Major themes in Shiloh include justice, and determining what is right or wrong, and the importance of family and friends. Naylor used her personal experience — finding a silent, skinny, scared dog while taking a walk in West Virginia — to convey the notion that a person's perspective changes when he or she becomes emotionally involved in a problem.
The first time Marty whistles and Shiloh runs to him, wagging his tail, licking Marty's fingers and face, Marty's perspective about what is best for Shiloh becomes subjective. Marty becomes emotionally involved with Shiloh; he "got hooked on him." Marty's perspective causes him to feel responsible for Shiloh's welfare, even though Shiloh belongs to Judd Travers. Marty faces a moral dilemma that involves justice. He has to make a decision about what is right and what is wrong, and then act on his decision. In Marty's situation, the decision is not clear-cut. He hides Shiloh and keeps Shiloh's presence a secret from everyone. He struggles with knowing that he is doing what he thinks is best for Shiloh, but he is being dishonest with his family and with his good friend, David Howard. Marty feels guilty about the lies that he tells to protect Shiloh; however he justifies his lies because he truly believes that caring for Shiloh is what Jesus would want him to do. He prays to Jesus asking, "Which you want me to do? Be one hundred percent honest and carry that dog back to Judd so that one of your creatures can be kicked and starved all over again, or keep him here and fatten him up to glorify your creation?" To Marty, "a lie don't seem like a lie anymore when it's meant to save a dog." Life becomes complicated for Marty. He is being pulled in several different directions. He doesn't know what the boundary is between living strictly according to the law (which would mean giving Shiloh back to Judd because Judd legally owns Shiloh) or living according to what he feels is the right thing to do (protect Shiloh from Judd's abuse). Marty loves his family and has never lied to them before, but now, he also loves Shiloh.
