Name(s) | Breed(s) | Source | Author | Notes |
Abraham | Akita | How to Stop Time | Matt Haig | Tom Hazard's dog |
Argos[1][2] | | Odyssey | Homer | Faithful dog of Odysseus. |
Baleia[3] | | Vidas Secas | Graciliano Ramos | Later adapted into the 1963 Brazilian classic Vidas Secas. The dog actress, Piaba, was celebrated at the Cannes Film Festival amidst controversy over the dog's (simulated) death scene. |
Banga[4] | | The Master and Margarita | Mikhail Bulgakov | Pontius Pilate's dog. |
Baree | Wolfdog | Baree, Son of Kazan | James Curwood | Son of Gray Wolf and Kazan. |
Bendicò | Great Dane | Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) | Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa | Belonging to the central character Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina |
Belle | Pyrenean Mountain Dog | Belle et Sébastien | Cécile Aubry | Lives with her owner Sebastian in village in the French Alps close to the frontier with Italy. |
Big Red[2][5] | Irish Setter | Big Red | Jim Kjelgaard | |
Blood[5][6] | | A Boy and His Dog | Harlan Ellison | Later adapted into a film where Blood is voiced by Tim McIntire. |
Blue | | The Sound and the Fury | William Faulkner | |
Bob | Fox Terrier | Dumb Witness | Agatha Christie | Also released as part of the Agatha Christie's Poirot series. |
Bodger and Luath[2] | Bull terrier, Labrador Retriever | The Incredible Journey | Sheila Burnford | Based on a true story. |
Buck[1] | St. Bernard-Scotch Collie | The Call of the Wild | Jack London[A] | Adapted in five movies: A silent film (1923); (1935); 1972; The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (1997); and Call of the Wild 3D (2009). |
Bugle Ann | Foxhound | The Voice of Bugle Ann | MacKinlay Kantor | Spring Davis' dog; about a farmer's love for his hunting dog and the feud it sparks in the county. |
Buller | | The Human Factor | Graham Greene | Protagonist Maurice Castle's dog |
Bulls-eye[1][7] | | Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens | Bill Sikes' dog. |
Buster | Scottish Terrier | Five Find-Outers | Enid Blyton | Belonging to Frederick Algernon Trotteville ("Fatty"). |
Cafall[2] | | Historia Brittonum | Nennius? | Dog belonging to King Arthur (occasionally spelled "Cabal" or "Caval"). |
Carl | Rottweiler | Good Dog, Carl | Alexandra Day | |
Charkie | Cocker Spaniel | Curious George | H. A. Rey and Margret Rey | Steve and Betsy's dog, about a brown monkey who is brought from Africa to live in a big city. |
Clifford | Vizsla | Clifford the Big Red Dog | Norman Bridwell | An enormous dog. He is friendly, outgoing and helpful, but his sheer size can sometimes cause trouble. |
Crab[1][7] | | Two Gentlemen of Verona | William Shakespeare | "the sourest natured dog that lives". |
Cujo[2][6] | St. Bernard | Cujo | Stephen King | 200-pound Saint Bernard who chases a wild rabbit into a small limestone cave where he contracts cryptic bat rabies and terrorizes Castle Rock, Maine, killing a few residents. |
Daisy | | A Ball for Daisy, Daisy Gets Lost | Chris Raschka | A small white dog who loves to play with her ball. |
Dingo | | Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen | Jules Verne | |
Diogenes | | Dombey and Son | Charles Dickens | Friend of Paul Dombey and later his sister Florence. |
Disreputable Dog[5] | | Lirael and Abhorsen | Garth Nix | |
Einstein[6] | Golden Retriever | Watchers | Dean Koontz | |
Eos | | Funeral Games | Mary Renault | Beautiful white dog. |
Fang[6] | Mastiff | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | J. K. Rowling | Hagrid's dog. |
Fluffy[6] | Cerberus | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | J. K. Rowling | Guards the sorcerer's stone in the dungeons, just as Cerberus guards the underworld in Greek mythology. Inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus reaches the underworld by putting Cerberus to sleep with a harp. Similarly, Harry Potter passes Fluffy by playing the flute in order to put Fluffy to sleep. [8] |
Flush | Cocker Spaniel | Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf | |
Garm | | Farmer Giles of Ham | J. R. R. Tolkien | |
Garryowen[2] | | Ulysses | James Joyce | |
Gaspode and Laddie | | Discworld | Terry Pratchett | Unusually clever dog that talks and his Wonder Dog client. |
Ginger[9] | | The View from Saturday | E. L. Konigsburg | Genius dog of Nadia Diamondstein. |
Ginger Pye[5] | | Ginger Pye | Eleanor Estes | |
Gnaish | | Thunder Oak | Garry Kilworth | |
