History Main / ScareTheDog

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': Some cartoons directed by Creator/BobClampett, like ''Goofy Groceries'' and ''Wagon Heels'', have a gag where one character roars at another, only for the other to roar back even louder, causing him to shrink down and become a crying baby.
** The gag was also used in the [{WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther Pink Panther]] short ''It's Pink, But Is It Mink?''

* [[AllThereInTheManual The Encyclopedia]] in the ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' games seem to imply that Zhang Liao is capable of this, being so feared due to his {{badass}}ery that even ''crying children'' shut up when they saw him.

It may be that the character is [[TheBigGuy big]], or [[JerkAss mean]], or [[{{Villains}} evil]], or [[TheGrotesque scary-looking]], or simply {{badass}}. It may be any combination of those qualities. It doesn't even have to be a person, although it usually is. It ''cannot'' be a case of a supernatural evil leaking through a failed shield or glamour, though; that's GlamourFailure. This trope isn't limited to dogs, either. The critter that backs down may be any critter, as long as it's established it's a badass in its own right.

* One of the first memorable moments in ''Manga/OnePiece'' is Shanks scaring off a giant eel to cement how much of {{badass}} he is. Later Luffy does it similarly with a bison. Much later, it's revealed what they did was a form of Haki that only a select few are capable of doing.

* In ''Manga/MedakaBox'', Medaka pulls this off not out of choice, but [[ParodySue because animals are frightened by her overwhelming power.]] When she was in primary school, she took a field trip to the zoo, not ''one animal'' showed its face!

* The Nazgûl from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.

* In Creator/Clive Barker's "Literature/RawheadRex" a pony refuses to go into its stall because it could [[EvilDetectingDog sense the presence of the titular demon waiting inside]], and is so terrified that it craps itself.

* In a ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}[=/=]ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} crossover, Deadpool is hired to kidnap Daredevil's partner, Foggy Nelson. To do show, he disguses himself as a balloon delievery man and enters their lawfirm. Foggy's dark starts barking at him, so he yells "SIT!" and the dog backs down.

* The ''SesameStreet'' TV movie ''Big Bird in China'' has Big Bird's dog, Barkley, accompany him on a trip to Beijing. While they are visiting the Great Wall, Barkley begins incessantly barking in a state of paranoia for no apparent reason - until we see that a grotesque mythological demon called the Monkey King (who is actually a good guy and there to help Big Bird solve a mystery, although he ''is'' a bit of a {{Jerkass}}) is constantly appearing, disappearing and reappearing, frightening Barkley.

* In ''MedakaBox'', Medaka pulls this off not out of choice, but [[ParodySue because animals are frightened by her overwhelming power.]] When she was in primary school, she took a field trip to the zoo, not ''one animal'' showed its face!

* An earlier episode of {{Rugrats}} had Spike, the family dog, make a crazy bulldog (who had been spending part of the episode ripping through its chain to get at Tommy and his friends) run back into its doghouse in fear because he was wearing a scary mask.

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', the Ringwraith asks the first hobbit it sees where to find Baggins. Said hobbit's dog barks, then whimpers and hides inside the house.
* In ''[[TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal]]'' the titular character breaks into [[spoiler:Paul Krendler]]'s house, and the fairly imposing dog takes one look at him and starts to back down and whimper. The film just about gets away with it, since it is possible that the dog is just a pet rather than a guard dog, and it would make sense that the dog would smell the psychopath's lack of fear. In any case, it's a lot more convincing than a scene later in the film (and book) where [[spoiler:specially bred and trained killer pigs refuse to attack him, apparently because he is just that awesome.]]

* Completely averted in ''{{Brotherhood of The Wolf}}'' where the Beast of Gévaudan, a gigantic armored creature trained by a secret cult into putting fear in the hearts of peasants in the French countryside, is itself mauled to death by a pack of wolves led by the alpha that had survived the previous slaughter of its pack by hunters blaming them for the attacks done by the Beast.
* In the thriller/horror ''Film/{{The Relic}}'', a police officer sends his two beloved German Shepherds, Castor and Pollux, to eagerly hunt down the Kothoga within the dark tunnels of the natural history museum. The monster tears apart Castor, leaving Pollux a whimpering wreck when he is found by his handler, who is shortly after killed by the Kothoga while the poor dog looks on. When the monster appears again, the dog wastes no time hightailing it out of there as quickly as it can.

