History Main / EvilDetectingDog

* In ''Fanfic/BlueSky'', even though Wheatley is not really evil [[spoiler: at that point]], Duke can still detect that he isn't human.

[[folder: Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/RichardIII'', King Richard (who is portrayed by the play as a villain) says that dogs bark at him as he passes

* In ''Fanfic/CandyForYourThoughts,'' [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Duncan]] gets a MoralityPet in the form of a dog used in one of the challenges. Despite being super-friendly, "Mohawk" growls at [[UnholyMatrimony Heather and Alejandro]] when Duncan is eavesdropping on them. It would have saved Duncan a lot of grief if he had paid attention to this, since the pair knew Duncan was watching and were [[BatmanGambit spouting a bunch of lies to mislead him]].

* VideoGame/FromTheFog: If you have a tamed wolf, they may angrily growl at Herobrine when he's nearby.

* Invoked in ''Fanfic/{{Ghost Story|Nuts}}'' when Murphy tries to convince Molly that Shepard's alright by reminding her that Mouse hasn't had his usual reaction to Outsiders around Shep.

* Mika the cat has yet to meet any official villains in ''Fanfic/YesterdayUponTheStair'', but her response to the “Hero” [[AbusiveParents Endeavor]] approaching Todoroki is a protective hissy fit.

* [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Bethany Hawke]] uses her brother's mabari, Dane, in this way in ''Fanfic/BeyondHeroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium.'' The group needs to know for sure whether or not the people they're seeing are real, but they all have such an emotional response to the situation that they can't trust their own judgment; so she employs the dog, whose breed is renowned in the setting for its extremely high intelligence and good judge of character, to make the call.
* In ''Fanfic/TheFableOfJoyfulWing'':
** Alfhind the horse refuses to go anywhere near the monastery Long Dog encounters early in his journey. Though Dog tries to convince himself that it's just that she's a ''pagan'' horse and thus is uncomfortable around a Buddhist monastery, it's his first tip-off that something evil is lurking there.
** Mouse the dog is able to sense which voices in the spirit world are real and which are lures from hostile beings meant to lead Dog off course, and prevents him from following the false ones.
* In ''[[Fanfic/BetweenDreamsAndMemoriesUniverse Between Heroes and Villains]]'', Clementine the seagull pecks [[BigBad Dream]] when he visits her human friend, Tommy, in Exile.

* ''Anime/HelloSandybelle'': Sandybelle has a collie/Scottish sheepdog mix named Oliver, who hates AlphaBitch Kitty Shearer.

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* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': When "ComicBook/{{Impulse}}" Bart Allen was replaced by his EvilTwin Inertia, the only character to realize was Bart's dog, but Inertia was able to get around that with treats. And by not thinking any evil thoughts around the dog.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** Batman tried to bring up this trope in ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004'', noting how Krypto hated [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara Zor-El]], Superman's cousin who had just arrived on Earth. It was ultimately subverted as Superman pointed out that 1) It was Krypto's job to protect the Fortress of Solitude, and 2) He hated everybody.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanDoomed'', Krypto growled at Superman after he had been infected with Doomsday's cells and was slowly turning into a copy of Doomsday. Superman even commented that it was something out of a horror movie.
** ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'': Subverted. Krypto's spooked by the new farmhands, but they are actually Superman's descendants, who came from the future to protect the past from the Chronovore.

* Snowy, Franchise/{{Tintin}}'s dog, often has people figured out as evil on instinct before Tintin has proof.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Bolt is normally very disapproving of Penny’s boyfriends, expressing this through dirty looks and grumbling -- though for good reason, as she usually chooses unwisely. She sometimes ignores the dog’s instinctual character sense, always to her detriment.

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27626497/chapters/67626911 A Different Professor]]'', Sirius and Remus are reminiscing about Harry as a baby, and happen to mention that Harry never wanted Peter to hold him, always insisting on being set down or given to someone else. Narcissa asks why they and Harry's parents didn't find that significant, saying that baby Draco had a similar reaction to Bellatrix and her husband.

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27626497/chapters/67626911 A Different Professor]], Sirius and Remus are reminiscing about Harry as a baby, and happen to mention that Harry never wanted Peter to hold him, always insisting on being set down or given to someone else. Narcissa asks why they and Harry's parents didn't find that significant, saying that baby Draco had a similar reaction to Bellatrix and her husband.

** Judges Guild supplement ''The Book of Treasure Maps III''', adventure "The Beast of Blackwater Lake". A pair of Spaniel dogs are very good judges of character and will growl at any creatures of Evil CharacterAlignment.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Invoked with [[Characters/SCPFoundationSCPs001To999 SCP-953]] (Polymorphic Humanoid), who is a ''kumiho'' (a [[AsianFoxSpirit Korean fox demon]] that can {{shapeshift|ing}} from her true fox form into a [[HumanDisguise beautiful woman]] to [[LiteralManeater seduce her prey]]). However, dogs are unsurprisingly not fooled by her tricks. It's kinda inverted, as she has a [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes severe phobia of dogs]], so she's really more afraid of them than the other way around. The Foundation exploits this by surrounding her containment cell with dog kennels to dissuade her from escaping.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1495 SCP-1495]] (Karmic Musth) is an anomalous herd of elephants. Once a year, some elephants turn into SCP-1495-M, which can control other animals. They can identify people who have acted in an evil manner, then order the animals to attack and kill them.

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* The ''TabletopGame/BloodOfHeroes'' RPG. Clint, one of the sample characters, has a dog that can detect evil.

* GDW's ''TabletopGame/DarkConspiracy'' supplement ''Dark Races Volume I Compendium''. When the evil monsters known as reavers are nearby, even if they're invisible, any animal (especially dogs) can sense their presence and will become uneasy. They start whining and shivering and refuse to enter an area with reavers in it.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}: Hell on Earth'', it is mentioned that during the war, dog were used to sniff out infiltrator cyborgs. Some survivor communities still use them for this purpose.

* Reversed in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}''. The effect comes from entities with the Frightens Animals disadvantage rather than special powers that dogs have.

** Invoked with [[Characters/SCPFoundationSCP953 SCP-953]] (Polymorphic Humanoid), who is a ''kumiho'' (a [[AsianFoxSpirit Korean fox demon]] that can {{shapeshift|ing}} from her true fox form into a [[HumanDisguise beautiful woman]] to [[LiteralManeater seduce her prey]]). However, dogs are unsurprisingly not fooled by her tricks. It's kinda inverted, as she has a [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes severe phobia of dogs]], so she's really more afraid of them than the other way around. The Foundation exploits this by surrounding her containment cell with dog kennels to dissuade her from escaping.

* EvilDetectingDog/RealLife

[[folder: Theater]]
* In ''Theater/RichardIII'', King Richard (who is portrayed by the play as a villain) says that dogs bark at him as he passes

** Jeudi's cockatoo Printemps ''hates'' [[spoiler: Matilda aka the fake Jeudi]] on sight and openly attacks her, much to the surprise of everyone else. The "victim" even lampshades the trope via asking if Printemps thinks [[spoiler: she]]'s a bad person. [[spoiler: He was right.]]

