[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainedog.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Raine Dog endorses the concept of {{Veganopia}}.]]

''[[http://www.rainedog.com/ Raine Dog]]'' was a webcomic created by Creator/DanaSimpson, the author of ''WebComic/OzyAndMillie'' and ''ComicStrip/PhoebeAndHerUnicorn''.

It is the memoir of a blue-furred dog named [[AuthorAvatar Raine]]. In the present, she's an anthropomorphic dog who can mingle with humans as well as other animals. But it wasn't always that way, and it is suggested that she helped make it that way.

She started out an almost ordinary puppy. But she loved her first owner so much that she learned to speak and read English (among other things) to be like him. He could forget she was a dog -- which proved to be their undoing.

She was spayed because she "molested" her family's son, and sent to the suburbs. The new owners kept her tied to a tree without human attention. This drove her crazy (explaining a lot about the "present day" strips), so one day, she took off her collar...

A first attempt at starting the comic began in 2009. Reactions varied from complete apathy to utter condemnation. The first bubbles of discontent toward the comic occured when Simpson published a non-story comic where Raine [[BreakingTheFourthWall Broke The Fourth Wall]] to talk about "red dogs" and "blue dogs", not so subtly taking aim at Red State/Blue State politics, specifically at the Republicans.

Fans and non-fans alike were not pleased with Simpson's allegory, and even if you didn't find the idea of doing a comic where a major plot point involves [[BestialityIsDepraved a dog making out with a young boy]] to be weird, some people couldn't get past Simpson's left-wing politics, which had already started to grate on some fans due to ''I Drew This'', although ''Ozy and Millie'' tended to avoid this [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical because it wasn't really a politically-themed comic]].

In 2011, she decided to [[ContinuityReboot restart the comic]], with the few pages she happened to post went past DarkerAndEdgier by having Raine Dog apparently being assassinated (although it's an AmbiguousSituation), leaving the rest of the story to be told in flashback. Putting aside that she opened on a dark note, the new opening looks very much like Raine was being set up as the UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr of her universe. However, after posting only one new page, Simpson abandoned ''Raine Dog'' altogether to concentrate on the project that became ''Phoebe and Her Unicorn''. In 2016, Simpson wrote [[http://danasimpson.com/2016/03/19/raine-dog-legend-of-an-unfinished-comic/ a blog post]] in which she frankly discusses ''Raine Dog'' and why she gave it up.

Compare with Creator/SteveGallacci's ''ComicBook/DogHouse'', which has a somewhat similar premise.

!!Tropes:
* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: As noted, Raine has blue fur. Of course, this is actually a political commentary associating Raine with liberal, "blue state" Democrats.
* AuthorAvatar: Raine is often used to represent some of Dana's personal beliefs.
* CarnivoreConfusion: Raine's refusal to hunt means she has to scavenge from garbage bins. By the present, she's become a vegetarian.
* ContinuityReboot: In April 2011, Simpson restarted the comic from the beginning and took down all the old pages... only to abandon it after posting only one page of the new version.
%%* DarkerAndEdgier: Than most of Simpson's past (and future) work.
%%* EarnYourHappyEnding: Implied by the contrast between Raine's DarkAndTroubledPast and her present day contentment.
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Raine suffers a mild case of this after being tied to a tree for a long period of time.
%%* HumansAreBastards: Not all of them, but enough.
* InterspeciesRomance: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. Raine and Jeff's growing closeness culminates in them almost kissing. Jeff's parents happen to walk in and are understandably horrified - they get her spayed and ship her off to another family to get her as far away from their kid as possible.
%%* IWasNamedMyName: Inverted. Raine's old name, Princess, was abandoned when she joined the pack of wild dogs.
%%-->"Names are how humans know us. We have no need for them."
* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: The entire comic is a {{Deconstruction}} of how this trope would work if animals could talk -- but were treated no differently than animals in RealLife.
%%* OrphanedSeries
%%* SlidingScaleOfAnimalCommunication: A bit ambiguous. At the start of the story, it could either be Level 0 or Level 4 (for Raine herself), but it seems to reach Level 5 or Level 6 by the present day.
%%* TalkingAnimal: All animals, apparently.
* WalkingTheEarth: Raine does this for a while after escaping from her neglectful owners.
%%* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Not much, even though they can communicate with humans.
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