The Dog

The Dog is an enigmatic digital entity that possesses the ability to materialize itself in the physical world. He is the main antagonist in Duck Season. The Dog’s behavior towards the player varies according to the player’s decisions in the game.

## Story

The Dog is a character that appears in the video game Duck Season, initially performing innocuous dance moves on the screen. His actions and reactions are contingent on the player’s decisions in the game. If the player refrains from shooting the Dog, he will remain harmless. However, if the player shoots the Dog, he will exhibit signs of hostility and malice. As the game progresses, it becomes evident that the Dog transcends the boundaries of the game and can manifest himself in the real world and he loves to massacre.

## Appearance

### Regular

The dog’s usual appearance resembles that of a mascot costume of a humanoid dog with light brown fur, dark brown ears, nose and tail, and green eyes. His muzzle is adorned with six black freckles, arranged in a triangular pattern on each side. The dog in this guise seems very cheerful and friendly, but it is apparent that this is mostly a facade, as he is seen by the player smoking a cigarette just before the first round commences.

### Demon Form

   If the player chooses to shoot the dog during one of the rounds, it drops the playful facade, thus setting events in motion for either the Canon Ending, the Best Men Ending, or the Dead Ending. The Dog's appearance changes to a much more menacing look. His fur has a grimy orange tint to it, and his eyes disappear, with dark holes and small reddish-white eyes replacing them. There is visible grime and dirt around his eye sockets and on his hands.
He sometimes has an extra finger along with an opposable thumb, and there is blood dripping from the hems of the costume at his neck, waist, wrists, and ankles.

### Live Action

The Dog in the live action segments is played by a person of indeterminate gender in a mascot costume. The costume is slightly different in colour. It also has brown eyes, has a longer, less rounded face with no freckles, and the hems for the costume are far less visible compared to the ones on the In-game model. The ears of the costume are filled with flexible wire.

The costume resembles the in-game character model for the dog almost perfectly. According to the developers, the suit was worn by more than one person in the Live-Action content.

## Personality

The Dog appears to be very docile and friendly at first sight. He will not display any dangerous or aggressive tendencies unless shot or provoked, as evidenced by the Fiesta and Dog endings. The only hint in these endings that he might have ulterior motives is a brief moment at the beginning of round one, where David/the Player glimpses him smoking a cigarette, which he quickly extinguishes, resuming his usual act.

### Personality Change

The dog’s personality undergoes a drastic transformation depending on the player’s choice. If the player opts to shoot the dog, he will gradually abandon his cheerful and friendly demeanor and adopt a more hostile and aggressive attitude towards David/the Player. He will also exhibit disturbing behavior, such as appearing stealthily at David’s sliding doors with a video camera and disappearing when noticed.

If the player decides to dial 911 when prompted, initiating the Best Men Ending, the dog will attempt to escape the scene but will be met with a barrage of bullets. His relentless desire for revenge on David/the Player is evident when he repeatedly gets up after being shot several times before finally collapsing, presumably dead.

He becomes extremely ruthless, malicious, and sadistic, as demonstrated when he cold-heartedly kills David’s mother, subsequently mocking him, inviting him to “Come Face Me”. He also takes pleasure in torturing his victims in both the Virtual and Real World.

## Abilities

* **Size Manipulation -** The Dog grows very large whilst fighting the player in the "Come Face Me" level in its demonic form.
* **Super Strength -** The Dog has shown ,not many times, to display super strength, such as throwing large things, and picking up multiple ducks, presumably.
* **Extreme Durability -** Also in the "Best Men" ending, The Dog is shot 38 times presumably by 30 mm bullets, and yet attempts to stand.
* **Determination -** Yet again in the "Best Men" ending, The Dog is shown to try to stand up while being shot, showing determination at its finest.
* **Stealth -** The Dog seems to be stealthy as he is able to steal the kitchen knife, steal David's camera, break into David's house twice, kill David's Mom, kill 12 families, and stalk David without making a sound or being caught.
* **Reality Manipulation -** The Dog has been shown to jump in and out of reality, and control it as well, as seen in the "Dog" ending.
* **Laser Eyes -** In the "Come Face Me" level, the Dog grows into a larger form and emerges from the lake. He fires red lasers from his eyes at the television screen. This ability does not appear to stay with him in the real world.

### Possible Abilities

* **Regeneration -** When The Dog is shot in the eyes during the "Come Face Me" level, they easily recover and don't express lots of pain.
* **Guilt Tolerance -** The Dog kills many families, and shows no guilt, making it questionable whether he is insane or insanely tolerates guilt.
* **Virtual Invincibility -** The Dog doesn't get killed in the game during the "Come face me" Level, even if you defeat him both times, in fact, when you shoot him in the game, he ragdolls, but immediately just goes right back to his spot and doesn't even get a bruise.
* **Pain Suppression -** The Dog, in the "Best Men" ending, apparently shows no pain while getting shot multiple times. This is only a possible as we do not hear the Dog in pain, though the Dog is also a mute.

## Weakness

* **Entering the Real World -** Whilst in the Real World, The Dog can not possess any powers while outside the game compare to what he can do inside the game, making him vulnerable and weaker.
* **Golden Shotgun -** As seen in "Come Face Me" level, normal shotgun shells are shown to have no damage to him. However, when being shot by a golden shotgun shell from the Golden Shotgun in the eye, he shows external pain and steps backwards slightly.
* **Duck Season Controller -** As shown in the near end of the game, The Dog is shown to be affected by the Duck season controller as he didn't flinch after being shot however after a couple of shots, a glow surrounded him presuming his death resulting a explosion of red block's everywhere on the living room (Presume Void Energy/Blocks).
* **Rapid-Fire Guns -** In the "Best Men" Ending, he is killed by the police using rapid-fire guns, while most other guns, like the shotgun when it's not golden, cannot kill him, or at least in the virtual world.

## Trivia

* The Dog is directly based on the laughing dog from the 1984 Nintendo game "Duck Hunt".
	+ Both characters also mock or goad the player for failing, with Duck Hunt Dog laughing after the player misses a shot, and Duck Season Dog daring the player to confront him after the player fails to stop him from killing Mom.
* Despite it taking several gunshots to put him down in the Best Men ending, he can be one shot by a Katana or Baseball bat when he attacks David.
* The people in the Duck Season commercial are speculated to be David and his mother- The commercial plays on loop when the dog attacks David during the Canon and Dead endings.