The Yellow Dog River flows through Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan.

The main branch begins at the outflow from Bulldog Lake in the Ottawa National Forest on the boundary between Baraga and Marquette counties.

The first 4 miles (6 km) of the river, from its origin to the national forest boundary, was designated on March 3, 1992.

The Yellow Dog River drops sharply through numerous outcrops and cascades within the 17,000-acre (6,900 ha) McCormick Wilderness.

The river runs through the Yellow Dog Plains, a remote and virtually untouched wilderness, aside from large scale logging operations.