Where It All Goes Down
The Great Outdoors
The book spans the years between 1946 to 1998, following Paulsen from age 7 to 59. After Cookie's dedication in the first chapter, we begin in the Philippines with Snowball, the author's first dog. In the aftermath of World War II, that country "had been ravaged by the war and much of the islands was still in ruin. The people had been devastated, buildings bombed and blown to pieces, whole tracts of land pitted and scarred by battle" (2.25).
The remainder of the book takes place in the U.S. In the final chapter, we end up in the southwest, watching Josh's coat shine "in the New Mexico sun streaming through the window" (9.1). In between, we're in various spots in rural Minnesota, Colorado, and all the way up to the Alaskan tundra, where Paulsen trained for dogsled races.
In case you haven't noticed, this man is on the move. We're tired just reading about all those places.
In the early chapters, which follow Paulsen through his childhood and teenage years, we see him move with his parents from military base housing into an apartment. Ultimately, his alcoholic parents drive him to camp out in the building's basement. His bad situation at home likely drove him to form close friendships with his canine companions in those years.
It also drove him outdoors. As a teenager, he was miserable at home and at school, but he felt free and happy in the woods with Ike, his hunting partner. There, he saw:
[...] great beauty in running the rivers, especially in the fall when the leaves were turning. The maples were red gold and filtered the sunlight so that you could almost taste the richness of the light […]. (3.5)
The allure of that image lies in sharp contrast to the nights he spent sleeping next to a furnace.
That image was just a bummer.
As Paulsen progresses into adulthood, his home life seems to become more stable and healthy, though often he doesn't have a lot of money. Over the course of the book, he lives and works on farms (both his own and other people's). Often his homes are situated in the wilderness he loves so much. In the small cottage in the Colorado Mountains that Paulsen shared with his wife, baby, and Great Dane, they "did not have neighbors within a quarter of a mile" (6.49). Later, in Minnesota with Fred the dog, Paulsen and his wife "lived close to the land then, with four gardens and a wood-heated cabin in the forest where we canned and preserved our own food" (7.25).
The outdoor setting, to some degree, dictates the breeds of dogs that Paulsen seems to gravitate to—work dogs like border collies, hunting dogs like labs, and tough mutts that can survive the Alaskan wilderness. (We can't really imagine him with a little purse dog or a poodle.) It also helps dictate the kinds of stories he tells, which are often comical encounters with wildlife or action-packed adventures across wild terrain.