Man's best friends.
"I love dogs!"
— Roy Mustang, Fullmetal Alchemist
A bark-tacular index of dog, fox and other canine-related tropes. Wolves and foxes have their own subindexes, Wolf Tropes and A Foxy Index respectively. Compare to This Index Meows. Not to be confused with Tropey the Wonder Dog.
Tropes:
Categories:
- All Animals Are Dogs: A work depicts all animals as behaving the same way as (domestic) dogs.
- All Dogs Are Purebred: Dogs in media are most often purebreds.
- Alpha and Beta Wolves: Is often applied to all canines.
- Angry Guard Dog: The characters have to deal with an aggressive guard dog.
- Asian Lion Dogs: Feline and/or canine beings, usually guardians of people and places.
- Asians Eat Pets: The stereotype that Asian people eat meat from dogs.
- Beware of Vicious Dog: A dog that's mean and vicious (or even evil) to everyone and everything.
- Big Friendly Dog: A large dog who's very cuddly and friendly.
- Bully Bulldog: A bulldog that's portrayed as any form of Jerkass, often for a vicious, short-tempered reason or written as a bully most often than not. Whether they are deliberately cruel and violent or not varies.
- Canine Companion: A dog who travels with a character wherever they go.
- Canine Confusion: Canines are portrayed inaccurately.
- Canines Gambling in a Card Game: A Stock Parody of Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker.
- Canines Primary, Felines Secondary: A work of fiction features dogs as the main cast and cats as the supporting cast.
- Canis Major: A giant dog.
- Cat/Dog Dichotomy: Cats and dogs depicted as being each other's polar opposites.
- A Cat in a Gang of Dogs: A group of dogs have a cat hanging with them that they regard as their friend.
- Chupacabra: A cryptid that resembles a creepy hairless dog and can kill its prey by draining them of their blood.
- Diabolical Dog Catcher: The Arch-Enemy of all canines.
- Dinosaur Doggie Bone: A dog loves a dinosaur fossil bone just as if it were a regular bone.
- Disaster-Dodging Dog: Dogs appearing in the main disaster sequence of a movie get out of harm's way unscathed.
- A Dog Ate My Homework: A student who neglected to do their homework tries to avoid getting in trouble by claiming their dog ate it.
- Dogfaces: Anthropomorphic dogs who are depicted as humans with canine snouts instead of human-like noses.
- Dog Got Sent to a Farm: Parents cover up the family dog dying or getting euthanized by lying to the kids that the dog was sent to live on a farm.
- Dog Stereotype: A dog's personality is determined by its breed/etc.
- Dogs Are Dumb: The stereotypical depiction of domesticated dogs as unintelligent and/or lazy.
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: Dogs like to attack squirrels.
- Dogs Love Being Praised: A dog loves being called a "good dog" or, more commonly, "good boy/girl."
- Dogs Love Fire Hydrants: Dogs are depicted as being obsessed with fire hydrants.
- Dog Walks You: A dog drags its owner around while being taken on a walk.
- Eastern Zodiac: The dog is the eleventh animal of the zodiac.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: A dog (or other animals) can sense when an evil being is present.
- Female Feline, Male Mutt: A pairing consisting of a male dog and a female cat.
- Firehouse Dalmatian: Dalmatians that live in fire departments.
- Go Fetch: Getting rid of an Angry Guard Dog with a game of fetch.
- Hellhound: A big supernatural dog that's evil.
- Heroes Love Dogs: A heroic character loves to keep a pet dog.
- Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines: Dogs are the good guys, and cats are the bad guys.
- Heroic Dog: An canine who is The Hero and really is man's best friend.
- Howling to the Night: Wolves, or other canids, howling at sunset or at night to set an atmosphere of danger.
- Howl of Sorrow: Animal howls in mourning or emotional pain. Just as likely to be done by wolves as other canines.
- Mailman vs. Dog: Dogs that attack postal workers for comic effect or not.
- Men Like Dogs, Women Like Cats: Man's Best Friend is a dog, Woman's Best Friend is a cat.
- Mister Muffykins: A little yappy dog who gets on everyone's nerves or is even considered evil.
- Old Dog: A dog who's getting on in years.
- Our Kobolds Are Different: A goblin-like fantasy race occasionally depicted with canine traits.
- Pet Gets the Keys: Classic examples put dogs in this position.
- Post-Apocalyptic Dog: In the event of an apocalypse, dogs will appear as either ravenous scavengers or a man's loyal best friend.
- Precious Puppy: An adorable puppy makes everything better.
- Psycho Poodle: Poodles portrayed as vicious, or even evil.
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: Not necessarily a dog, but often is. A bad guy's companion pet used for fighting.
- Robot Dog: A robot or an animated plush made to look like a dog.
- Saint-Bernard Rescue: A Saint-Bernard that carries a barrel of brandy around its neck to give to their rescue victims.
- Sled Dogs Through the Snow: In the Arctic, sled dogs are used as a form of transportation.
- Tanuki: A type of canid (raccoon-dog) that lives in Asia. In Japanese folklore, some tanuki are intelligent, heroic, and have magical powers.
- Tanuki/Kitsune Contrast: Two species of canid that are frequently paired together and contrasted in Japanese media.
- They Have the Scent!: Dogs being used to track something by sniffing about and following the scent.
- Those Wily Coyotes: Coyotes being portrayed as clowns and/or crafty bastards.
- Toilet-Drinking Dog Gag: A gag about dogs, or other animals, drinking from the toilet.
- Urine Trouble: A joke involving an animal peeing on someone or something. Not exclusive to dogs, but dogs tend to be the most common animal used.
- Werewolves Are Dogs: Werewolves behaving more like domesticated dogs than wolves.