* ''Anime/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': Played for tragedy in Shizu's backstory. Her friend adopted a stray animal and tried to keep it as a familiar but it started growling at Leon so Ifrit burned it and Shizu's friend to ashes.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* The cat who's taken up residence in Marnie's house in ''Film/OneHundredFeet'' frequently detects Mike's presence before he becomes visible.
* Simultaneously referenced and used straight in ''Film/AceVenturaPetDetective''. When Ace is making the acquaintance of Roger's dog on the crime scene, the dog barks at Lois Einhorn when she walks in:
-->'''Ace:''' So, animals ''can'' sense evil.
** He later learns that [[spoiler:Lois is the killer -- [[UnsettlingGenderReveal and, as it turns out, a man]]. And if the dog witnessed the murder, his reaction to Lois, someone who harmed his master, is perfectly natural]].
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'':
** In ''Film/{{Alien}} (1979)'', the cat is able to detect the titular creature, though no one apart from Ripley seems to be aware of this.
*** Brett does notice that the cat is hissing at something, but by the time he turns around to see what's bothering Jones, it's really too late.
** In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', during the opening dream sequence, Ripley's cat senses the ChestBurster inside her and starts to hiss.
** In ''Film/Alien3'', a dog barks incessantly at a crawling facehugger, which then infects the dog.
** ''Film/Alien40thAnniversaryShorts''. In "Specimen", a Doberman Pinscher trained to detect contaminated samples detects the facehugger and barks away accordingly, but the humans decide to [[ItsProbablyNothing deal with it in the morning]]. [[spoiler:Fortunately the Doberman is revealed to be a synthetic animal who can hold its own against the alien.]]
* Shortly after he has been attacked by a werewolf in ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'', all sorts of animals start hissing and growling at David. The only exception is wolves. They don't seem to mind him too much.
* In ''Film/{{Annie|2014}}'', Sandy reacts to [[spoiler:Annie's hired "real parents"]] with aggression and fear.
* In ''Film/{{Aquaman}}'', Tom and Atlanna's dog starts barking just before the Atlanteans invade their home in the prologue.
* In ''Film/{{Arachnophobia}}'', both a cat and a dog can sense that the General is, if not technically evil, than certainly not to be messed with. A crow does not realize this in time.
* ''Film/BadMoon'' arguably revolves around the trope, being from the point of view of the dog as he realizes the uncle is a werewolf and attempts to defend the family from him. Unfortunately, he's not able to warn the family and him attacking the werewolf while in human form gets him taken away for supposed aggressive behavior, [[spoiler:but the boy frees him in time to race home and kill the werewolf himself.]]
* ''Film/BirdBox'': Birds can sense when the creatures are around and chirp wildly when they're near. Malorie figures this out when her group have to raid a supermarket and she comes across a trio of parakeets that were left behind. She hangs on to them for the remainder of the movie. Unfortunately they don't react to a ''person'' with evil intent; which is a problem as there are insane people who are apparently working in league with the creatures.
* In ''Film/{{Blackenstein}}'', a dog whines and barks at the approach of the monstrous Eddie. Eddie kills the dog, and the householders go to investigate why the dog has gone silent. Bad move.
* In ''Film/TheBlackRoom'', Anton's dog can tell that his master has been replaced, and constantly tries to kill the impostor.
* In ''Film/{{Cello}}'', the family's pet dog, Sunny, barks loudly when it is near the titular musical instrument.
* In ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'', when the trio head into the subway system to hide, they find dozens of rats scurrying away from the rear end of a darkened tunnel. One of the characters, Marlene, realizes they have to get away from the area the rats were running away from. Minutes later a giant parasite attacks the group and injures Marlene, who dies a nasty death from the infected bite.
* The Perron's dog Sadie in ''Film/TheConjuring'' refuses to enter the house, sensing the evil force within. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, this doesn't save her.]]
* ''Film/Daredevil2003'': From the Director's Cut is a scene at an airport where [[PsychoForHire Bullseye]] is going through security. He briefly glares at one of the security dogs, which whimpers in fear.
* Dogs bark, horses rear, and cats snarl at the mysterious woman in ''Film/CultOfTheCobra'', because they can tell she's a venomous snake in human form.
* In ''Film/DarkAugust'', Sal's dog Mona barks and growls whenever the hooded figure that's been haunting Sal appears. [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, Sal and Mona are tracking the figure in the forest when Mona suddenly attacks Sal, forcing him to shoot her.]]
* The dog at the end of ''Film/DeadBirds'' sees William as the skinless, eyeless abomination that attacked the group at the beginning, and starts to bark and then chase him.
* Van Helsing in ''Film/Dracula1979'' confirms his suspicions about his late daughter's vampirism by investigating her resting place with a horse. When the horse comes by her grave, it starts stomping the ground with its hoof, and then runs away in terror. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward then start digging.
* In ''Film/ExtremelyWickedShockinglyEvilAndVile'', a dog begins barking at Ted Bundy with no provocation, obviously able to detect he's a monster long before most of the people who know him can. This is based on the account of true crime author Ann Rule, who knew Bundy in real life before he was first suspected of being a {{serial killer}}. In ''Literature/TheStrangerBesideMe'', she states that everyone found Bundy pleasant to be around save her dog, who loathed him.
* In ''Film/FairGame'', Jessica's dog Kyla snarls anytime the hunters are in the vicinity or approaching, even if they cannot be seen or heard at the time.
* ''Film/TheFieldGuideToEvil'': In "A Nocturnal Breath", Xaver's dog Wachter is able to detect the evil drude when it is possessing a mouse. Wachter goes mad, barking wildly, and Xaver has to drag him off before he tries to eat it.
* Played with in ''Film/TheFlyII'': Guard dogs are sent after Martinfly, but they fearfully stop in their tracks at the sight of the monster. However, Martinfly retains the mind and morals of Martin Brundle, who likes dogs and knows they don't deserve to be victims of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge, and thus [[PetTheDog he literally pets one of them]] before moving on.
* In Plot A of ''Film/{{Frenemies}}'', Murray (Jake's dog) was the first to know about Julianne's true intentions and acts very aggressive towards her (growling at her, making her sit on paint, trying to flush a lover letter she wrote for Jake, etc.). However, Jake remains oblivious to all of this and thinks Murray is just acting up.
* ''Film/FromBeyondTheGrave'': When Warren arrives home with the invisible elemental on his shoulder in "The Elemental", his dog whines and refuses to come near him. He later runs away. When Madame Orloff arrives to perform the exorcism, one of the first questions she asks is if their dog as run away, and goes on to explain that animals and children can sense elementals, and sometimes even see them.
* ''Film/GingerSnaps'': Dogs can detect werewolves and lash out at them, not that it saves any of them from chronically becoming werewolf chow (at least four are eaten over the course of the film).
* ''Film/GoodBurger'': Dexter and Ed come across a hungry stray dog. Ed gives a hungry dog a Mondo Burger patty, but the dog won't eat it for some reason. So Ed gives the dog a Good Burger patty instead and the dog immediately eats it. This begins to make Dexter and Ed suspicious about Mondo Burger.
* In ''Film/TheGravedancers'', Allison's cat senses that something is seriously wrong with Harris as soon as he returns from the cemetery. It takes one sniff, hisses and flees.
* Lester the family dog barks at Michael Myers hiding behind the bushes in ''Film/Halloween1978''.
* In ''Film/TheHand'', Jon's cat senses the presence of the EvilHand in the cabin long before Jon does. It investigates, is attacked and flees; never to be seen again in the film.
* In the film version of ''Film/{{Hannibal}}'', Hannibal Lecter breaks into Agent Krendler's house and his dog is initially hostile, but Hannibal actually makes the dog cower in the corner while he pokes around.
* In ''Film/{{Hereditary}}'', the family dog has a moment where it enters Peter's room and starts to bark because it can sense the [[spoiler: spirit of Charlie.]]
* The female character's pet dog in ''Film/TheHole2009'' runs away when the human characters are investigating the, uh, hole and she states the dog doesn't like it. The dog also freaks out when ''something'' tries to drown the little brother.
* In ''Film/{{Hook}}'', Nana the dog senses that the titular Captain is about to invade the Darling home and starts barking.
* ''Film/IMarriedAMonsterFromOuterSpace''. The heroine wonders why her husband (having been possessed by an alien) no longer likes the dog she bought him as a present, and vice versa. He eventually kills it and tells her that it died in an accident. In the climax, some German Shepherds are more effective than bullets in taking on the aliens.
* In TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'', Louis is attempting (clumsily) to seduce and then kill an elderly woman. Her pet poodles, however, won't stop barking at him, evidently sensing the ill intentions of the vampire -- and the noise drives him to kill ''them'' instead.
* In ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'', Pam's dog growls aggressively at "James Carney", who is really would-be Presidential assassin Mitch Leary, and [[spoiler: who kills Pam and her roommate]].
* In ''Film/IntoTheGrizzlyMaze'', the bootleg loggers' dog barks to warn them of the approaching bear but they don't hear him over the noise of their chainsaws.
* In ''Film/JackBrooksMonsterSlayer'', Crowley's dog detects the evil early in the movie, but is unwilling to abandon his owner.
* In ''Film/JeepersCreepers2'', the farmer's dog is the first one to notice that there's something off with one of the scarecrows...
* Wolf in ''Film/TheJourneyOfNattyGann'' reliably warns Natty of all kinds of impending trouble.
* Owen's ''Velociraptor'' pack from ''Film/JurassicWorld'' really dislike Vic Hoskins, a BloodKnight who wants to use the dinosaurs for modern warfare. One example is shown when they have a snarling fit whenever Hoskins arrives at their holding pens. Delta especially seems to have it out for him, and she is the one to [[spoiler:slaughter him near the end of the movie]].
* Downplayed in ''Film/KnivesOut''. The dogs don't so much detect evil, but they only bark at those they deem strangers. Lampshaded by Blanc, who notes that he's always felt that dogs are excellent judges of character. [[spoiler:The barking becomes a ChekhovsGun in witness stories on the night Harlan died, signifying that there was a stranger on the property. They end up playing the trope straight though as Ransom -- the culprit -- is the only member out of the Thrombey family and their household staff that dogs bark at, having been estranged from the family for some years and is shown to be a jerk in his EstablishingCharacterMoment]].
* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'': The novelization says that Merlin noticed Owl!Jareth on the way back from the park and automatically didn't like him.
* In ''Film/LetTheRightOneIn'', [[CrazyCatLady Crazy Cat Man]] Gösta's many cats hiss aggressively in the presence of vampires. When Eli bites Virginia but does not kill her, thereby partially turning her, she visits Gösta's flat, whereupon his cats go berserk and start attacking her ''en masse''.
