Dog

Magical Subspecies:

* Three-headed dog
* Gytrash
* Grim
* Crup

> "*Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be* dogging *your footsteps in case you step out of line.*"
> ― Draco Malfoy to Harry Potter, hinting at his knowledge of Sirius Black's animagus form[source]
>
>

**Dog** (subspecies name ***Canis lupus familiaris***) also known as **hound** is a subspecies of the grey wolf (*Canis lupus*), a member of the *Canidae* family of the mammilian order *Carnivora*. The term "domestic dog" is generally used for both domesticated and feral varieties.

## Description

Dogs are used in both the wizarding and the Muggle world as pets or guardians. While most normal dogs are generally considered harmless, save those that have been trained or bred for aggressive behaviour, some dogs like the three-headed dog Fluffy are highly dangerous.

## Dogs in the wizarding world

In the wizarding world, dogs are kept as pets or may sometimes serve as guardians of certain objects. For example, during the 1991–1992 school year at Hogwarts, the three-headed dog Fluffy guarded the Philosopher's Stone. Once the Stone had been destroyed, Fluffy was set free in the Forbidden Forest, but was later repatriated by Albus Dumbledore to Greece. Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts gamekeeper also had a boarhound named Fang. The name didn't suit him well as even Hagrid called him a "bloody coward".

In Beedle the Bard's fairy tale *Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump*, the Brigade of Witch-hunters is given a pack of wild hounds. There are also magical subtypes of dogs, such as three-headed dogs, Gytrash and Grim. According to W.O.M.B.A.T., a dog acting suspiciously might be magically-trained. Also, Ron Weasley's Patronus took the form of a Jack Russell Terrier, a breed of hunting dog common in Great Britain and Ireland.

The Crup is a type of wizard-bred dog that resembles a Jack Russell Terrier, but possesses a forked tail and is loyal only to wizards, and is highly aggressive towards Muggles and Squibs.

## History

Harry Potter considered his treatment while at 4 Privet Drive to be comparable to that of "a dog that had rolled in something smelly."

After being bit by Norberta, known at the time as "Norbert," Ron Weasley told Madam Pomfrey that he had been bitten by a dog. She didn't seem to believe him, but was apparently unable to figure out the truth about what had really bitten him.

It is possible that Agnes failed her dog Animagus transfiguration into a dog, as the description of a failed Animagus transfiguration resembled that of Agnes.

## Dogs in the Muggle world

In the Muggle world, dogs also are kept as companions, being very faithful and, with proper training, can guard valuable objects or people or act as service, rescue and police dogs. The Dursleys' next door neighbour kept a dog, which Dudley once drove over with a working tank. Harry Potter's Aunt Marge bred bulldogs and in 1993 when she visited the Dursley house, she brought one of her favourites who was old and rather ill-tempered, named Ripper. Often in the Muggle world, larger dogs are given fierce names to make them seem more ferocious.

## List of known dogs

* Fluffy
* Fang
* Ripper
* Sam
* Marjorie Dursley's unknown eleven bulldogs
* Rosmerta's dog
* Giffard Abbott's dog
* Lucius Malfoy's dogs
* Grangers' dogs
* Grim

## Known dog Patronuses

* Ron Weasley - Ron learned to cast a corporeal Patronus while practising with other Dumbledore's Army members. Exact breed of his Patronus was Jack Russell Terrier.

## Known dog Animagi

* Sirius Black - Sirius learned it along with Peter Pettigrew (rat) and James Potter (stag), in order to companion his friend Remus Lupin, when taking Werewolf form. Sirius once considered James's joking suggestion of remaining full-time as a dog, but felt that the fleas "would be murder."