The dogs in Animal Farm are loyal followers of their leader, Napoleon. They serve as his bodyguards and spies and protect the farm from threats.
The dogs are also used to frighten and terrorize the other animals, ensuring the pigs remain in power.
They represent the secret police and their role in maintaining the oppressive rule of the Soviet Union.
The dogs are symbolic of the fear used to control the citizens of the Soviet Union and maintain the ruling power of the government.
The Dogs Quotes Animal Farm
“Even the horses and the dogs have no better fate. You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut your throat and boil you down for the foxhounds. As for the dogs, when they grow old and toothless, Jones ties a brick round their necks and drowns them in the nearest pond.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, Old Major, Chapter 1, Page 7
“The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were comrades. There were only four dissentients, the three dogs and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted on both sides.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator, Chapter 1, Page 10
“It happened that Jessie and Bluebell had both whelped soon after the hay harvest, giving birth between them to nine sturdy puppies. As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education. He took them up into a loft which could only be reached by a ladder from the harness-room, and there kept them in such seclusion that the rest of the farm soon forgot their existence.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator about Napoleon and the dogs, Chapter 3, Pages 34-35
“At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator about the Dogs, Chapter 5, Pages 52-53
“Napoleon, with Squealer and another pig named Minimus, who had a remarkable gift for composing songs and poems, sat on the front of the raised platform, with the nine young dogs forming a semicircle round them, and the other pigs sitting behind.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator about Squealer and the dogs, Chapter 5, Pages 56, 57
“The animals were not certain what the word meant, but Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to be with him growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further questions.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator about Squealer and the dogs, Chapter 5, Page 58
“And Squealer, who happened to be passing at this moment, attended by two or three dogs, was able to put the whole matter in its proper perspective.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator about Squealer and the dogs, Chapter 6, Page 67
“The pigs’ ears were bleeding, the dogs had tasted blood, and for a few moments they appeared to go quite mad. To the amazement of everybody, three of them flung themselves upon Boxer. Boxer saw them coming and put out his great hoof, caught a dog in mid-air, and pinned him to the ground. The dog shrieked for mercy and the other two fled with their tails between their legs. Boxer looked at Napoleon to know whether he should crush the dog to death or let it go. Napoleon appeared to change countenance, and sharply ordered Boxer to let the dog go, whereat Boxer lifted his hoof, and the dog slunk away, bruised and howling.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The narrator about Boxer and the Dogs, Chapter 7, Page 83
“These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion. If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak, as she had protected the lost brood of ducklings with her foreleg on the night of Major’s speech. Instead–she did not know why–they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator about Clover and the Dogs, Chapter 7, Pages 86, 87
“they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The narrator about the dogs, Chapter 7, Page 87
“The dogs immediately made a ring round Squealer, and escorted him back to the farmhouse as soon as he was able to walk. None of the animals could form any idea as to what this meant, except old Benjamin, who nodded his muzzle with a knowing air, and seemed to understand, but would say nothing.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator about Squealer and the dogs, Chapter 8, Pages 108, 09
“Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer-except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs. Perhaps this was partly because there were so many pigs and so many dogs. It was not that these creatures did not work, after their fashion. There was, as Squealer was never tired of explaining, endless work in the supervision and organisation of the farm. Much of this work was of a kind that the other animals were too ignorant to understand. For example, Squealer told them that the pigs had to expend enormous labours every day upon mysterious things called “files,” “reports,” “minutes,” and “memoranda.” These were large sheets of paper which had to be closely covered with writing, and as soon as they were so covered, they were burnt in the furnace. This was of the highest importance for the welfare of the farm, Squealer said.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The Narrator about the pigs and the dogs, Chapter 10, Pages 129-30
“…out from the door of the farmhouse came a long file of pigs, all walking on their hind legs…out came Napoleon himself, majestically upright, casting haughty glances from side to side, and with his dogs gambolling round him.
He carried a whip in his trotter.
There was a deadly silence. Amazed, terrified, huddling together, the animals watched the long line of pigs march slowly round the yard. It was as though the world had turned upside-down. Then there came a moment when the first shock had worn off and when, in spite of everything-in spite of their terror of the dogs, and of the habit, developed through long years, of never complaining, never criticising, no matter what happened-they might have uttered some word of protest. But just at that moment, as though at a signal, all the sheep burst out into a tremendous bleating of-
“Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better!”
It went on for five minutes without stopping. And by the time the sheep had quieted down, the chance to utter any protest had passed, for the pigs had marched back into the farmhouse.”
~George Orwell, Animal Farm, The narrator and the sheep, Chapter 10, Page 133
What does the dogs represent in Animal Farm?
The Dogs in Animal Farm represent the predatory enforcers of the Russian Revolution, symbolizing the oppressive forces deployed to maintain the status quo. Raised and educated by Napoleon, They’re loyal and act as his hostile, bloodthirsty, violent servants.