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** The horses in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'' have every reason to be scared of the mountain where the Dead dwell. For once, the Humans understand the reasons for their fear. Elves, however, don't. The Dead aren't really evil, and end up being of great help to our heroes... but they're still pretty darn scary.
** There's also a scene in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' where a dog barks furiously at a Ringwraith, but does so while backing up. Eventually, it retreats with a whimper.
* In ''Film/TheLostBoys'', Nanook growls at Michael, after he drank some of the blood-in-a-wine-bottle while hanging out with the vampire hoodlums.
* Subverted in ''Film/ManInTheAttic''. William Harley's dog takes an immediate to Slade (something Harley says he never does with strangers) and starts following him around. Harley even complains that the dog prefers Slade's company to his. The dog only starts to avoid Slade (who is secretly UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper) when Slade [[KickTheDog literally kicks him]] to drive him away when Slade is attempting [[DestroyTheEvidence burn his bloodstained Ulster]].
* The president's dog in ''Film/MarsAttacks'' barks at the Martians on the television.
* Milo does this twice in ''Film/TheMask''. First, he detected that The Mask was evil. Second, he detected that his owner was kidnapped when he saw Dorian's goons invade the apartment for the stolen bank money and chased after their car to rescue Stanley.
* In ''Film/MirrorMirror1990'', Susan's dogs are able to sense that there is something wrong about the antique mirror: barking and whining outside the bedroom when its powers start to manifest. [[ItsProbablyNothing Susan dismisses it.]]
* In ''Film/TheMonsterMaker'', Ace seems to know that Dr. Markhoff is up to no good when he enters the lab to release the KillerGorilla to murder Maxine, and starts growling at him as soon as he approaches the cage. Markoff eventually banishes him from the room.
* In ''Film/Ms45'', the landlady's dog, who knows protagonist Thana well as she used to walk it, catches on to her increasingly strange behavior (in particular her disposing of the body of a rapist piece by piece) quickly. Initially Thana manages to placate the dog, but eventually she asks to walk it again and takes it out to the riverside, ties it up, and takes out her pistol...[[spoiler: the final scene shows it returning to its master's apartment, having freed itself sometime after Thana spared it offscreen]].
* Used a ''lot'' in the 1944 film ''[[Film/TheMummysHand The Mummy's Ghost]]'', in which dogs barking the alarm or biting at his ankles actually pose a greater obstacle to the mummy's comings and goings than anything the human characters do.
* Animal is the only Muppet to notice Kermit has been replaced by Constantine in ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'', by simply ''smelling him''.
* In ''Film/NearDark'', the earliest sign that love interest Mae is not all she seems is that the hero's horse goes nuts when he tries to show him to her.
* In ''Film/PleaseStandBy'', Pete growls at a couple right before they rob Wendy.
* In the short film adaptation of Creator/StephenKing's ''[[Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes The Road Virus Goes North]]'', the protagonist is dumbfounded as to why dogs bark madly at him wherever he goes. They're actually disturbed by the cursed picture he's got in his car. When the titular Road Virus himself first appears, the dog falls instantly silent except for a few terrified whimpers.
* Also used in the Stephen King miniseries ''Series/RoseRed'', where an otherwise nice dog bites the powerful, autistic psychic Annie. While Annie is not exactly evil, she does retaliate by causing rocks to fall from the sky and crush the house of the people who own the dog, so the dog's attitude was arguably justified.
* One of the freakier aspects of ''Film/TheOmen1976'' is how most animals -- with the exception of [[HellHound one dog]] -- react when in the presence of little Damien, [[TheAntichrist the son of Satan himself]]. One memorable scene has Damien and his mother on safari, and their jeep being swarmed by [[ManiacMonkeys furious baboons]].
* ''Film/OutpostRiseOfTheSpetsnaz''. After being thrown into a cell in an underground Nazi medical experimentation lab, the Russians note that despite the smell of decay there's no sign of rats or their droppings. "You know you're in trouble when the rats have abandoned ship."
* In both ''Film/TheParentTrap1961'' and ''Film/TheParentTrap1998'', the dog owned by one of the twins reacts with barking and growling when the other twin, pretending to be her sister, tries to greet her/him. (In this case, the twin isn't ''evil'' -- the dog just knows she isn't who she's claiming to be.) In the latter film, the dog also has an evil-detecting reaction to the twins' father's new girlfriend.
* Averted in ''Film/{{Perfume}}''. Thanks to the villain's complete lack of scent, he steps right over a sleeping dog as he's sneaking up to Laura's bedroom, without it sounding the alarm.
* In ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'', the family dog starts barking at the walls after the titular ghosts arrive.
* In ''Film/PortOfShadows'', the stray dog that follows Jean around for most of the film starts barking angrily at Zabel when he shows up at the seaside bar where Jean is hiding in a back room with Nelly, Zabel's ward. When Jean stops by Zabel's shop later in the film, the dog starts barking at Zabel again. [[spoiler:We later learn that Zabel killed Nelly's would-be suitor, Maurice, in a jealous rage born of his own lust for her.]]
* Kelly's dog Ginger in ''Film/RaceWithTheDevil'' is the first to notice the cultists. It later gets hanged from the RV's door.
* ''Film/ReignOfFire''. A tethered hawk is used to detect the approach of dragons, though it proves less effective at detecting the approach of a convoy of gung-ho American dragonslayers.
* In ''Film/RelativeFear'', Earl's dog barks at [[CreepyChild Adam]] every time he's in the room. [[spoiler:It turns out he's really reacting to the presence of [[SerialKiller Garrett Madison]] in the attic.]]
* ''Film/ResidentEvil''. The dogs kept in cages in the Umbrella Corporation laboratory are the first to sense that the virus has been released, barking as they smell it flowing from the air vents.
* ''Film/ReturnOfTheScarecrow'': In one scene, a dog is seen barking at the front door of an old couple's house because Virgil and [[ScaryScarecrow the scarecrow]] are right outside it.
* During his villain monologue ''Film/RichardIII'' complains that dogs bark at him whenever he's nearby. Well what does he expect when he's about to [[AnachronismStew drive a tank through the wall?]]
* The dog-like alien creature adopted by Film/{{Riddick}} is disturbed at the approach of rain. Riddick tells it there's nothing to worry about, goes to pet it... then realises from its tense body that he'd better start worrying.
* ''Film/RunSweetheartRun'': At the restaurant, a dog barks at Ethan while he is on his date with Cherie. He drops the nice guy act and yells at the owner to control "your fucking dog!" It's the first hint that he is [[spoiler:a monstrous creature who will later hunt down Cherie]].
* In M. Night Shyamalan's ''Film/{{Signs}}'', the dogs smell big-time alien and bark and bluster accordingly.
* In ''Film/{{Sleepwalkers}}'', the villains morph into somewhat feline creatures, but are hated by actual cats.
* ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2'': Ozzie goes hostile when Robotnik returns to the Wachowskis' home as Sonic parties inside alone.
* ''Film/{{Super 8}}'': All the dogs in the area run away to other towns because they can tell there's a monster running around.
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': Ever since [=SkyNet=] churned out Terminator robots disguised as humans, the Resistance found a way to counter this by training "sniffer" dogs to smell human hands, and they can be further trained to hear the sound of Terminator servos moving, which is too low to be detected by humans.
** Dogs are used to detect Terminator robots in the RobotWar in ''Film/TheTerminator''. In the 1984 scenes, a pet dog also barks madly at the T-800 as it walks up to Sarah Ann Connor's house to murder her. Later on, Sarah and Kyle are alerted to the T-800's presence by a German Shepherd barking loudly.
** ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'': The dog does bark like crazy off-screen at the malevolent T-1000 [[spoiler:while it's impersonating John's foster mother. In a DeletedScene, this dog is killed by the T-1000, eventually.]] However, the film includes a scene where a dog does not react to the T-800. The filmmakers admit this is a plot hole, but felt it was better to not confuse the audiences.
** In ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', a Terminator who lived for years among humans and even adopted a human family also has a pet dog who is entirely comfortable with his presence. As per this trope, this is a sign that he is no longer out to KillAllHumans because [[HumanityEnsues he has learnt human traits like empathy.]] The trope is played straight with the Rev-9 Terminator who turns up at his target's house posing as a friend, and the dog immediately starts barking at him.
* ''Film/TheThing1982'': Although they don't react to the Thing immediately, the dogs eventually rouse themselves and start growling and snarling at the newcomer, despite its (initially) normal appearance, presumably sensing the internal changes as it starts to shapeshift from canine to alien form. The fact that they do take so long to react, in contrast to most examples, is an early indication of just how seamlessly The Thing imitates its hosts.
* ''Film/{{Tremors}}'': Two instances of this happen, first with a farmer's flock of sheep, and second with a pair of horses the protagonists happen to be riding on even though there isn't any danger visible. [[GenreBlind The farmer doesn't realize until it's too late that something's wrong]], but one of the protagonists figures out the horses "got wind of something they don't like". Sure enough, it's a reliable sign that the movie's SandWorm monsters are about to attack.
* In ''Film/VampireInBrooklyn'', a police dog and a [[TheMafia mobster]]'s pet cat both react with angry growling when [[BigBad Max]] is around. He kills them both to avoid being outed as a vampire.
* In ''Film/VampiresVsZombies'', Bob's dog growls at the gas station attendant when he comes back into the station. It is later revealed that he had been bitten by Carmilla while outside and turned into a vampire.
* In ''Film/WhenTheBoughBreaks1994'', a girl is kidnapped while walking her dog. The dog barks as the kidnapper approaches, but the girl is listening to her Walkman and doesn't hear him until it's too late.
* ''Film/TheWhispererInDarkness'': In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQkos7WTHjg teaser]] for the Creator/HPLovecraft Historical Society's adaptation, a scholar listens to a wax cylinder recording of a man spouting occult ravings while a cat sits impassively nearby. Suddenly [[EldritchAbomination ANOTHER]] voice cuts in on the recording, and the cat startles and hisses. In the movie itself, a colleague hurriedly switches off the phonograph when he's been listening to the wax cylinder recording of the cultist ceremony throughout the night.
* More like "Evil Detecting Horses", in ''Film/TheWolfman2010''. Also evil detecting bear and evil detecting deer. Ironically averted by the single dog (it ''always'' growls at Lawrence, well before he is infected, while it is completely oblivious to the original werewolf [[spoiler:because he is its owner]]).
* ''Film/{{Wolves}}'': After Cayden starts work at the Tollerman farm, his voiceover muses that "[[{{Irony}} Even if the Tollermans didn't know]] [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent what I was]], the animals sure did," over an aerial view of a flock of sheep running away as he gets close with their feed.
* In ''Film/ZoltanHoundOfDracula'', Zoltan was originally this: turned by Dracula in vengeance after it protected a woman from him. The Drake's dog Samson is also this; able to sense the presence of Zoltan and [[TheRenfield Veidt]].