Go Go Girl and Slinkster Dog | | Weetzie Bat | Francesca Lia Block | |
Gyp | | Adam Bede | George Eliot | Adam Bede's dog. |
Hank | | Hank the Cowdog | John R. Erickson | |
The Hound of the Baskervilles[1][2] | Hound | Sherlock Holmes | Arthur Conan Doyle | Written with the famous line, "They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!" |
Grip, Fang and Wolf | | The Lord of the Rings | J.R.R. Tolkien | Dogs belonging to Farmer Maggot. |
Huan | Wolfhound | The Silmarillion | J. R. R. Tolkien | Companion of Valinor, friend and helper of Beren and Lúthien. |
Missis, Perdita, Pongo, and other Dalmatians | Dalmatian | The Hundred and One Dalmatians[2] | Dodie Smith | Subsequently, made into a film by Walt Disney. Later also adapted as a live-action film and as a stage musical. |
Jip[1][2] | Lapdog | David Copperfield | Charles Dickens | Belonging to Dora Spenlow, David Copperfield's first wife. |
Jip | | Doctor Dolittle | Hugh Lofting | One of Doctor Dolittle's animal companions. |
John Joiner | | The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding | Beatrix Potter | Terrier who rescued Tom Kitten from being made into a pudding by rats. |
Jumble | Mongrel | Just William | Richmal Crompton | William Brown's dog, first apprance in 1919.[10] |
Jump | | Page (novel) | Tamora Pierce | |
Kambyses | | The Hound of Florence | Felix Salten | Every other day the protagonist Lukas Grassi is transformed into a dog, Kambyses, that belongs to the Archduke Ludwig. |
Kashtanka[11] | | Kashtanka | Anton Chekhov | |
Kazak | English Mastiff | The Sirens of Titan | Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. | Companion of William Niles Rumfoord. In another Vonnegut novel Breakfast of Champions, there is a Doberman Pinscher, also named Kazak. |
Kipper | | Kipper the Dog | Mick Inkpen | Warm-hearted, friendly and curious dog. |
Know-Nothing Bozo the Non-Wonder Dog | | So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish | Douglas Adams | Dog belonging to advertiser Will Smithers. |
Lad[1][5] | Rough Collie | Lad, A Dog | Albert Payson Terhune | |
Laska | | Anna Karenina | Leo Tolstoy | Levin's hunting dog. |
Lassie[2][5] | Rough Collie | Lassie Come Home | Eric Knight | |
Lorelei[6] | | Lorelei's Secret | Carolyn Parkhurst | Dog who was the only witness to his owner's suicide. Her husband attempts to find out why she committed suicide by teaching the dog to communicate by talking. U.S. book title is The Dogs of Babel. |
Martha | | Martha Speaks | Susan Meddaugh | Main protagonist, Martha is a talking dog that was born an energetic stray and was put in the dog pound as a puppy. |
Max | Mongrel | How the Grinch Stole Christmas! | Dr. Seuss | The Grinch's only companion in Mount Crumpit. |
McKinley | Malamute | The Good Dog | Edward Irving Wortis | The protagonist who becomes leader of a dog pack. |
Melampo | | The Adventures of Pinocchio | Carlo Collodi | A deceased companion dog for a farmer. |
Mo | | 'Mo: The Talking Dog' | Michelle Booth | Puppy who is given a specially-grown voicebox by a veterinarian and develops the ability to talk. |
Molly | | John Dies at the End | David Wong | Rust colored dog who eventually returns from an alternate universe as Fred Durst. In the second novel, Molly is shot dead, during an instant of time, in order to save Dave, who was saving Amy, who was running in front of an entire army as they were mowing down zombies. |
Montmorency[12] | Fox Terrier | Three Men in a Boat | Jerome K. Jerome | Narrator's dog who accompanies him and his two friends on a boating holiday over the river Thames. |
Moses | | Dogville | Lars von Trier | Chuck's dog, seen only as a chalk outline on the ground until the final scene. |
Mouse | | The Dresden Files | Jim Butcher | Harry's dog. |
Mr. Bones[6][13] | | Timbuktu | Paul Auster | Stray dog and narrator of the story. Later renamed Sparky/Sparkatus |
Mutt | Unknown | The Dog Who Wouldn't Be | Farley Mowat | Farley Mowat's dog in the book. |
Nana | Newfoundland | Peter Pan | J. M. Barrie | |
Nathaniel | Scottish Terrier | City | Clifford D. Simak | First of Bruce Webster's mutated dogs in this sci-fi novel in a world of dogs. |
Old Dan[2] and Little Ann[2] | Redbone Coonhound | Where the Red Fern Grows | Wilson Rawls | |
Olive | Jack Russell Terrier | Olive, the Other Reindeer | Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Siebold | |
One Eye | Mixed Breed | Spill Simmer Falter Wither | Sara Baume | |
