Kidnapped and sold to an unscrupulous animal shelter owner, Dash, an arrogant purebred Jack Russell terrier, finds the charms that worked so well in his old world of blue ribbons and the Westminster Dog Show are useless in his new circumstances. Dot, a street-smart Dalmatian captured during her thousand-mile trek back to where she was born, knows she is just days away from being taken from the cage where she has been imprisoned through the Black Door--a room from which no dog has ever returned.
Dash learns that he is to be sold to someone who is rumored to eat dogs. When Dot reveals she has a plan to escape the shelter, he demands she take him with her. Dot has no intention of helping the obnoxious little terrier until she discovers her plan won't succeed without his help. The misfits escape, but at the cost of Dot's hearing. When Dash's naivete causes him to be recaptured, Dot must decide whether to continue on her journey half-deaf or try to free Dash, who tends to be more irritating than helpful.
The Perilous Adventures of Dot and Dash is an adventure story of a pair of mismatched dogs trying to trust one another as they make their way in a dangerous world of cruel humans and wild dogs, hungry fisher cats and angry beavers, raging rivers and bitter cold.