Dogs have been a part of man’s life for thousands of years—fifteen thousand according to some. Considering how many legends and interesting tales are associated with the canine breeds, I figured we should just set up a load of adventurous information in one spot.

Essentially, dogs are domesticated descendents of the gray wolf. Aside from wolves, other members of the genus Canis include jackals and coyotes. The family Canidae also incorporates the foxes, African wild dog, bush dog, and raccoon dog, among others. The oldest domestic breeds are mainly Asian and African groups, such as the Basenji, Lhasa Apso, and Siberian Husky. Wolfhounds will be more prominent in places modeled after Western Europe.

Game Play

Why wouldn’t the player characters have a dog? Dogs are incredibly useful even with a minimum of training. They can help with hunting, tracking, herding, pulling loads, and protecting people from attackers and thieves. They are actually pretty good about making their messes off to one side—the horses the PCs employ are far more obnoxious.

There is a wide variation in intelligence, so when rolling up stats for a dog, keep that in mind. Also remember, however, that dogs have shown an understanding of deception and will actually look at faces to determine mood, which is something only primates are seen to do.

Depending on the game system, any dog with the group should have two to three pre-learned skills, maybe more if the dog is marked as very smart, say four or five. As the dog continues to survive and grow with the group, continuous training of other commands should be considered by the GM.

As NPCs in Classic RPGs

There should be dogs everywhere. In every town, on every farm, and on every estate. Dogs were not actually popular as pets until much later, considered dearly beloved companions only for the elite. For everyone else they were working animals and the canines that player characters find themselves against in high fantasy and medieval era will tear their faces off.

The GM should assume that any place the player characters want to sneak that is not deep underground will have dogs. Usually these dogs will have one to three commands, consisting of “Guard,” “Alert,” and “Kill.”

The Dog that Waits

No one can watch Jurassic Bark, from Futurama without being affected. The tale has been repeated over a thousand years, start in the Odyssey, when Odysseus comes home and finds his dog, Argos, lying in a heap of manure covered in fleas. The dog recognizes Odysseus and wags his tail, but hasn’t the strength to stand. Odysseus weeps a tear and moves past Argos and the dog, having seen his master again after 20 years, dies.

There are also known cases of dogs waiting, including Hachikō, an Akita who waited at a Japanese train station for his master (died abruptly at work from a brain hemorrhage) to come home every day for the next nine years until his own death. There is Greyfriars Bobby, a Sky Terrier of Scotland, who guarded his master’s grave for the next fourteen years. Another was Shep, a herding dog in Montana who showed up for a train carrying his master (he was in a casket), and continued to live at the train station waiting for each coming train for six years, when he was accidently killed by a coming train. The entire town went to the dog’s funeral.

Although sad, a dog waiting for its master is a beautiful touch to throw into a story.

However…

In a world of magic, where spirits, elves, and other strange things exist, it may be better to not have dogs be so… normal. With magical settings most earthly dogs would be going nuts at the magical energies continuously being thrown about. For settings with otherworldly aspects, a GM might want to make dogs either less sensitive to so many strange things, or more capable of dealing with magic. Maybe even make them smarter. You could add commands regarding attacking goblins near known goblin-raiding areas or to not bark should a certain type of spirit show up. Dogs would be used in careers for hunting down certain beings, such as the undead.

To Trust… or to Distrust?

In most cases, history shows that dogs were thought well of, with the exception of a few locations. In the Hindu tradition the dog was a messenger of the God of Death and dogs stood guarding the gates of heaven. A dog is also the mount of Bhairava. Dogs are worshipped at their own separate ceremony, decorated with tika and marigold garlands.

The Mesopotamians had a separate temple for dogs, the name of which translated literally to “the dog house.” There is also evidence that there was a separate dog cult, where the dog was seen as a divinity.

Although the Egyptians were known for their cat worship, dogs too were often buried and were associated with Anubis, the jackal-headed god.

Zoroastrianism dedicated themselves much more to their dogs, believing them righteous creatures to be cared for. They were praised regularly for their household services and the gaze of a dog was believed to drive away demons. They were believed to be associated with the afterlife and treated with extra food during commemorations for the dead.

The Chinese honored the dog with one of the signs of the zodiac and the second day of the Chinese New Year is considered all dogs’ birthdays when the people should be especially nice to dogs.