[[folder:Literature]]
* In the first ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' book, the first hint that [[PuppeteerParasite something's not right]] with Tom is when Jake morphs into a dog and smells something unsettling.
* Inverted in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', birds seem to instinctively know (and love) Polgara, even if they've never met her. The Emperor's bird even chews him out for not recognizing her.
* ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'': In ''The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming'', the palace horses and elephants are all badly spooked by a Searcher, an invisible, soulless being designed to capture and trap a specific person. The only person who understands the animals' reaction is the powerful magician Abhaydatta.
* In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Christabel", one of the first signs something is not right with Lady Geraldine is the untypical reaction of the dog: "The mastiff old did not awake,/ Yet she an angry moan did make!/ And what can ail the mastiff bitch?/ Never till now she uttered yell/ Beneath the eye of Christabel."
* In Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's ''Literature/{{Carmilla}}'', the mountebank's dog will not cross the drawbridge into the courtyard of the ''schloss'', and howls continually while the mountebank converses with Laura and Carmilla. For added irony, the mountebank is eager to sell his vampire-repellent charms, but scolds his dog for howling. Possibly a nod to "Christabel".
* ''The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe'', featuring Creator/MargeryLawrence's supernatural sleuth-mystic Literature/MilesPennoyer, centers around a young boy named Patrick whose disposition suddenly shifted some years prior to the start of the narration. Patrick's concerned Aunt reports to Pennoyer that before the change, Patrick had a puppy companion from whom he was inseparable -- after the change, his puppy wouldn't go near him. The other dogs of the household also avoid the child, which Pennoyer pays close attention to as "dogs are the creatures closest and most sensitive to mankind." It fuels Pennoyer's theory that [[spoiler: the boy is a [[ChangelingTale Changeling]] that had been swapped for the real Patrick]]. Interestingly, Patrick acquired a pet cat after his sudden personality change. The boy also demonstrated the ability to call wild animals like birds and bats to his side by imitating their cries, even [[spoiler: being able to command them to cause mischief]].
* ''Literature/TheCatInTheStacksMysteries'': Both cats ''and'' dogs in this series and its spinoff, ''Southern Ladies Mysteries''.
** Charlie Harris's Maine Coon cat Diesel has a knack for telling nice people from nasty ones. People he dislikes include one crook in Book 2 and two {{Asshole Victim}}s in Book 3, and in Book 7, he backs away from Oscar Reilly when they first meet, even before the man proves to be a total jerkwad, showing that Diesel's instincts are spot on.
** In Ladies #4, the Ducote sisters' dog Peanut reacts with hostility to the greedy and thoroughly unpleasant Nathan Gamble.
* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'':
** Qwill's hyper-intelligent Siamese cat Koko has shades of this. He ''especially'' dislikes [[spoiler: the gold-digging Melinda Goodwinter, who was intent on marrying Qwill for his money and later tried to kill another woman whom she felt was in her way, and expressed this dislike quite often]].
** Koko's talent at detecting crimes is particularly showcased in Book #4 (''The Cat Who Saw Red''); Qwill is given an art piece by the man who married Joy, Qwill's first love, and he knows he hates the man, but he has no real reason apart from jealousy. Koko circles the piece of pottery and then hisses at it, prompting Qwill to decide, "We can't both be wrong." [[spoiler: The red glazing on the pottery was created by its artist putting Joy's body into the kiln after he murdered her.]]
* Wolf from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAncientDarkness'' can smell demons and see spirits.
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' story "Literature/TheScarletCitadel", Pelias scares away a giant snake by [[GlamourFailure letting it look at him]]. Conan is very afraid that it was an evil-detecting snake.
-->''An icy trickle disturbed Conan's spine, and he wondered if, after all, Pelias were a man, or merely another demon of the pits in a mask of humanity.''
* In ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'', the mice belonging to the crazy old man upstairs give the eponymous protagonist a message by proxy: "Don't go through the door." [[spoiler:They're absolutely right -- said door leads to the fantastical Other World, which contains magic toys, delicious food, and a life-sucking beldam who just ''loves'' children... as in, [[YourSoulIsMine loves to steal their souls]].]]
* In ''Literature/DarkerThanYouThink'', dogs are capable of sensing the presence of shapeshifters, even in their astral form. It's suggested that ancient humans domesticated them specifically for this purpose.
* ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'': Creator/SusanCooper used this more than once.
** ''Literature/OverSeaUnderStone'' and ''Literature/{{Greenwitch}}'': Captain Toms' dog Rufus fears and dislikes the minions of the Dark.
** ''Literature/TheGreyKing'': Bran's dog Cafall guides Will onto the Old Way, and later attacks one of the foxes that serve the Grey King.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'': The Patrician's dog, Wuffles, growls at the sourcerer's staff.
** ''Literature/WyrdSisters'': Subverted; Granny says that dogs are most concerned with how their masters treat ''them'', not others, so an evil man can end up with a devoted dog so long as he takes good care of it. She's also using the dog as a metaphor for [[FisherKingdom the kingdom of Lancre]] which has recently awakened to the fact that Felmet, the usurper, doesn't care about it the same way the old king did.
* ''Literature/ADogsPurpose'': Bailey detects something off about the EnfantTerrible Todd not soon after meeting him. Unfortunately, he [[InnocentInaccurate can't figure out what]], even after [[spoiler:Todd tries to kill him]], until years later.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' dogs and horses are frightened by the Count's presence but he can control wolves.
** When he goes out to meet Jonathan Harker, the horses pulling Harker's cart panic, though the jet-black beasts pulling his own carriage obey him without hesitation.
** At a funeral for one of Dracula's victims, a dog belonging to one of the guests refuses to go near the grave.
** Played with with a wolf at a zoo in England. It snarls and lunges at the bars of his cage when the Count comes near, but calms down when he gets closer. Later, it escapes and breaks through Lucy's garlic-protected window.
* ''Literature/DragonJousters'': In one book, the tamed dragons -- who are established as being as smart as bright dogs -- hiss and go into threat displays whenever they see a [[TreacherousAdvisor Magi]]. This might just be because they watch their riders' body language and know that the riders hate the Magi.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** ''Literature/BloodRites'', Harry comes into the possession of a puppy, who he names Mouse; during it, he growls at people that Harry later learns are evil. Mouse grows up to be a very, ''very'' [[BigFriendlyDog large dog]], and is explicitly identified as a [[AsianLionDogs temple dog]]: the descendant of a spiritual creature who bred with a normal dog, with a couple of supernatural abilities, mostly of the detection or warning variety. He's also way smarter then a normal dog, occasionally looking like he understands English to a degree. [[spoiler:In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', we find out that he can.]] Mouse's breed is in such high regard that Ancient Mai, one of the most powerful and nastiest wizards, will accept its judgment and testimony without second thought. Also Nicomedeus, a 2,000 year old demon-possessed arch-villain and leader of a bunch of other demon-possessed people, is apparently afraid of Mouse.
** Harry's first pet, a large housecat named Mister, gets along fine with the supernatural... so long as it's not an immediate threat, or else interrupting his dinner.
** ''Literature/SmallFavor'': The Pacific white-sided dolphins at Shedd Aquarium start chittering loudly to alert Harry that he's about to be ambushed. When one of the Blackened Denarii falls into their tank, the cetaceans scatter, swimming away from the cursed coin as if they recognize that it's a threat.
* ''Literature/{{Emergence}}'': Terry (a macaw) takes an immediate and intense dislike to [[spoiler:Rollo]], an opinion later events show to be entirely justified.
* ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'': A variant. For whatever reason, horses (including [[TalkingAnimal talking ones]]) will not allow a witch to ride them. Witches don't seem to be AlwaysChaoticEvil, but this trope certainly applies to [[TokenEvilTeammate Senna]].
* In the ''Literature/FairyOak'' series:
** Nibbler often finds himself as the victim of a transformation spell because of his habit of confronting emisaries of the Enemy. On a less serious note, he heavily dislikes Adelaide Spleenworth, one of the few villagers who is truly egotistic.
** Barolo starts barking and growling at the four men that unexpectedly arrive to the Poppy's house. Sure enough, they are all part of the army of the Enemy.
* ''Literature/FamilySkeletonMysteries'': Sid the ambulatory (and friendly) skeleton has encountered a few, who sense there's something inherently wrong about him.
* Subverted in a ''Literature/FatherBrown'' short story. In the beginning, a young man is telling the story of a murder case where, he claims, his dog told him when the murder took place by howling, and who the murderer was by barking at him. Father Brown thinks about the story for a week, and then tells his own interpretation to the young man. This interpretation is based on having the dog acting entirely as an animal, it points to another person as murderer, and it is of course the correct one.
* In ''Literature/FirebirdLackey'', all the animals around the palace hate Tsar Ivan and Ilya's brothers, calling them the Monsters.
* ''Literature/ForestKingdom'': At one point in book 2 (''Blood and Honor''), Jordan finds a bloodhound in his quarters, who starts growling when a messenger from Prince Lewis shows up. Jordan remembers the old stories about dogs being able to detect evil, and is willing to trust the animal's instincts.
* Played with in Caitlin Davies' ''Literature/TheGhostOfLilyPainter''. Jojo the dog reacts with anger or fear to Lily's presence, but aside from some occasional poltergeist-style activities, Lily turns out to be benign.
* Gavin de Becker's book ''The Gift of Fear'' claims that dogs will growl at untrustworthy people because their owners will detect the malicious intent and broadcast their discomfort with subconscious cues.
* In Andre Norton's short story "All Cats Are Gray", Bat the cat alerts her owner Steena to the presence of a hostile, invisible alien lurking on the ship she's trying to salvage, allowing her to shoot it before it can attack. [[spoiler:Steena later explains that the alien was using ChameleonCamouflage. Since Bat is a colorblind cat, this results in a GlamourFailure, allowing him to see it normally. The twist comes from the fact that Steena is ''also'' colorblind. She couldn't see the creature as clearly, but Bat's reaction was more than enough to compensate]]. A rare example of someone actually listening to the Evil Detecting Cat.
* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'':
** The protagonists' pet dog in the first book, ''Welcome to Dead House'', barks around everyone in town since it can tell that they are actually dead. Eventually, the dead people get fed up with it and actually kill the dog as a result.
** Likewise in ''Ghost Beach'', where [[spoiler: the old man's dog ultimately detects that the kids' aunt and uncle are ghosts, too.]]
* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' novels, the cat-like creatures called Kneazles explicitly have this ability. Crookshanks, Hermione's cat in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', is part-Kneazle. He immediately takes a disliking to Scabbers [[spoiler:because he knows that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. Conversely, on the other hand, he trusts Sirius Black's dog form enough that Sirius is able to get him to acquire Neville's list of Gryffindor common room passwords.]] When Ron gets a new owl, he holds Pigwidgeon in front of Crookshanks to test his reaction; Crookshanks's lack of interest is good enough for Ron.
