Jagger, the Dog from Elsewhere

by Alexander Key

Peter Thornberry and his sister Nan discover a wounded, telepathic dog near their Alabama horse-ranch home and become the objects of an accidental-death plot by their Aunt Tess and the horse trainer, Luis Gomez

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Dogs

126 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1976

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

An American science fiction writer, most of whose books were aimed at a juvenile audience. He became a nationally known illustrator before he became an author. After he began writing novels for young people, he moved his family to the North Carolina mountains, and most of his books include that wild and rugged landscape.

His novel Escape to Witch Mountain was made into a popular film in 1975 and again in 1995. His novel The Incredible Tide became a popular anime series, Future Boy Conan.

He is known for his portrayals of alien but human-like people who have psychic powers and a close communion with nature, and who can speak with animals. In The Strange White Doves, he professed his belief that animals are conscious and aware, and have subtle ways of communicating, perhaps via telepathy.

The protagonists of Key's books are often ostracized, feared, or persecuted due to their abilities or alien origin, and Key uses this as a clear metaphor for racism and other prejudice. In several of the books (most notably The Case of the Vanishing Boy,) Key portrays some sort of communal withdrawing from society with a group of like-minded individuals. - Wikipedia -

Reviews

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet Jagger, a large, white, telepathic, guardian dog from another planet! Jagger, The Dog From Elsewhere is one of my favorite Alexander Key books - right up there with The Golden Enemy. I have to wonder if Dean Koontz read this book before writing his beloved novel, Watchers.

If you're looking for some other great books about different "Elsewheres", try these two: Elsewhere by Dean Koontz and Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.

Favorite Passages:

Dedication
To the great family of dogs -
especially the big ones


He Is Transported
It was not until he was gone that people suddenly realized that life without him would never be the same.
______

He was of the ancient breed of guardians, whose every instinct is to protect. No hunter, a guardian, but a protector of the hunted.
______

There was something like wonder in the doe's eyes as she looked at Jagger. Slowly she moved over and touched her nose to his in the ancient gesture of trust and friendship.

He Becomes A Banshee
"F-from another planet? Well, I'll be a speckled-blue monkey! Wait'll I tell Peter about you!"
______

". . . he says I'm really making it up when I tell him about you - that there's no such thing as a telepathic dog from outer space! Jagger, what can I do?"

He Is Hunted
Jagger had a private opinion about cats which he chose not to express. After all, he thought, they may have qualities that only a human can see.
______

What a strange and terrible story! Nor do I quite understand it. Why would people of one color drive people of another color away? Does one color find another color offensive.
______

Then it follows that this cannot be the most pleasant of worlds, Jagger went on. For many here must be hungry, and nearly all must be slaves of a sort.
______

"Well, daggummit, you better forgit the difference an' lend us a hand. Them bear dogs done chased the varmint clean around the ridge, but they've lost the trail an' we figger the thing's making for the high country. We aim to head it off with my pack, but we ain't got near enough men to make a line. Go git your gun an' meet us up at the north bridge."

He Encounters Evil
"She's a big woman with an iron jaw. Oh, a sweet-talking one on the surface - butter wouldn't melt in her mouth - but heaven help you if you cross her."
______

Jagger reached out with his mind, exploring the woods near the cottage, but almost on the instant he recoiled, the hackles rising on his neck.

He Encounters Trouble
The voice was deep and demanding, and Jagger wondered why the humans of this curious world so loved authority. At home no one wanted to lord it over others, or even impress them with what he owned. It seemed so silly, when knowledge and understanding were what really mattered.

He Faces a Dilemma
For an impossible dog, she went on, you are really quite likable. With you here, I felt much safer this morning when the horror came by again.
The horror has been by here before? Jagger asked.
Yes. Days ago, when the mist crept down from the mountains. It came by in the night when all were asleep except me. I was outside, and I saw it. I thought I would die. Her golden eyes widened, and she shivered with the memory.
Jagger stared at her. You actually saw it?
I saw the horror. It was big, big, big - bigger than you. And it was black, black, black.
Jagger tried for more details, but beyond the simple description she had given him Cleo could not go. The thing was very big and very black, and something unspeakable about it had chilled her to the marrow. For the first time Jagger began to wonder if, by some curious chance, the accident that had brought him to this world had brought something else from another world not too different from his own.
______

For now he remembered Elder Norfo once saying that their world was only one world of three, all very much alike, and all existing in the same space. You couldn't see the others, the Elder had said, for each world had its own special dimension, and their only connection was an occasional short circuit between their electromagnetic fields.
______

Big, big, big, and black, black, black. Of course, in Cleo's awed mind, the thing was probably a great deal bigger and blacker than reality.
______

And if it wasn't from this world or his own, it had to be something from the third world. A black and senseless something with a raging blackness in its mind . . .
______

"But - but, Jagger, what is it?"
We don't know. I'm afraid it's a - a strange something that was displaced and accidentally dropped here at the same time I was. It's a horror, Nan, and no one can afford to take chances with it.
______

I've never heard of such a terrible thing, he told her finally. Is it a common practice here? I mean - one human destroying another for gain?
______

Crackers? I do not understand you.
"Oh, I mean a little crazy, sort of off her rocker. And I really think she is."
Are you trying to tell me there is something wrong with her mind? That she does not have proper control of it? That she is slightly demented?
"Something like that. And she - she likes to hurt things. My- my poor little dog, Dandy - but I can't talk about it. Jagger, I - I'm scared. I don't think we should stay here tonight."
Jagger was astounded. He'd never heard of a human like Tess Gomez. At home non one ever lost mental control. What were the terms for it? Off one's rocker? Crackers? Crazy? He like the last, and it seemed to apply to the whole planet. Everything was crazy here, even most of the people.

