Question: does the dog die in because of winn dixie

Answer: No, Opal gets a job at Gertrude's Pets and befriends a worker there, Otis, a shy ex-convict with a passion for music. She also meets a girl named Sweetie Pie Thomas, who is eager to get a dog like Winn-Dixie. Later, a thunderstorm comes and Winn-Dixie, being pathologically afraid of thunderstorms, runs away. While Opal looks for him, her father wants to give up and she blames him for the loss of her mother and Winn-Dixie running away. But her father explains that he tried very hard to look for her mother. He then admits that he believes that she is never coming back. Later they go back to a party and Otis starts to sing a song on his guitar. Winn-Dixie is heard outside howling along to the song. Everyone, while singing, lets him in and welcomes him back.