"Bâtard" (English: "Bastard" or "Mongrel") is a short story by Jack London, first published in 1902 under the title "Diable — A Dog" in The Cosmopolitan before being renamed "Bâtard"[1] in 1904.
The story follows Black Leclère and Bâtard, two "devils", one in a man and the other in a wolfdog.
Their intense hatred of each other forms the plot as each wants to kill the other, despite their master-pet relationship.
The story is a study of an animal's reaction to its treatment by man.
There were complaints about the way the dog's behavior was described, and London followed up on the same theme with The Call of the Wild.