** Also potentially of note in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' is that spiders are afraid of basilisks, because they have eight eyes pointing in every direction, and no eyelids. If there's a basilisk anywhere near them, they can't help but look directly at it and be killed.
** ''Literature/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' describes Crups, wizard-bred dogs that resemble Jack Russell Terriers except for their forked tails, which are hypersensitive to Muggles.
* Subverted in ''Literature/InTheSeasonsOfRains'' by Ellen Steiber. The protagonist hears one of his cats (a female) screaming in terror, but when he goes to investigate finds his way blocked by his two male cats who scratch and bite him. When he returns to his bed, the female cat is sitting apparently unharmed on his bed. The man is being stalked by a [[HotAsHell demoness]] (suggested to be the Biblical demoness Lilith) who can shapeshift into cats or owls.
* In ''Literature/LetTheRightOneIn'', cats can detect if a person is a vampire and will attack them. When a newly turned vampire visits a friend with over two dozen cats, the result is that she is swarmed with angry cats who bite and scratch her and refuses to let go.
* In ''Literature/LittleGirlLost'' when young Tina Miller falls into the fourth dimension, the family collie Mack wastes little time barking up a storm and running right into rescue her when they let him inside the apartment.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** Animals react strongly to the presence of the Ringwraiths. In the books, the wraiths' horses (and later, the [[PteroSoarer vaguely pterodactyl-like]] mounts that fans have dubbed "fell beasts") are an exception, due to being trained from birth to tolerate them. The first movie features spiders, wetas, and other creepy-crawlies moving to ''get away'' from the wraiths, although the horses look quite evil.
*** A dog-specific example would be Farmer Maggot's dogs, who really didn't like the Ringwraith who came visiting; its very presence sends them off with a yelp.
*** The fell beasts themselves have this effect, with none of the other animals (even the cavalry of their own allies) wanting anything to do with them. After one of them is killed at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, it's mentioned that its carcass doesn't decompose properly and leaves a stain in the earth, as if even the worms don't want anything to do with it.
** Much like the example under film, animals are deeply unnerved by the Dead Men of Dunharrow. The horses of the Rohirrim shy away from the path leading for the Dimholt, and Arod (the horse loaned to Legolas) balks when Aragorn's company later attempts to take the Paths of the Dead. It takes Legolas' direct encouragement before he is willing to enter the mountain, and it's also state that the only reason the horses of the Dúnedain and Sons of Elrond bear the journey is because of the love they have for their masters.
* Pretty much universally true in Creator/HPLovecraft's works. (Below are just a few examples.) On the other hand, humans have almost the same ability, as Lovecraft's narrators and characters constantly go on about how eldritch and wrong the things they encounter feel (or seem or look or smell or sound), even if they can't explain why or don't even clearly see anything.
** In ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror'', the weird (and unnatural) Wilbur Whateley carries a gun for self-defense against other villager's dogs. A dog still gets him in the end. In a ''library'', of all places. And just to show just how much dogs hated him, it actually crashed through a plate glass window in order to attack Wilbur.
** In ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'', the expedition's dogs go nutzo over the strange beings they found frozen in a cave under the glacier. [[spoiler:They're aliens (kinda) capable of ''extremely'' long periods of hibernation. However, they turn out to be not that evil, at least compared to what else the expedition finds under the glacier.]]
** In "Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness", Henry Akeley's guard dogs can detect the presence of the Mi-Go when Akeley himself can't, and have an instinctive aggression towards them. As a result, [[ProperlyParanoid he surrounds himself with them both at home and when traveling.]]
** {{Lampshaded}} in "Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls", though it was a cat rather than a dog.
-->"I realize how trite this sounds--like the inevitable dog in the horror story which always growls before his master sees the sheeted figure--yet I cannot suppress it."
** In ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'', it's established that animals hate the [[HalfHumanHybrids Innsmouth people]] ("...they used to have lots of horse trouble before autos came in") and the narrator notices an absolute absence of dogs and cats around the town. When the townsfolk [[TorchesAndPitchforks start chasing him out of town]], he becomes very grateful that they ''don't'' have dogs. On the other hand, the novella's TwistEnding implies that [[spoiler: "evil" might not be [[BlueAndOrangeMorality the best word]] to describe the Innsmouth people, and he may not have been in much danger in the first place.]]
* In ''Literature/TheLovelyBones'', the Salmons' dog Holiday howls in front of the home of Mr. Harvey, who murdered their daughter. Even more plus points to him that Mr. Harvey [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals killed local animals]] too, so Holiday was right on the money to be warning little girls and pets alike.
* Animals in general and dogs in particular tend to be afraid of the Dark Others in ''Literature/NightWatchSeries''. They will never attack them but may bark. Tigercub does, however, train her dogs to attack all Others on sight but only to restrain them.
* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', the protagonist is generally hated and harassed by cats and dogs, who can tell that he is a diabolist, a summoner of TheLegionsOfHell. This proves to be problematic when he's trying to [[TheIdealist make the world a better place.]]
* In ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'', Lublamai's pet badger Sincerity is the first one to detect the threat of the runt slake-moth, growling downstairs as it emerges from its cocoon in Isaac's loft.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Literature/ProsperosDaughter Prospero Lost]]'', when Theo's dog accepts Mab's entry without complain, Theo visibly relaxes.
* ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'':
** Toby, the dog that Peter acquires who moves into the Folly, is very sensitive to ''vestigia'', and [[spoiler:saves Peter from Molly's HorrorHunger after the hemomancy rite]].
** In the first book, it's mentioned that a blind man canvassing for charity donations who was slated to be the next victim of [[spoiler:Mr. Punch]] was saved from the attack by his guide dog dragging him away.
* E. F. Benson's "The Room in the Tower" features a dog who is very suspicious of Julia Stone's grave. [[spoiler: Appropriately so, since she's a vampire.]] The pet cat, on the hand, [[CatsAreMean can't get enough of the evil vibes]].
* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheNobleDead'' features Chap and Shade. As ''majay-hi'', descendants of Fay-possessed wolves, they have the innate ability to sense the presence of undead.
* ''Literature/TheSecretOfCrickleyHall'': When his humans arrive for a work-related stay at semi-stately Crickley Hall, Chester is immediately terrified of the place - in which occasionally appears a [[GhastlyGhost sinister, silhouetted figure]]...
* In Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's "[[http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/doyle/arthur_conan/d75ca/chapter8.html The Adventure of the Creeping Man]]" Literature/SherlockHolmes asks "Why does Professor Presbury's wolfhound, Roy, endeavour to bite him?" Answer: [[spoiler: because Presbury was injecting himself with ape glands to boost his virility, which made him act, and smell like, an ape.]]
** "[[http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/doyle/arthur_conan/d75me/chapter1.html Silver Blaze]]", by contrast, famously includes "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" -- the curious incident being that the dog did ''not'' bark at an intruder, thus alerting Holmes to the fact that the dog knew the intruder, therefore the crime in question must have been an inside job.
* The Starks' direwolves in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' will growl at anyone their masters don't trust, and in at least two instances, someone they trusted but ''really'' shouldn't have.
** Jon Snow's direwolf Ghost was also able to figure out that something was wrong with corpses they had found beyond the Wall after all other animals would not approach them.
** Bran only trusted Sam Tarly after Summer, his direwolf, licked him. Sam remarking that he was friendly with Jon Snow's Ghost helped, too.
** Mistakenly believing that [[FakingTheDead Bran and Rickon]]'s wolves failed to protect them, Robb stops putting any stock in Grey Wind as anything but a RightHandAttackDog. As a result, against Catelyn's protests, he has his wolf [[NotNowKiddo sent away and chained up]] when he growls at Rolph Spicer and the Freys, whose grand betrayal leads to the deaths of Robb, Catelyn, and Grey Wind alike.
* In ''Literature/TheSorrowsOfSatan'', Geoffrey and [[{{Satan}} Lucio]] go to visit their new neighbor Mavis Clare, only for her two dogs to instantly develop a violent hatred of Lucio. Emperor, a St Bernard, even tries to maul him, to the confusion of Mavis, who knows him to be a good-natured dog. Lucio explains that the dogs are used to Mavis's honest nature and therefore object to a personified lie like himself.
* ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' in ''A String of Pearls: A Romance'', a pseudonymously written penny dreadful serial, is hated by a dog belonging to one of his victims. This actually forms a key part of the plot.
* ''Literature/T2Trilogy'':
** The Connors meet Dieter von Rossbach, the man whose appearance the T-800 Terminators is based on. Sarah assumes he's one of the Terminators, but realizes he is not when a dog acts friendly to him.
** Skynet comes up with the I-950 Terminator, a brainwashed human enhanced by cybernetics. Since they are more human than machine, while it's noted that dogs still won't like them, they won't immediately blow their cover.
* In Creator/AlexanderPushkin's ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheDeadPrincessAndTheSevenKnights'', similarly to the animals in the Creator/{{Disney}} version of [[Literature/SnowWhite the same story]], the knights' dog immediately welcomes the good princess and attempts to fight off the wicked queen. And when the latter fails, it whines and sniffles, trying to persuade the princess not to eat the poisoned apple.
* ''Literature/TuckEverlasting'' has cows. Yes, cows that follow a dirt path and quickly go around the forest that the main character flees into. That's one of the reasons why the humans also stay away.
* In ''Red Death'', a spinoff of Literature/TheVampireFiles, the newly-risen and morally-insecure vampire Jonathan Barrett is reassured by how his family's dogs greet him with happy enthusiasm, averting this trope and suggesting he's ''not'' become evil.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/VictoryOnJanus'', the garth guard dogs, like the Iftin, can distinguish the DeceptivelyHumanRobots from true humans and true Iftin by smell.
* Not evil ''per se'', but cats, dogs, and wolves in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' instinctively know whether a person can channel the One Power. Given male channelers' tendency to go violently insane from the Dark One's touch, this would come in handy for isolated villages, although the link doesn't seem to be widely known.
* ''Literature/AWindInTheDoor'' gives us a rare case of Louise the Larger, an evil-detecting ''snake'' who recognizes - and frightens off -- a disguised [[EldritchAbomination Ecthros]]. The brothers have learned from experience to be wary of people the snake doesn't like. [[spoiler: Possibly subverted with the revelation that Louise is a [[TheChosenMany Teacher]], though it isn't entirely clear if this actually grants her extra-sensory abilities and intelligence or if it is simply a cosmic "role" for an otherwise ordinary snake.]]
* In ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'', when Sir Percival greets Miss Fairlie's "little Italian greyhound", it whines, shivers and hides under the sofa from him, then barks and snaps at him when he leaves.
* In the book ''Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide'', dogs can sense zombies, reacting with maddened rage unless having been born in fully zombie-infested times. Taken further, in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', dogs are specifically trained for zombie-fighting, helping escort special forces teams and scouts, and with smaller, tough breeds, going into areas humans cannot fight safely in.
** Although all other animals take the second variety; one way of telling if a zombie is near you is if the wildlife is [[ItsQuietTooQuiet unnaturally quiet]]. This comes in quite handy in bogs, rain forests, etc., but applies everywhere.
** Also in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', one safe zone is shown using dogs in kennels arranged along a walkway as a screening process for refugees entering the city. If the dogs go nuts when you walk by... well, thought you could sneak into the safe zone with your [[ZombieInfectee infection,]] did you?