* The Nazgûl from ''TheLordOfTheRings''.
* In WomenOfTheOtherworld, dogs and other canines dislike werewolves intensely. Not only do werewolves smell like intruders, but the combination of human and canine scents is plain unnatural. In ''The Awakening'' Derek says that large dogs instantly back off and run away after a half second staredown, but yippy little lapdogs will invariably attack him.

* In the Mr. Bean cartoon "Mime Games", [[EnemyMime a stereotypically face-painted street mime won't stop following Mr. Bean around]], even slipping into the back seat of the taxicab he takes home from the park and sneaking into his house, where he proceeds to help himself to Bean's food - and all of this [[DisproportionateRetribution because Bean didn't pay him for his performance back in the park]] (a performance that Bean didn't enjoy or even ask for in the first place). Bean isn't aware of the mime's presence until he walks through his front door and turns around - but his pet cat notices the mime following Bean out of the taxi and snarls suspiciously (making this overlap with EvilDetectingDog, except that the mime isn't evil - just a pest). The mime makes a grotesque face at the cat, [[CatScare causing it to yowl and jump into the air in a panic]].

* In the Mr. Bean cartoon "Mime Games", [[EnemyMime a stereotypically face-painted street mime won't stop following Mr. Bean around]], even slipping into the back seat of the taxicab he takes home from the park and sneaking into his house, where he proceeds to help himself to Bean's food - and all of this [[DisproportionateRetribution because Bean didn't pay him for his performance back in the park]]. Bean isn't even aware of the mime's presence until he walks through his front door and turns around - but his pet cat notices the mime following Bean out of the taxi and snarls suspiciously (making this overlap with EvilDetectingDog, except that the mime isn't evil - just a pest). The mime makes a grotesque face at the cat, [[CatScare causing it to yowl and jump into the air in a panic].

* Fan-translated manga ''CodeBreaker''- One of the Code Breakers frightens dogs into submission, and they come up to lick his hand when he beckons them. The other one scares them so badly they refuse to approach. This is used to show us which one still has a soft spot in his cold heart, and which one is a through-and-through psycho.
* In the anime version of ''GakuenAlice'', The FriendToAllLivingThings Ruka Nogi's favorite rabbit ran away from him when he got {{Brainwashed}}.

* In ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'', the dog barks at the T-Rex which promptly turns around. Dog hides and whimpers loudly. Then it gets eaten. Dog house and all.

* In one of Creator/{{Clive Barker}}'s short stories, Rawhead Rex, a horse refuses to go into its stall because it could [[EvilDetectingDog sense the presence of the titular demon waiting inside]], and is so terrified it craps itself.

* In ''Manga/NanatsuNoTaizai'', the [[HellHound Black Hound]] Oslo is frightened by Ban and Meliodas when he senses their respective KillingIntent and AnimalBattleAura.

* [[AllThereInTheManual The Encyclopedia]] in the ''DynastyWarriors'' games seem to imply that Zhang Liao is capable of this, being so feared due to his {{badass}}ery that even ''crying children'' shut up when they saw him.

* In ''ParadigmShift'', Kate [=McAllister=] has used the fact that she's a werewolf to teach some dogs not to mess with her.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

* In a ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}[=/=]ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} crossover, Deadpool is hired to kidnap Daredevil's partner, Foggy Nelson. To do show, he disguses himself as a balloon delievery man and enters their lawfirm. Foggy's dark starts barking at him, so he yells "SIT!" and the dog backs down.

* ''[[Film/{{Tintin}} The Adventures of Tintin]]'' has an example of a dog being scared by ''another dog'': Snowy, a tiny Wire Fox Terrier, makes a ferocious Rottweiler twice his size whimper and roll over on its back by merely barking at it. A minute later, the Rottweiler is seen [[BigFriendlyDog playing with Snowy]].

It may be that the character is [[TheBigGuy big]], or [[JerkAss mean]], or [[BigBad evil]], or [[TheGrotesque scary-looking]], or simply {{badass}}. It may be any combination of those qualities. It doesn't even have to be a person, although it usually is. It ''cannot'' be a case of a supernatural evil leaking through a failed shield or glamour, though; that's GlamourFailure. This trope isn't limited to dogs, either. The critter that backs down may be any critter, as long as it's established it's a badass in its own right.

[[folder:Film]]

* Shrek scaring that little white fluffy dog in ''{{Shrek}} 2''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'' Rodney's pet/invention faces off against Madame Gasket. Who just sneers at it causing it to short-circuit. It does get over it's fear in the very next scene though.