Famous Leader Dog Names

For anyone unacquainted with the works of Jack London, the name Buck might not sound like that of a truly famous leader but in the worlds of both dogs and leadership, Buck is surely deserving of some credit at the center of the Venn diagram, even if he is fictional. 

He is the main character of one of London’s most famous works, The Call of the Wild, and stands as a highly important figure in terms of American literature, not to mention the perfect example for the topic of leadership. While a story of strife told in the third-person (or third-canine as it were) had been written many times before, very few stories ever centered around a dog, let alone were told from his perspective, attributed him complex feelings, and so flawlessly translated from the world of canines to the world of humans. 

His story begins in the padded, comfortable world of ranch life in Santa Clara, California, but after being kidnapped and shipped north, Buck is destined to be sold as a sled dog. Through myriad struggles of battling his own civil and moral standards, along with other dogs, people, and the harsh conditions of the Yukon in the early 1900s, Buck is forced to face the inevitable truths of reality, that life is a cold, harsh existence filled with layers of Darwinian endeavors. In the end (spoiler alert), Buck comes to terms with that reality by ascending to the position of sled dog leader and eventually, alpha in a pack of wolves, both by leaving life as he knew it, and in turn, his old self, behind and reverting back to the primitive essence of animalistic hierarchy. 

While it certainly makes for a good story, the significance of Buck’s character operates on numerous levels that challenge common conceptions. Although he is a dog, his character is most certainly still relatable to people for a variety of reasons. The narrative that takes the book from beginning to end is not far off from what many people struggle with in their day to day lives and does it all with thematic brilliance. Through Buck, London’s story touches on big themes like love, loss, trust, and self while infusing it with the internal struggles of the relationship between survival and civility, dominance and submission, success and failure, as well as desires, rewards, and power, all with leadership standing front and center at the story’s most pivotal moments. 

On the whole, Buck’s story embodies very Nietzschean values, ones that, especially today, may challenge the notion of what it means to be human, animal, or both in many respects. And while many writers and characters may have been able to exemplify the themes addressed in this novel with similar aptitude, very few have been so insightful as to approach it from the perspective of what many people overlook as simple household pets and prove that leadership and the struggle for it extend far beyond the bounds of humanity.