Dogs as Characters

by Saralyn Richard

 

Those of us who love dogs as much or more than we love people, understand that dogs possess all the qualities of fictional characters. They are intelligent, communicative, emotive, comforting, resourceful, energetic, hard-working, friendly, and sometimes heroic. Less often, some dogs are irritable, withdrawn, mean-spirited, selfish, and sometimes villainous.

Most of the time in fiction, dogs have positive traits, and, as characters, they help to move the story along by their actions and relationships with the other characters. We can all think of dog books that have stimulated our thoughts and tugged our heartstrings over the years. Old Yeller, Sounder, Clifford, Marley & Me, and Rin Tin Tin are examples. Other stories, like A Dog’s Purpose, promote dogs to main characters whose arcs are the focus of the plots.

Two of my favorite mystery authors with recurring canine characters are Margaret Mizushima and Laurie Bucanan.

Margaret’s Timber Creek K-9 mysteries feature a police dog named Robo, who sometimes steals the show from heroine, Mattie Cobb. The first of this series is Killing Trail, which is available at https://bookshop.org/a/65584/9781639103867 at a discounted price.*

Laurie’s Sean McPherson series is set at a writers’ retreat in the Pacific Northwest, where the owners’ dog, Hemingway, helps solve murders. The first in the series, Indelible, is also discounted at https://bookshop.org/a/65584/9781684630714 *

Both authors are avid dog owners and dog lovers, just like me. I love reading their descriptions of Robo and Hemingway. I feel like I know the dogs, even though they are fictional.

I also enjoy memorializing my dogs by including them in my fiction. While my series character, Detective Parrott, doesn’t have a dog (his cockatiel Horace serves as primary pet), all of my other protagonists do. Quinn McFarland from Bad Blood Sisters has a West Highland white terrier, Calvin. Sally Pearce in A Murder of Principal has a bichon named Archie. One of the secondary characters in Murder Outside the Box has a golden retriever named Lucy. Coincidentally or not, I have or have had the same three dogs.

Then there’s Nana, the Old English sheepdog pup, who narrates Naughty Nana, a children’s picture book. Nana’s story borders on nonfiction, with its tale of mischief and pandemonium from the puppy who just wants to have fun. (Naughty Nana is available autographed, pawtographed, and with optional literacy activities at https://palmcirclepress.com on the bookstore page.)

What is your favorite doggie character in a work of fiction?

 

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