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Parodied in ''Series/ThirtyRock''. Tracy attempted to invoke this trope with his Rottweiler by training it to attack white-colored creatures, his logic being that [[InsaneTrollLogic since ghosts are typically depicted as pale white it would make the dog attack ghosts]]. The actual result was a dog that attacks white people on sight, including poor Kenneth who gets chased across New York by the thing.
* On ''Series/AllMyChildren'', Harold the dog is the only one to sense who psycho Janet Green really is. Both when she disguises herself as her sister Natalie and when she returns to town under a new identity after MagicPlasticSurgery, he is shown relentlessly barking and growling at her.
* Subverted in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', when Cylon D'Anna is quite pleased that Jake the dog doesn't react with hostility to her. Of course, little does she know that Jake serves LaResistance in another way.
** Played straight in the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 original]] series with robot-[[CallARabbitASmeerp Daggit]] Muffet, who could "sniff" out Cylons and cannibalistic aliens.
* A light version of this appears in ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' when Kate is reluctant to adopt a dog whose owner has died... until it growls at her HandsomeLech colleague who's always making unwelcome moves on her.
** In the episode "Seek", Dex the military dog starts growling the moment he realizes he's in the presence of the man who murdered his handler in the opening sequence.
* In episode 6 of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', [[spoiler: Xander]]'s possession by a hyena spirit is detected by a pig. Justified in that [[spoiler: he later ate the pig.]]
-->'''Buffy:''' He scared the pig! ''*Giles looks at her*'' ...Well, he did...
* In Prue's penultimate appearance on ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', she is changed into a dog so she can detect the cries of a Banshee (who, by the way, is a possessed Phoebe) and lead Piper to her.
** They also used to have an Evil Detecting '''Cat''' which hisses at and has been known to run from evil beings and demons, especially those trying to fool their way into the Halliwell household by appearing mortal. [[spoiler:The "cat" comes back in a later episode, revealing herself to have actually been a human in cat form the entire time.]]
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In Season 3 Episode 11, the NYPD and FBI bring search dogs into the church to look for Matt and Karen, who are hiding in the basement. One of the dogs comes up to [[DirtyCop Dex]], whose scent is all over the place from the attack he just committed on the church, prompting him to say, [[LampshadeHanging "Not me, fellas. The bad guys."]]
* On ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' (and [[Literature/{{Dexter}} the novels]] it's (loosely) based on), animals in general and dogs in particular can't tolerate the presence of the main character (a sociopathic serial killer). It's so bad that when he tried to keep a pet turtle it starved to death rather than come out of its shell when he fed it.
** There's a dog that seems rather fond of Trinity in the fourth season, though.
* In ''Series/{{Dickensian}}'', [[Literature/GreatExpectations Miss Havisham]]'s dog growls whenever Compeyson approaches. [[spoiler:Eventually, he gets rid of the dog by throwing it in the river in a sack.]]
* On ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'', Roscoe's dog, Flash, is very quiet and only barks at Boss Hogg. This became a plot point when Boss Hogg's [[EvilTwin ''good'' twin]] came to town, and Flash was used to prevent Boss from stealing his inheritance.
* In ''Series/TheEvent'', dogs bark at the aliens, who are otherwise indistinguishable from humans.
* In the LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek ''Fatal Lessons: The Good Teacher'', the ''not''-good teacher is greeted with hostility by the family dog when she arrives to act as a nanny for the children (and later a cook). [[spoiler: Her overall goal is to kill the wife and sexually torture the husband.]] The teacher, being something of a MadScientist, kills the dog by injecting it with a poison she concocted herself; she then buries the corpse and allows the family to think the dog ran away.
* Happened several times in ''Series/ForeverKnight''. A dog and a horse both reacted negatively to vampiric presences.
* In one episode ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' invites his [[IceQueen ex-wife Lilith]] to Thanksgiving dinner at the last minute. Shortly afterwards Daphne returns home and has to drag Eddie through the front door by his leash.
-->'''Daphne:''' Well, he was perfectly fine until a block from here. Then he started whining and trembling, like he senses an earthquake or a dark force or- hello, Lilith - a vortex of evil. ''[pauses as she realises what she just said]''
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The direwolves, with maybe Lady as the sole exception. Ghost alerts Jon to the wight in Castle Black, Summer giving Jojen a LickedByTheDog moment leads Bran to trust him, and Grey Wind is very restless in his kennel just before the Red Wedding begins.
* ''Series/TheGoesWrongShow'': The episode "90 Degrees" has Ruffles, the family dog, who would growl whenever he was near [[GoldDigger Renee]] (Vanessa) or [[{{Greed}} Barbara]] (Sandra). Shame that said dog was voiced by [[LargeHam Robert]].
* On ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', Blanche discovers her current boyfriend cavorting with Rose's sister when the dog that they've been watching for a neighbor comes out into the living room carrying the man's pants. After being told off by an infuriated Blanche, the abashed man goes to get his pants and leave, only to be barked at and chased out of the house by the equally angry dog.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'':
** Played with. Mr. Muggles always seems to know which characters shouldn't be trusted, but being that he's a tiny Pomeranian, there's not much he can do and he seemed to like a disguised Sylar and Revenge!Ted.
** Played more straight in a deleted scene when Sylar has Claire trapped in a closet and Mr. Muggles goes mad barking at him but gets flicked out the doggie door for his trouble.
* ''Series/{{Himmelsdalen}}'': Luck, a dog in the sanitorium, barks at Siri but likes Helena. Siri, it turns out, is a dangerous sociopath, quite unlike Helena. Luck also dislikes Raymond, another dangerous sociopath.
* In ''Series/HotelBeauSejour'', horses can apparently sense Kato even though most humans can't see her. When she gets BuriedAlive, the nearby horses start pawing at the spot where she was buried, alerting the farmers.
* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Charlie's horse panics when it's near Claudia, so it can instinctively sense that she's a predator.
* Subverted all the time on ''Series/ItTakesAThief2005'' -- the big, mean-looking dog the family owns as a thief deterrent is much more likely to approach the thief in a friendly manner or run away whimpering.
* ''Series/KolchakTheNightStalker''. An evil pyromaniac ghost kills a man in his apartment through SpontaneousHumanCombustion. When the ghost leaves the apartment, a dog in the corridor outside detects his presence and starts barking like crazy.
* At the end of the ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' episode "The Eggplant, the Witch and the Wardrobe," [[spoiler: a dog starts snarling at Ray, who's surprised because animals usually like him. He then walks off whistling [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils Neron]]'s ''{{leitmotif}}'', revealing that he's fallen victim to DemonicPossession]].
* ''Series/MADtv'' had the one-off "[[https://youtu.be/GLSlGmVrmuM Smith Comma John]] -- [[HughMann Human Being for President]]" ads, one of which had him introduce Nilly, a golden lab who barked every time he tried to pet her.
* ''Series/TheMagicians2016'': Variant. When Alice finds out she's being tracked by a lamprey, she buys a cat, paying special attention to its age, and starts carrying it around in a cage everywhere she goes. When the lamprey gets near, it starts hissing until it '''explodes''' in a bloody mess. She drops the cage and runs, leaving Quentin and the others to talk to a very confused cop.
-->'''Quentin:''' Sorry, officer, a friend's cat was sick... and exploded. You know, like they do.
* Not really evil detecting, but in ''Series/MyOwnWorstEnemy'' the family dog is the only one who can tell when its owner's hard-edged split personality takes over.
* In ''Series/TheNanny,'' while C.C. wasn't evil (supposedly), she was a full-blooded RichBitch, and her Pomeranian Chester had no trouble letting her know it. He would snarl and growl every time she was anywhere near him, while being perfectly friendly to everybody else in the house. In real life, [[MeanCharacterNiceActor despite Lauren Lane (C.C.) being a very sweet and pleasant person]], Chester was Creator/FranDrescher's real life dog, and was so fiercely loyal to her that any time Lane picked up the dog, he would just naturally growl, so they wrote it into the story that way.
* On ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Dr. Hopper's dog, Pongo, is a well-behaved and sweet Dalmatian. But once Regina, the former Evil Queen, waltzes into their office, the dog starts growling at her and gets frozen for his trouble. [[spoiler:That's because it's really Regina's mother Cora in disguise as her daughter. Pongo was previously shown being well-behaved around the real Regina.]]
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Stranded", Kevin Buchanan's German Shepherd Cody takes an instant dislike to Tyr'Nar while Kevin is completely taken in by his manipulations. Tyr'Nar solves the problem and satisfies his appetite by eating Cody.
* Subverted in ''Series/PrisonBreak''. The dog begins barking at Haywire and then '''follows him down the road''' after he steals supplies from the camping store. It turns out the dog wanted the jerky in his backpack.
* Invoked in ''Series/{{Psych}}''. Shawn is trying to fake a haunting in a house, and uses an electronic silent dog whistle to make a homeowner's dog start barking angrily. He then claims the dog is sensing an evil presence.
* In ''Series/{{Reaper}}'', the first sign that TheDevil has taken possession of Sam's soul is that dogs suddenly ''hate'' him.
* In the TV adaptation of ''Series/{{Scream}}'', the opening victim Nina threatens the killer (whom she thinks is her boyfriend Tyler playing a prank on her) by telling him that she has a "trained attack Pomeranian, and she will gut you on command!" Her little dog does bark at the killer from behind the glass, but it does Nina little good when she's being stabbed to death.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** "Labyrinth": Shelby starts to bark in the presence of a [[spoiler:phantom]].
** "Veritas": Shelby starts barking when [[spoiler:Brainiac]] drops by.
* ''Series/{{Spaced}}'': Parodied. A subplot concerns an anarchist who trained a dog to sense and attack rich people... Then he won the lottery and was ''immediately'' mauled by his own dog.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
*** "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E1TheManTrap The Man Trap]]" has an evil-detecting ''plant'' -- an animated alien plant in the botany lab whines and shrinks away from the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent salt vampire]] [[{{Doppelganger}} disguised as a human]].
*** Tribbles can detect disguised Klingons.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Captain Archer's dog barks when a web-like alien passes in the conduits overhead. He also becomes spooked just before a NegativeSpaceWedgie manifests inside ''Enterprise'' herself.
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Inverted in the NoirEpisode. Tom Paris is accused of murder, and in the flashback scene the dog barks at him on sight. However the dog barks at all strangers, and [[MakeTheDogTestify Tuvok uses this to reveal the real killer]], who's familiar with the house despite claiming otherwise.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** InvokedTrope when Sam used this to explain why a dog kept barking at a house where a supernatural event had happened. It was never proved on screen, though.
** Subverted in "All Dogs Go To Heaven". Sam and Dean are interrogating a man suspected of being a shapeshifter. The moment he enters the room, his own dog barks at him and the brothers exchange a MeaningfulLook. Turns out the dog is the shapeshifter, and the man his next victim.
** A subtle version in "Live Free or Twi Hard". When Dean is infected with vampire blood and is [[WarmBloodBagsAreEverywhere trying not to bite]] his LoveInterest, a dog can be heard barking somewhere in the distance as he starts to go all fang-y.
* ''Series/SweetHome2020'': Bom the Pomeranian is usually reliable for noticing danger.
* In ''Series/TalesOfTheGoldMonkey'', Jake's one-eyed dog Jack growls or barks at any impostor, including the (unknown-to-the-characters) resident Nazi spy.
* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'':
** Dogs detecting Cameron as a Terminator react with dread.
--->'''Carlos:''' Something about your friend I should know?\\
'''Sarah:''' Cat person.
** PlayedForLaughs when Cameron goes to a computer convention and a robot dog barks at her.
* In the first episode of ''Series/TrueBlood'', a dog barks at resident FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Bill Compton.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'':
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E84TheHunt The Hunt]]", an agent of the Devil is trying to lure a recently-deceased Hyder Simpson into entering Hell. Hyder's dog Rip growls, warning him not to enter, and he avoids the trap. Later, an angel remarks "...a man, well, he'll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But not even the Devil can fool a dog!"
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E91LittleGirlLost Little Girl Lost]]", the Millers' dog Mack starts barking after Tina vanishes. When he's let inside, Mack runs under the bed and finds her in the other dimension.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'':
** In "Teacher's Aide", Miss Peters' dog Muffin barks at her after she is possessed by the spirit of a gargoyle because he can sense that there is something very wrong with her.
** In "Stranger in Possum Meadows", the Wilkins' dog Biff barks at Scout, who is an alien who intends to [[TheCollector take Danny back to his planet for study]]. Scout uses his power over animals to quieten Biff and later takes the dog as a specimen. Although he eventually releases Danny, Biff is not so lucky.
* ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds1988'': In "Amongst The Philistines", Kensington and Mrs. Pennyworth buy a dog just in time to have it react badly to Adrian, a few scenes before he turns out to be an alien. The trope is pretty blatant here, as the dog was introduced in this scene, and is never seen (alive) again.
* Inverted in ''Series/WolfLikeMe''. A brief gag indicates that dogs can sense that Mary [[spoiler: is a werewolf]], but rather than fear and/or anger they're ''intrigued'', breaking from their leashes in the park to walk with her. On the other hand, it's played straight with Sarah's cat, who hisses and yowls at the sight of Mary.
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' had Argo, her trusty horse that could tell something was wrong when [[GrandTheftMe Xena's body was hi-jacked by Callisto's spirit]].
* In ''Series/TheXFiles'', "Terma", Soviet assassin Peskow manages to upset all the horses in a stable by calmly observing one of them. Though for all we know it was part of his plan.

