. Wilson Company listed it in its 1922 Standard Catalog Bimonthly, a selection of "10,000 titles of the most useful books covering all classes of literature." In the 1960s, Warner Brothers purchased the film rights for the novel from the late Terhune's wife Anice Terhune, hoping to produce a sequel and possible television series as a follow-up to Lad: A Dog
Lad, A Dog (film)
Lad: A Dog is a 1962 American dramatic film based on the 1919 novel Lad: A Dog written Albert Payson Terhune. Starring Peter Breck, Peggy McCay, Carroll O'Connor, and Angela Cartwright, the film blends several of the short stories featured in the novel, with the heroic Lad winning a rigged dog...
, the film adaptation of the first novel it released in June 1962. However, the film was not as successfully as the studio hoped, and plans for follow-ups were dropped.