Pansy | Neapolitan Mastiff | Burke | Andrew Vachss | |
Patapouf | | Martine | Marcel Marlier and Gilbert Delahaye |
Patrasche[1] | | A Dog of Flanders | Ouida | |
Pearl the Wonder Dog | Pointer | Spenser | Robert Parker | |
Pepper | English Mastiff | The House on the Borderland | William Hope Hodgson | |
Petitcrieu | | Tristan and Iseult | Gottfried von Strassburg | A magical dog from Avalon of Arthurian legend |
Petula | Pug | Molly Moon | Georgia Byng | |
Pierre | Miniature poodle | The Prairie Dogs | Glenda Goertzen | |
Pilot | | Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | Mr. Rochester's dog | |
Poky | | The Poky Little Puppy | Janette Sebring Lowry | |
Pippin | | Pippin and Mabel | K.V. Johansen | |
Pompey[14] | | The History of Pompey the Little | Francis Coventry | Also known as The Life and Adventures of a Lap-dog. |
Ponch | | So You Want to Be a Wizard | Diane Duane | |
Popper | | The Goldfinch | Donna Tartt | Dog originally belongs to Xandra, taken by Theodore Decker. Often called Popchik or Popcyk. |
Prince Terrien | | Bridge to Terabithia | Katherine Paterson | Leslie Burke's (and the Burke parents') dog. |
Pugnax | | Against the Day | Thomas Pynchon | Literate mutt that is the associate of the Chums of Chance. |
Rab[1] | | Rab and his Friends | John Brown | |
Renni | German Shepherd | Renni the Rescuer | Felix Salten | a military working dog |
Ribsy | | Ribsy | Beverly Cleary | Companion of Henry Huggins. |
Robinson Crusoe's dog[15] | | Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe | While unnamed in the original, the dog is given a name in some remakes of the novel. Examples include "Tenn" in the 1967 novel Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique and "Aynsley" in the 2016 film The Wild Life. |
Rollo | | Effi Briest | Theodor Fontane | Protagonist Effi Briest's dog |
Rowf and Snitter[6] | Mongrel, Fox Terrier | The Plague Dogs | Richard Adams | |
Scamper | Golden Spaniel | The Secret Seven | Enid Blyton | Belonging to Peter and Janet. |
Searchlight | | Stone Fox | John Reynolds Gardiner | Heroic sled-dog that pulled Little Willy's sled. |
Shadow | Border Collie | The Sorcerer in the North | John Flanagan | Injured dog Will adopts. Taught many tricks, including barking on command, to aid Will's disguise as a jongleur. |
Sharik, later changed to Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov | Mongrel | Heart of a Dog | Mikhail Bulgakov | Anti-hero of the novel, a stray transformed into a New Soviet Man, then back again |
Shiloh[5] | Beagle | Shiloh | Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | Dog saved from his abusive owner. |
Sirius[6] | | Sirius | Olaf Stapleton | Eponymous hero, the result of an experiment to produce a dog with something like human intelligence. |
Snowy | Wire Fox Terrier | The Adventures of Tintin | Hergé | Tintin's dog. |
Snuff | | A Night in the Lonesome October | Roger Zelazny | Jack the Ripper's companion, and the narrator of the novel. |
Sorry-oo | | Moomins | Tove Jansson | |
Spark | | Little, Big | John Crowley | Daily Alice's dog |
Spot | | Spot the Dog | Eric Hill | |
Sweetie | | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days | Jeff Kinney | A dog adopted by the Heffley Family. Frank got the dog to satisfy Greg's wanting of a dog and his feelings over the loss of his pet fish. He (Frank) later gives the dog to the Heffleys' maternal grandmother at the end of the book. |
Timothy / Timmy / Tim | Mongrel | The Famous Five | Enid Blyton | All three names are found interchangeably. George Kirrin's dog. |
Toto | Cairn Terrier | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | L. Frank Baum | Dorothy's pet dog |
Tock | | The Phantom Tollbooth | Norton Juster | "Watchdog" (the name is a pun, because the dog has a large clock on his side) |
Walter | | Walter the Farting Dog | William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray | |
What-a-Mess{Muir, Frank "What-a-Mess in Summer". Picture Corgi, 1982} | Afghan Hound | What-a-Mess | Frank Muir | Proper name Prince Amir of Kinjan but known as What-a Mess |
White Fang and Kiche[5] | | White Fang | Jack London | |
Wellington | Poodle | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon | Mrs Shears's dog, found dead at the beginning of the story. |
Wiggins | | The Little White Horse | Elizabeth Goudge | Heroine Maria's dog. |
Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher | | Animal Farm | George Orwell | Raised by Napolean of the Animal Farm. |