He Is Accused
"It's that devilish banshee - the same one I seen the other day! All white he is, an' big as a daggone mule!"

He Meets a Strange Creature
Nan was furious. "Oh, that dirty, contemptible old Waddley Purdom!" she burst out. "I wish he'd turn into a bug so I could step on him!"
______

I am Palamedes, the stallion answered, raising his head proudly. I am the leader here. How did you know my name?
The children who live here mentioned you when they came to help me. They spoke as if you were very special to them.
They are very special to me. Palamedes replied. They and their father, who was master here, are the only humans who have ever ridden on my back. Often in the past I would be allowed to take Nan and Peter all around the farm. Sometimes their little dog, Dandy, would ride with them. Those were joyful days. The stallion paused, then added, But things are not like they were. The master has gone, and evil has come here.
______

Thank your stars that you were not born a human. The tribe contains so many fools.
______

Every problem has a solution.
______

What, he asked, are lawyers?
Palamedes snorted. Why, they are those peculiar humans who complicate living, and make all the rules that other humans have to live by. From what I've observed, they run practically everything - and profit handsomely.
How strange, Jagger commented. I'm surprised humans are willing to put up with them.
They are forced to, he was told. After all, most humans haven't the common sense of creatures like ourselves, so how could they get along without lawyers? Do they not have them where you came from?
No. We have philosophers instead. But they give everyone a bad time too.

He Solves a Deadly Riddle
You were dreaming of home, Palamedes told him.
Yes.
I caught part of your dream, the great stallion admitted. You must miss your world and your friends. I would like to see a place where humans do not kill and children sing all day.
______

Are - are you trying to tell me that Tess Gomez put something dangerous in the candy? Why, I've never heard of such a thing!
Then you don't know humans. Palamedes said. They think nothing of setting out poisoned food for small creatures.

He Lays a Crooked Trail
Like the Black One, the woman is an avid eater of flesh.
______

The Black One remained untouched, but from its senseless mind boiled an incredible hate that was past understanding.
It was now that Jagger made a startling discovery. The Black One could see perfectly at night. But it had only one eye.

He Lives Up to His Name
In spite of the watchful corner of his mind, which always remained sharply alert, Jagger slept soundly through most of what remained of the night. When we awoke suddenly, because of some warning from that watchful corner, he was not immediately aware of the reason for it. In fact, everything seemed blessedly quiet and peaceful.
_______

A magnet? Was hate a magnet for other hate?
______

. . . be very careful of your thoughts and feelings.
______

Hate is a magnet for hate.
______

It's not complex at all, Jagger insisted. It's simple.
______

His world and this one were practically twins, probably born at the same time, made of the same ingredients, and given the same forms of life. Only, this was the backward twin. The birds didn't sing quite as well here, nor was the air quite as sweet.
______

I am sorry, he told the soul of the Black One. I did only what I had to do. I am of the race of guardians, and I must protect those who cannot protect themselves. Do you understand? I bear you no ill will, and I hope you are released from torment.
I understand and forgive you, said the soul of the Black One. But I find it hard to understand and forgive humans. Why did they trap and cage me? Why did they shoot me and destroy half my sight and most of my mind when I fought only to be free and go home? Was it because I was a rare member of my kind? Was it because I was black, and larger and different? Why? . . .
______

"One of the great cats - but a very rare black one, possibly a mutant. The size of him! Must have escaped from a circus, and someone shot him. What a shame he wasn't killed! I'd rather be dead myself than kept in a cage." He stooped, pointing. "Look what the bullet did to his head . . ."

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a dog book, even if the dog is not exactly a dog from OUR world. :)

I'm usually up for dog books, and a giant telepathic dog from Elsewhere who's saved by a little girl and who's able to return the favor works pretty well for me.

A quick read.

[Shazza Maddog · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Alexander Key books. They present strangers coming to our world and having to deal with (a) a couple of people who are really nice and (b) a whole lotta people who are absolutely violent. In this case, the stranger is a giant telepathic dog, Jagger, who arrives in our world in the middle of hunting season. Jagger's wounded by a hunter and has to hide out in the forest on the mountains.

He manages to get in touch with a little girl, Nan, who can speak to him. Her brother, Peter, can't, but he believes her in his own way and they both try to help Jagger. They wind up taking him to a friend of theirs, Rush, who is a Native American. He can at least get the gist of what Jagger's trying to tell him, and they realize there's something nasty on the mountains, something neither of them recognizes. But that's not the only problem - Nan and Peter's stepmother is planning to kill the kids to take control of the horse ranch they were left when their father died in an airplane crash.

Everything's wrapped up a little too easily at the end but this is a younger reader's book. Still, I was left wanting more. This doesn't seem as well-thought out as The Forgotten Door or the first Witch Mountain novel but it's enjoyable and Jagger is definitely a heroic protagonist. And what little kid wouldn't love a huge white dog who can talk to them via telepathy?

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminded me a lot of the first book by Alexander Key that I ever read--The Forgotten Door. Both stories dealt with sentient beings who accidentally come to Earth, get caught up in the adventures of earth children, and try to get back home. In this case, the sentient being is a telepathic dog. I was hoping that this would not be a silly story, and Key didn't disappoint. Jagger is a likeable hero who tries to help his new-found friends Nan and Peter escape death at the hands of their scheming and hateful guardian, while also protecting them from an even more sinister and lethal creature that was transported to earth in the same freak accident that brought Jagger to Earth. The story was fast-paced with a satisfying ending, and I'm recommending it to anyone who likes a good dog story or an unusual science fiction tale.

[SciFiOne · Rating 5 out of 5]

1989 grade A+

Juvenile.
Fast read.