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/AliceCooper sings about how his dog and cat turn on and attack him in the final verse of "No More Mister Nice Guy".
* Suggested by Loreena [=McKennitt's=] version of Creator/WilliamButlerYeats' "The Stolen Child", about mysterious faeries that seduce and steal away the titular child, which begins and ends with a chorus of barking hunting dogs who have detected the sinister faeries.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* In Myth/BrazilianFolklore, dogs are some of the biggest enemies of werewolves, being capable of recognizing and even attacking them. They are also said to detect spirits and other supernatural events.
* In ''Literature/HistoriaRegumBritanniae'', Merlin used magic to disguise Uther as Gorlois and himself as a soldier so that Uther could [[BedTrick trick Gorlois's wife into sleeping with him]] and thus conceive Arthur. Gorlois' dog can tell they're impostors, but Merlin uses a spell to calm it down.
* In UsefulNotes/{{Zoroastrianism}}, dogs are believed to ward off evil spirits.
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] by UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}, which teaches that dogs are unclean working animals and are to be kept outside as their presence indoors wards off angels.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* In ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'', Animal realizes right away that Kermit has been replaced by an evil criminal mastermind.
-->'''Animal:''' Bad froggy!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/DimensionX'': In "[[Recap/DimensionX18PerigisWonderfulDolls Perigi's Wonderful Dolls]]", the dog, Mr Blister, is the first one to be upset by Toto, one of the eponymous dolls.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Another not-quite-evil-detecting example: in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', the British's dogs may start barking at you and grab the owner's attention, even if you haven't done anything "wrong" in front of it.
* From the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'':
** In the [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert first]] [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 two]] games, attack dogs are a soviet unit that can detect spies that can fool any other unit and your base defenses. The allies also began to use them in the second game.
** In the [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 third game]] the dogs still use by allies force while the soviets one ups this by replacing them with [[BearsAreBadNews armored war bears]].
** In ''VideoGame/RedAlert3Paradox'', you need to use each faction's animal scout unit to detect stealth units, which is not only limited to Evil Detecting Dogs but Evil Detecting Bears, Hawks, Tigers, Sharks, and ''Giant Robot Crabs'' too.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has Mabari warhounds -- extremely intelligent animals capable of understanding human speech. As a general rule, they have this going on, since you can only get a Mabari to agree to be your pet if it decides you are a sufficiently good person. The Mabari were bred by a wizard to bolster the forces of [[TheMagocracy Tevinter]], but according to legend, the dogs changed sides when they met the much kinder Fereldan natives; they have been the symbol of the country ever since. It's also stated that the reason Mabari originally became so popular in Ferelden was because they can detect werewolves.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has several examples, but they're only seen if your faithful Mabari warhound is in the active party:
*** In the Human Noble origin (the only one where you have Dog from the very beginning), Dog is introduced as having figured out that there are large and rather dangerous rats in the castle larder. Later, [[spoiler:his barking is what alerts the PC to the fact that the family castle is being invaded.]]
*** In the ''Stone Prisoner'' DLC, Dog will immediately sense that [[spoiler: "Kitty"]] is something powerful and evil [[spoiler: and that's before the ominous glowing eyes and ominous demonic voice come into play]].
*** In the "Nature of the Beast" quest, Dog's hostility towards [[spoiler: Zathrian]] serves as an indication that he's not the most trustworthy fellow.
*** In the ''Warden's Keep'' DLC, Dog will immediately sense [[spoiler: the demon possessing Sophia Dryden]].
*** During the "Sacred Ashes" quest, Dog licks an ominous desk covered in blood, and starts to growl at it, noting that something is not good within Haven. [[spoiler:He's right, of course; the place is home to an evil dragon-worshiping cult.]]
*** Inverted with Dog being reserved and occasionally hostile to Alistair, yet affectionate toward [[{{TokenEvilTeammate}} Morrigan]]. (Alistair isn't a bad guy at all -- quite the opposite; Dog just doesn't like him because he's made too many jokes about taking Dog's food.)
** If the ''Black Emporium'' DLC is installed for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke can express a preference for their Mabari to stay with their mother Leandra at all times, because his strength and evil-detecting abilities offer her excellent protection. Later, the dog has a brief scene in which he successfully captures a would-be thief in Hawke's closet.
** There's no Mabari for the Inquisitor in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', with the in-game explanation being that, unlike the Warden and Hawke, the Inquisitor is not from Ferelden (and Mabari are pretty much exclusively Fereldan). However, it's been speculated that it was really for precisely this reason -- a Mabari would likely have been able to determine that one specific character was not what he was claiming to be.
* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'': The Bishop of Southwark wants you to breed one of these, the fabled "Hound of Heaven", to root out devils in the Labyrinth of Tigers. [[spoiler:Despite the Bishop's repeated admonition of [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes "no serpents!"]], the Hound turns out to be just that -- a glowing white snake with evil-detecting red eyes.]]
* Works awesomely well in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': in one of the final missions of the game, [[spoiler: if you think to take your [[TeamPet robo-dog]] Rex with you as a companion, he will detect a Legion assassin in disguise without you having to search for him]]. Subverted since you discover [[spoiler: he was once a Legion-owned dog, being the companion of Caesar himself]], making this arguably more of a TheyHaveTheScent. Played straight if you have the [[FriendToAllLivingThings Animal Friend]] perk and use a lender-dog to do the same thing.
** Faction-owned guard dogs are also able to see through the player's disguises.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', in the flashback to when Tifa found Cloud lying unconscious in the train station, a dog is barking at him, trying to revive him and even running to Tifa to get her to help him. It stays friendly with Cloud until Cloud's SOLDIER persona is [[FakeMemories fully in place]], at which point the dog runs a distance and turns around to bark at Cloud aggressively, able to tell that he's suddenly changed into something else.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Geist}}'', dogs can sense you as a ghost, and know something is up when you're possessing somebody. The BigBad knows this and exploits this, keeping dogs at various checkpoints to make sure you don't escape through a soldier. You can't escape in ghost form, due to energy shields that only let solid matter pass through.
* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Guenevere}}'', [[PlayerCharacter Guen]] gets a fae pet (either a cat or a dog) who has a preternatural sense for those trying to do his mistress harm and is willing to act on such feelings immediately and violently.
* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', the Shinjuku chapter features the protagonist thrown into a WretchedHive, and even their allies for this chapter have canonically Evil [[CharacterAlignment alignments]]. The AllLovingHero protagonist soon befriends a dog who acts as a barometer on how "good" an ally is despite their alignment and temperament. One of their first allies is Altria Alter, who basically adopts the dog and names it [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavall Cavall II]], and she sticks to the party through thick and thin as one of the main allies [[DefrostingIceQueen despite her protests otherwise]]. Meanwhile, their first ally Archer of Shinjuku gets mildly harassed by Cavall throughout the chapter, and Hassan of the Cursed Arm gets outright growled at. Per the trope, the latter is revealed in the cutscene right afterward as the cruelly antagonistic Assassin of Shinjuku in disguise, while Archer has been suspicious since the beginning even after revealing he's the "good" counterpart to the true villain. [[spoiler:And at the end of Shinjuku... Well, he's the bad guy after all, but his spot of goodness ends up foiling his plan.]]
* Hewie from ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'' barks at hidden traps and other unseen dangers, allowing the mostly helpless Fiona to work around the many perils of Belli Castle.
* ''VideoGame/HauntingStarringPolterguy'': The family's dog (a very ugly chihuahua) can detect poltergeist Polterguy and will bark at him to make his gauge of ectoplasma drop. He also can calm down the family members so you have to scare them again. The only thing Polterguy can do against the dog is using a magic spell (found in the underworld) to give him food. He [[spoiler:will turn into the final boss by the end.]]
* Despite disguises, dogs in the ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' series will often, if not always, sniff Agent 47 out.
** Dogs are some of the most annoying {{Non Player Character}}s in the game, and not just because they can sniff you out. Dogs count as witnesses if you kill someone in front of them, so inexperienced players may get tripped up by them. Also, [[SerendipityWritesThePlot since it would've been too hard to create an animation model of 47 dragging them around]], you can't dispose of dog bodies, making it harder to go undetected.
* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'', the Grimmchild acts as a companion that spits fireballs at any enemies in sight, but leaves shopkeepers and other non-hostile [=NPCs=] alone. The only exception to this is [[spoiler: Millibelle the Banker, who gets spat on with fireballs as well, and hides in her shell until you unequip the Grimmchild charm. This is {{foreshadowing}} to the fact that the bank is an elaborate scam; if you deposit enough Geo into your account, Millibelle will take the money and run.]]
* ''VideoGame/HungryLamu'': ochi tried to protect the campers from Lamu, who is a human-faced llama serial killer, and acts hostile towards his presence which he interpreted as her refusing to be eaten and being "rude". Sadly, the emphasis on ''[[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals tried]]'', as [[spoiler:Lamu kills her with a rock]].
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': During the defense of Romani's barn, the dog will bark in the direction of the closest of "Them" for Link to go after first.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': [[TheHero Link]] can purchase the "Dark set" of armor that will make him look like [[{{Doppelganger}} Dark Link]]. Regular [=NPCs=] will freak out upon seeing him in this shadowy outfit, even those who are close friends of his. Hylian Retrievers, on the other hand, will not freak out and will react happily to him giving them food, spinning in circles, etc., just as they would when he wears other outfits. This game also adds [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Wolf Link]] as a companion summoned through Toys/{{amiibo}}, who can detect camouflaged Lizalfos and enemies hidden in the player's field of vision.
* ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'': In a weird case, the local drug dealer's dog acts like this. Should Max tell Frank Bowers that [[spoiler: Nathan's AccidentalMurder of Frank's girlfriend Rachel]] he recalls that [[FluffyTheTerrible Pompidou]] hated Nathan and berates himself for not trusting his dog's instinct.
* ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'': You can get an important clue if your Dogs skill (under Animal Handling) is high enough. [[spoiler: The dog barks at the scent of poisoned chocolate, saving Elodie from assassination.]]
* In ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'', Amelia's new dog barks at the door and runs away whenever Edwina, the owner of Global Corp Clean Bean Café and Amelia's competitor, drops by her café. It also growls at Joe when he returns from the baker's retreat earlier than expected because it doesn't like his new beard, and Kate agrees. [[spoiler:This is because it's actually [[TwinSwitch his twin brother Sam masquerading as him.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'': A local dog knows that Tron Bonne (a PirateGirl) is up to no good.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', Sniper Wolf's wolf-dogs are not fooled even by your [[NewGamePlus Optic Camouflage]]. The only way to get past them without hassle is to have one of the puppies [[{{Squick}} piss on your cardboard box]], or to have Wolf's handkerchief equipped.
** Not exactly evil-detecting, but at one point in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' you need to put on an enemy uniform and mask to infiltrate a base. Scientists, guards, and security cameras take you for the real deal and don't raise alarms. But you don't smell like the officer you're impersonating, and guard dogs will still raise alerts.
** Used symbolically in the opening cutscenes of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'' when the Camp Omega guard dogs are barking furiously and lunging at Skullface and need to be held back by their handlers. While it's clearly because they, as guard dogs, simply don't recognize him as one of the camp's personnel, it also makes it very clear this guy is [[BigBad bad news and means to cause some serious damage]]. [[spoiler:Oh ''boy'' are they right]].
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' has a very straightforward example in the form of Big Boss' loyal pet [[CanineCompanion D-Dog]], who has the ability to sense and bark at the presence of ''any'' nearby enemy soldiers (and also [[POWCamp prisoners-of-war]], wild animals, various objects such as weapons and vehicles, etc.); conveniently producing onscreen markers for the player to find them.
* The trope is discussed in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', during a pre-fight dialogue exchange between [[Film/TheTerminator Terminator]] and Kotal Kahn.
-->'''Kotal Kahn:''' Barking dogs heralded your arrival.
-->'''Terminator:''' [[JustifiedTrope They can smell the chemicals in my skin.]]
-->'''Kotal Kahn:''' Helpful, indeed...
* In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', Lucas, Kumatora and Duster eat some [[MushroomSamba unusual mushrooms]] while desperate for food. The mushrooms cause them to hallucinate that the monsters in the area are characters from their pasts. The party dog, Boney, is the only one not fooled, and whines and barks when the hallucinations begin to talk to the characters, attempting to warn the rest of the party as to their true nature. He also refuses to get into a beautiful sauna the party can rest in -- if you visit it again after the effects of the mushrooms have worn off, you'll find the humans were [[spoiler:deliriously bathing in toxic sludge]].
* A literal case in ''VideoGame/NetHack'', where your pet (typically a dog) will hesitate to step on cursed items.
* Inverted in the ''VideoGame/{{Oddworld}}'' series. Slogs, the villains' guard dogs, can sometimes detect when the player has possessed a slig and will attack him as viciously as they would you.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', Amaterasu is a goddess taking the form of a white wolf. She's often seen preemptively reacting to threats before they appear onscreen. While [[FairyCompanion Issun]] can usually also feel when a particular place has a bad vibe, there is one particular scene where this trope is played straightest: [[spoiler:when Amaterasu comes across a dead Queen Himiko and finds Rao also present and claiming to have witnessed the queen being attacked by a demon, Ammy ''immediately'' realizes that Rao is not who she says she is and attacks her. Issun thinks Ammy has gone crazy until "Rao" lets out an EvilLaugh.]]
* Koromaru in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}''. He's the first indication that non-humans can have a Persona (his, appropriately, is [[{{Hellhound}} Cerberus]]). Taken to its natural conclusion in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'', where he catches on to [[spoiler: [[VideoGame/Persona5 Goro Akechi]]]] quickly. (Probably due to realizing [[NotSoDifferentRemark how similar he is]] to Ken). Unlike most examples, however, he latches onto them because he wants to help them ''overcome'' their hatred rather than point them out.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonHeartGoldAndSoulSilver'', your Pokémon will react negatively to the Persian Statues (which are actually security cameras) while inside the Rocket Hideout.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'', this is inverted. The dog is evil or at least under the care of villains, and growls at Cody when he approaches.
* Brown from ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'' works very much like Hewie and can detect and bark at enemies long before Jennifer (or the player) can see them. He can also sniff out items though these aren't exactly "evil".
* When you first enter the main city in ''Videogame/ShiningTheHolyArk'' you see one of the villains walking around. A cute little puppy starts barking like crazy at her, then a flash of light blinds you; when you can see again, she's gone and so is the puppy, leaving a crying child.
* ''VideoGame/TheEscapists2'' features these. Dogs can detect and sniff out contraband[[note]]the latter will raise your heat to 100%[[/note]] but will not attack unless there is a lockdown.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims3'', cats and dogs will "investigate the strange sim" if there is a vampire nearby and there will be a talk bubble on their head with a picture of bats.
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'', it's commonly believed that animals can detect [[ReplicantSnatching Snatchers]], to the point where genetically engineered "Pocket Pets", which can be used as purses, are becoming extremely popular.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', there is a large guard dog-esque monster in Merlee's mansion who is chained up. When released, he runs past Mario and chases off the mansion's maid, who is actually one of the BigBad's minions, the shapeshifting Mimi.
* Played with in the final case of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations2''. [[spoiler:Simon Keyes is TheBeastmaster for the Berry Big Circus, a meek NervousWreck of a guy with a gentle demeanor who's great with all the animals -- until he finally drops his nice guy act and reveals himself as TheChessmaster who orchestrated all the crimes you've spent the entire game solving. After you finally prove that he's guilty of murder, instigating murder, and kidnapping, and he has nowhere left to run, the ringmaster Regina tells Simon that the animals have seen his true colors and are very, ''very'' angry at him as all sorts of growls, roars, and rumbles are heard from the cages. His final breakdown is him getting a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from his former animal friends, including birds, a monkey, a cat, chipmunks, a gorilla, and an elephant.]]
* Used in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAdvance''. The pet dog from ''Anime/{{Zambot 3}}'' is able to detect that something is kinda off to the protagonists, [[spoiler:who's actually a Shadow Mirror spy]]. Axel gets a typical bark, but the dog barks louder to Lamia, [[spoiler:who is actually a RobotGirl]].
* Parodied in ''[[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Kagetsu Tohya]]''. Shiki learns that a black cat ([[spoiler:Len]]) frequents the Tohno mansion courtyard, but only lets Hisui approach it, and he wryly comments that animals really ''can'' sense dangerous people. Akiha and Kohaku are decidedly [[{{Tsundere}} not]] [[{{Yandere}} amused]]...
* Some enemies in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' have watchdogs that can see through stealth.
