Marty is the protagonist, or main character, of the novel. He is an 11-year-old boy who lives with his parents and two younger sisters in a "four-room house with hills on three sides." Marty loves the woods and the meadows and the animals that inhabit the area. He takes his rifle out to shoot but "never shoot(s) at anything moving . . . never had the slightest wish." He can't eat rabbit that his father's killed because he can't stand the thought of the rabbit suffering, he encourages his sisters to release fireflies they capture and put in a jar, and he does all he can to protect a skinny, scared beagle that follows him home.
Marty is a dynamic character. He changes during the course of the novel due to his experiences and actions. Naylor narrates Shiloh in the first person, so we know how Marty changes because his thoughts and feelings are revealed. When the novel begins, the little beagle, that Marty names Shiloh, follows him home. Almost immediately, Marty falls in love with the dog. He is sure Shiloh came to him for help, and he intends to protect Shiloh from the abusive hands of Shiloh's owner, Judd Travers. When Marty goes with his Dad to take Shiloh back to Judd, Marty feels as though he has let Shiloh down, as though he has not protected Shiloh. He thinks about Shiloh night and day, trying to figure out how he can purchase the dog from Judd.
Within days, Shiloh shows up at Marty's house and Marty, determined to keep him, quickly builds a pen on the hill and keeps Shiloh's presence secret. As time passes, Marty experiences an inner conflict. He loves Shiloh and wants to protect the dog; however, he also loves his family and feels guilty about lying to them about where he goes and what he is doing with the leftover food from his dinner plate that he's giving to Shiloh. Marty learns from experience "that you can lie not only by what you say but what you don't say."