The Christians also have a birthday for all dogs, celebrated August 16, which is also the feast day for Saint Roch/Rocco, the patron saint of dogs. Dogs were known for licking the wounds of lepers (which would actually be beneficial), and one dog was even given local sainthood in France, known as Saint Guinefort.

Although Muhammad advocated kindness toward dogs, he also did not believe in keeping them as companions; in fact, keeping them for anything other than as a work dog for hunting, herding, and home protection actually voided a portion of a Muslim’s good deeds. Many Sunni and Shi’a Muslims feel the dog is spiritually unclean, although there are arguments to the contrary by modern theologians.

Game Play: There are enough religions out there that in one’s own campaign it’s feasible to create regional religious sanctions involving dog worship, or even places where dogs are distrusted and shunned. In general, most people would not allow the abuse of a dog, even if there were not spiritual reasons against it.

Mythological Dogs

These are dogs/doglike creatures that characters could meet in various places. They may be good creatures or evil ones.

Black Dog

The Black Dog is a nighttime apparition often associated with Death. In many regions dogs are associated with death, usually as guardians to the underworld. Generally these dogs are large, vicious-looking, and have fiery or red eyes. The Black dog is a European specter most commonly found in the British Isles. Usually these dogs are bad spirits that represent death or the devil; some, such as the Barghest of Yorkshire or the Black Shuck of East Anglia, actually cause harm. The Gurt Dog of Somerset and the Black Dog of the Hanging Hills are thought to be benevolent. Germany also has a version of the Black Dog, as does Belgium. Separately, a black dog with fiery eyes is reported throughout Latin America, believed to be a sorcerer or the devil in disguise.

Game Play: Any European-oriented setting can have a form of the Black Dog try to influence the player characters. The Black Dog can try to lead them off late at night, whether to protect or to harm them. If the player characters are heading for a dangerous adventure, the Black Dog may try to lead them closer or be controlled by malevolent forces the player characters will soon face themselves.

Cù Sìth

An enormous otherwordly dog of the fair folke. The size of a cow, the Cù Sìth in Scotland was said to be green with shaggy fur and a long tail. In Irish mythology the dog was black with red eyes. Often thought to be a harbinger of death, the barks of the dog would cause the men to lock up their women for fear the Cù Sìth would kidnap them and take them to the fairy mounds to care for fairy children.

Game Play: Considered the beloeved pet of the Fair Folke, perhaps an elf player character could take one of these massive beasties along as a companion, or even a riding animal. The creature could be fairly smart and capable of taking many more directions than a normal dog, plus be immune or resistant to certain types of magic. Otr this could be an adventure in itself, where a local town is being terrorized by a fairy dog taking away its women.

The Wild Hunt

Also known as the Cŵn Annwn or Cŵn Mamau of Wales, the Ghost riders of North America, the Devil’s Dandy Dogs in Cornwall, and the Dziki Gon of Poland, the dogs of the Wild Hunt supposedly would bay the loudest when far away, getting quieter and quieter as they closed in on their prey. The Master of the hunt could be anything from a god, such as Odin or Herne, a fairy, Death, or the Devil. Even King Arthur is a rumored leader of the hunt. Mostly heard and almost never seen, the Wild Hunt often portended doom and many, afraid of having the pack’s attention turn to them, would close themselves up tight in their houses when the dogs started baying.

Game Play: It would be rather unfair to make any of the player characters prey for the Wild Hunt; considering some of the purported Masters of the Hunt, it would be disasterous. Likewise the player characters likely would be unable to help someone who has become prey for the hunt. However, knowing the hunt is in the area can be a great way to get some unlikely people together and start an adventure. Also, many European settlements would reenact the Wild Hunt as a part of their Pagan festivities, which is something the player characters more likely can handle.

Dog-Shaped and Dog-Headed Gods/Spirits/People

There are a lot of them, including gods Anubis and Wepwawet from Egypt, the god Xolotl from Meso-America, a bunch of dog-spirits in Inuit and Native American culture, the Dog-Headed nation just outside of China, and the Cynocephali of the Medieval Christian Western Europe.

Game Play: Dog-headed gods and spirits should always be a possibility, likely to be associated with death and the underworld, these beings will usually be smart, crafty, and sometimes sneaky. They are likely to represent scouting or hunting as well. Meeting up with humanoid creature that all have the heads of dogs might be a good way to introduce a new creature or race into the game without re-hashing all of the more cliché races.

Next Up: Cryptoids!