The Lonely Journey

Lance, a half-grown German shepherd pup, is dumped into a hostile mountain wilderness to survive as best he can. The abandoned dog begins a desperate quest to return to a motherless boy who loved him.
Lance had last seen the boy ride his bicycle off to school one spring morning, but he never returned. To the grieving father, the dog is a painful reminder that his son and Lance had been inseparable. The father doesn't want the dog around, so deserts him in California's primitive back country.
Lance's devotion to the boy drives him to try returning home in spite of sore feet, intense hunger, wild animals, and many other dangers common to a wilderness environment.
A life and death struggle with a huge black bear provides the dramatic climax where Lance fights for the one item that gives him the hope that can end his lonely journey.