** Hunter pets will also occasionally stop dead in their tracks if they detect a stealthed hostile mob or player. One of the many reasons for a Hunter to learn to keep an eye on their pet.
** The warlock pet Felhunter (bascially a demon dog) used to provide his allies with increased stealth detection. These days, the Voidwalker instead does something similiar while he uses his selfhealing ability ''Consume Shadows''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': Peppermint Butler isn't an animal, but he gets on all fours and hisses like a cat when he sees [[spoiler:Princess Bubblegum has been possessed by the Lich]] in "Mortal Recoil". Jake the dog is also the first person who becomes suspicious when he sees PB acting strangely.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In "Anne Theft Auto", Bessie hides in her shell after Anne and Sprig crash in the middle of a bush patch formed by giant hedgehogs.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': In "Freedom Cobra", the Aqua Teen's dog, Bobby, starts barking at Shake after he acquires a new tattoo that's sentient and controls Shake to eat people.
* ''{{Franchise/Avatar|TheLastAirbender}}'':
** ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
*** Appa and Momo are very good at detecting malicious intent in humans. Appa growls and reacts defensively towards the sandbenders (who later capture him) and Momo hisses at the pirate captain and his weird bird thingy. In fact, it's Appa licking [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Zuko]] that makes Aang wonder if he's really changed.
*** On the other hand, the Earth King states of his pet bear: [[EpicFail "if there was any danger at all, Bosco's animal instincts would sense it."]] Granted, Bosco ''had'' been apprehensive around Azula, but the King had misread that as exhaustion; when he uses this line, it is in ''extreme'' error.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
*** In the episode "And the Winner Is...", the fire-ferret Pabu sits peacefully by the radio while music plays, but hisses at it and jumps away when Amon pulls a DoNotAdjustYourSet in the middle of the music program.
*** Naga the bear-dog also senses a dark spirit in "Rebel Spirit".
*** Another Pabu example from "The Terror Within". He notices the Red Lotus sneaking in to kidnap Korra twice; once when they're on their way to her room, and the other when they actually managed to kidnap her. While he shrieks both times, he only manages to wake Bolin up the second time.
*** An adorable puppy greets Korra in "Korra Alone" and is able to see her hallucination self easily. That's because [[spoiler:a spirit can detect other spirits too, and the puppy is actually the little leaf spirit she meets in the Tree of Life.]]
* ''Franchise/Ben10'':
** In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', Ship is amazingly skilled at detecting enemies:
*** In the episode "Eye of the Beholder", Ship detects that his father Baz-El is in trouble and flies away in his Anterian Obliterator form to rescue him.
*** In the episode "Perfect Girlfriend", Ship barks and growls at "Julie" [[spoiler:who is later revealed to be a NotQuiteDead Elena disguised as Julie to manipulate Ben and steal him for herself]].
*** In the GrandFinale, Ship senses the Esoterica wave and shields Julie from it by merging into a battle armor around her.
** Zed from ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' plays this as well, as seen in "Mystery Incorpreal" where she sniffed and growled at Gwen's classmate, Dante, who turns out to be Darkstar wearing an [=ID=] Mask.
* The titular protagonist of ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' is a talking dog who often senses the presence of evil and/or strange creatures around him. Courage will always try to warn his owners Muriel and Eustace, [[GenreBlind but they never pay any attention to his panicked ramblings]].
* ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'':
** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Inverted example in one episode; while ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, recently released from Arkham Asylum and out trying to start a new life, her hyenas immediately start barking at the sight of Bruce Wayne. Harley for her part is clueless that she happens to be standing right next to {{Franchise/Batman}} himself.
** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': Bruce Wayne's dog Ace can be quite aggressive towards the bad guys. In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'', he even attacks ComicBook/TheJoker himself.
*** Ace can also detect supernatural phenomena. In one episode, Terry is asked for help by [[PsychicChildren a young girl with psychic powers]]. When talking with Bruce about this, Terry manages to see the girl (although no one else can, since she is using her powers). However, Ace becomes alert and defensive, being able to detect the girl's psychic presence (even though she's not really there and only Terry can see her). She is not evil at all, though.
* ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'' has the following examples:
** In "Ming's Household Helpers", Zuffy freaks out when Rick brings one of the robots with which Ming plans to enslave humanity via hypno-beam into Monitor.
** Zuffy also gets scared around the title character in "The Starboy", an alien child who has destroyed whole worlds. Played with; Starboy is not inherently evil and only lashed out because he was afraid of being left on his own.
** In "The Frozen Heart", Kisa growls at LJ's girlfriend, Kate, who has been turned into one of Ming's Frost People.
** In "Flash Times Four", the Defenders are tricked into rescuing one of Flash's clones (instead of the real Flash) from Ice Station Earth. No-one notices that anything is amiss -- except Zuffy.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Run for your Ed", the Kankers lose their family 'Ship Inna Bottle' due to Ed's sleepwalking. They decide to search the Cul-de-sac in their usual chaotic mischief, which results in mass destruction. Prior to that, Rolf's animals catch on to their impending visit and all flip out (from his goat standing stiff, his chickens and pig screaming and flailing around, [[RuleOfFunny and even a piece of fried chicken seem to give some reaction to Rolf when put against his ear]]). When he realizes what's going on, Rolf quickly carries all his farm animals into the basement and closes it, waiting there [[BrickJoke for the rest of the episode]].
-->'''Rolf:''' "The stench of immortal doom still thickens the air, yes? [[ToiletHumor Or perhaps it is Wilfred's cabbage evacuations]]. [[CasualDangerDialogue Hard to tell]]."
* Justified and mildly downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'', where the Neosapien hero Marsala explains that since Neos have different biochemistry than humans, dogs tend to get bothered around them. [[spoiler:This trait clues him in on the existence of a [=Neosapien/human=] hybrid serving as a spy for the Order.]] The downplayed part comes in that he, the main TokenHeroicOrc, isn't exempt from this.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Trying to score a date with his crush, Death steps into her pet store to talk to her. The animals inside raise such a commotion that they can't hear each other.
** Also, Brian the dog is the only one who realizes Stewie is evil. Of course, that is more that he is the OnlySaneMan on the show.
** In "And Then There Were Fewer", Brian growls when [[ArchEnemy James Woods]] shows up.
* In the ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers Galaxy Rangers]]'' episode "Mindnet," the first clue to the characters that all is not right is when Icarus and Winter (a pair of cybernetically enhanced dolphins) protest that "Goose" is behaving strangely. (The first clue to the ''audience'' is that [[spoiler: Killbane]]'s voice actor is trying to imitate Doug Pris and isn't doing very well).
* [[TeamPet Bronx]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' is a [[AllAnimalsAreDogs dog-like]] [[OurGargoylesRock gargoyle beast]] who sometimes starts barking and growling when there's something dangerous and/or supernatural nearby, in order to alert his friends to the problem.
** In "City of Stone: Part 3", Bronx starts clawing at one of the tapestries just as Goliath and the clan are about to implement Xanatos's plan to end Demona's curse. When the gargoyles are gone, [[spoiler:[[BigBad Demona]] comes out from a secret passage behind said tapestry with a mace, ready to smash Elisa to bits and dispose of the others]].
** In "The Hound of Ulster", Bronx takes a liking to an Irish teenage boy, but growls and barks at his female friend. Turns out that [[spoiler:his friend is actually the [[OurBansheesAreLouder Banshee]] in disguise, and that [[FalseFriend she was only acting as his friend]] to keep him from discovering that he is the reincarnation of her warrior nemesis]].
** In an actual canine example, Jeffrey Robbins's dog growls when he first spots the recurring antagonist {{Theatre/Macbeth}} in "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time".
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'', dogs that Sharon and Molly try to walk are able to see Scratch despite being in invisible mode and start to chase him.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'': While on the boat, [[HousepetPig Abner the pig]] comes to sniff Eduardo (who is really BigBad Lasombra in disguise). When the pig smells his scent, he squeals in terror and tries to warn Arnold before heading back to America to warn his grandparents.
* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' TOS episodes.
** "Skull and Double Crossbones". When Jose asks Bandit if he wants to be friends, Bandit growls at him. Later we learn that Jose is TheMole, a spy for [[BigBad the Chief]] of a crew of pirates.
** "Shadow of the Condor". When Bandit first meets Baron von Freulich he growls at him. Later von Freulich tries to murder Race Bannon.
* Somewhat inverted in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', where pretty much all the villains seem to hate Rufus, but they like him if turned good (both Shego and Draken can be called as witnesses)
* ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': Mandu's usually the first to sense danger. She also expresses her disapproval when members of the group are behaving badly.
* In the somewhat forgotten kids' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/TheMagician'', an IdenticalStranger (thanks to plastic surgery) kidnaps and switches places with the eponymous main character, taking care to plant a behavior modification chip on his pet dog to ensure it will bark distrustfully at the ''real'' guy, and stop doing so at him, which is useful to fool the sidekick.
* Deputy Oosha from ''WesternAnimation/MiraRoyalDetective''. In any episode that features the recurring bandits Manish and Poonam, Oosha is able to see through their disguises and arrest them.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E23InspirationManifestation Inspiration Manifestation]]'', Owlowiscious picks up that there's something wrong with the book right off the bat, and of course tries to dissuade Spike from taking it.
** Although you really don't have to be specially evil-detecting to think that a stone-grey book with spikes jutting out of the cover and hidden in a secret locked room of a castle ruin is probably something you should leave alone.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Any Sport in a Storm", Viney's pet griffon Puddles tries to attack Hunter aka the Golden Guard twice. Then again, he did provoke the creature earlier by stepping on her tail.
* {{Inverted| trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/Phantom2040'': DV-L is initially uneasy around Kit, so Sagan has to firmly tell him that Kit is a friend. Later on, when they meet Kit as the Phantom, Sagan expects DV-L to attack... but, of course, DV-L remembers that he's a friend and lets him go.
* In the Creator/VanBeurenStudios ''Rainbow Parade'' short "Scottie Finds A Home", the eponymous terrier knows right away that the vagrant who arrives at the grandmothers house is up yo no good. After barking at him, the hobo hangs him by his sweater on a nearby tree as he goes off to pester the grandma cat for food.
* A variation in ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}'': Enzo's dog Frisket is a pretty good judge of character, but he hates Bob, the main hero.
* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' skit has this happen with a child instead of an animal; O.J Simpson tells his grandson about how he didn't kill his wife (it involves [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Roger Rabbit]]) and the grandson starts bawling his eyes out. When he asks whats wrong, their maid tells him he can sense evil.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', animals tend to be wary of [[BigBad Aku]], who is a [[EldritchAbomination giant demonic entity]]. It's justified because Aku is [[TheDreaded the most dangerous villain in the universe]], and is justly well-feared by ''everyone'' who knows of him.
** In "Jack and the Warrior Woman", a small rodent accepts food from [[TheHero Jack]], but it hisses and runs away from his traveling companion [[DarkActionGirl Ikra]] (who later turns out to be [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Aku in disguise]]).
** In "The Aku Infection", a dog freaks out and starts barking at Jack, even though he's usually a [[FriendToAllLivingThings friend to animals]], because Jack has been (unwittingly) [[TheVirus infected with a]] [[TheCorruption piece of Aku]].
** However, it's oddly averted in "The Tale of X-49", when [[ItMakesSenseInContext Aku kidnaps a dog named Lulu from her owner, a robot named X-49]]. Lulu is [[PerpetualSmiler still shown to be smiling]], and is totally unafraid of the evil demon lord who's taken her hostage.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In a DeletedScene from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E5TreehouseOfHorrorIV Treehouse of Horror IV]]" ("Bart Simpson's Dracula"), the Simpson family's pets, Santa's Little Helper (the dog) and Snowball (the cat), along with [[EvilDetectingBaby Maggie]], all start growling when Bart (who had recently been turned into a vampire) floats into the kitchen.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E4BartSellsHisSoul Bart Sells His Soul]]", after Bart sells his soul to Milhouse, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball both growl at him.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'': Milo still gets scared of the Mask of Loki so he goes under the bed when his owner puts it on and the PainfulTransformation starts. The same with Esmeralda as she sees that her owner has become a different woman literally after accidentally putting on the mask. Though Milo does eventually see that his owner's alter-ego The Mask is a good-hearted, nice and kind man so he gets less scared of his owner putting it on since he can finally see just how much The Mask cares about Milo and loves him very much along with he also wears it when he has to rescue his owner from danger as well.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends'', Aunt May's puppy became a living lie detector, since thanks to her sense of smell she could point out who had his or her place stolen by shapeshifting villain The Chameleon.
* Gary the Snail from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' has grown a hostility toward Plankton, especially in newer seasons. He also tends to be hostile to Squidward but that's more a side effect of his nature as a CosmicPlaything than his actual morality.
* Radarr, TeamPet of the ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'', detects evil in two episodes that were broadcast consecutively.
** In "Best Friends Forever", BigBad Cyclonia disguises herself as an ally of the team. At first, only Radarr is able to sense that something's wrong.
** In "The Black Gorge", Radarr is suspicious of a seemingly harmless animal who eventually [[ShapeShifting transforms]] into a monstrous Gorge Sloth.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Super4'', Alien growls at fairies who actually Sykronians in disguise. When he doesn't growl at Alex, Gene realizes that he must be the real Alex.
* ''WesternAnimation/VictorAndValentino'': Valentino takes his new girlfriend Matty to the local cat cafe. All the cats freak out and start hissing at her. She tries to play it off as cats being allergic to her, however she's actually a monster in disguise. She just wants to fatten up Valentino and eat him.
* Grougal from ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' (a baby dragon) really does not like [[spoiler:Qilby. But there's a whole lot of history around this]].
* In the second season of ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', BigBad Nerissa is capable of using illusions to disguise herself as any other person. However, Matt's pet dormouse Mr. Huggles always goes berserk in her presence, no matter what she looks like.
* Inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'' ChristmasEpisode, when the puppy that the lost Earth children have found takes an instant liking to the villain Skeletor. However, as he's falling under the Christmas spirit and actually doing several nice things, perhaps it's being played straight after all.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The obvious origin of the trope is guard dogs being used by humans to alert them of the presence of predators and enemies, due to their senses of hearing and smell being much more developed than ours.
* Dogs (and cats) have been known to react in the alleged presence of the supernatural.
** There is a persistent myth that if a dog or horse freaks out, and there is nothing visible to you that should be causing them to do so, one should look at what the animal is looking at. More specifically, to do so by looking between their perked ears. The myth states that you will see the spirits or ghosts that only animals normally see if you do this.
* OlderThanFeudalism: In Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest surviving faiths in the world, the dog is considered one of the most sacred animals for its ability to detect, and even ''deflect,'' evil with a mere gaze.
* Purportedly, head Scientologist [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRNHG9jhVG0 Dave Miscavage's dog]].
* GodwinsLaw counterargument: Adolf Hitler had a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondi dog]] with whom he got along fine. However, it was also his own pet dog; it's not known what ''other dogs'' thought of him.
* The book ''The Gift Of Fear'' says that when a dog growls at a shifty person, it is actually responding to the owner's unease and trying to protect them. Not unlikely at all, given dogs are capable of detecting their masters' emotions, even hidden ones, thanks to their senses. (They can hear a heartbeat speeding up, for one.) Dogs are also incredibly attuned to body language, since the bulk of their communication is by that method. Since dogs and people share a number of signals, they can easily pick on things we'd miss since we tend to focus on tone of voice.
* A specific example is the Pekingese, a dog that Chinese Emperors used to keep inside their sleeves. If the dog bit someone who had been granted an audience with the Emperor, it was a sign they were untrustworthy, which usually meant execution.
** A literal evil-detecting breed from China is the original Shar Pei, currently called "bone-mouth" or traditional Shar Peis. Without all the chub and wrinkles of modern/Western Shar Peis, bone-mouths are much more athletic and look more like traditional bulldogs. It's said that breeders intentionally picked the dogs who looked like they were "scowling," so they could frighten off evil spirits as well as regular threats.
* True crime author Ann Rule's dog always snarled and growled at her friend Ted Bundy and shied away whenever he tried to pet him, despite usually being friendly to everyone. Little did Ann know her friend was a serial killer spending his nights prowling college campuses for victims. Similarly, the cat belonging to the sorority house where he went on one of his final rampages apparently ran away the night of his attack. In an interview with one of the surviving victims, she speculated that the cat must have sensed the impending threat.
** Creator/MarkHarmon claims his own dogs were wary of him while he was playing the role of Bundy in the miniseries ''Series/TheDeliberateStranger''.
* [[https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/sex-slave-dungeon-i-knew-fritzl-had-raped-his-daughter-says-man-upstairs-6686436.html Likewise, the neighbor of Josef Fritzl]] (the Austrian man who kept his daughter locked in the basement for years and fathered incestuous children with her) insists that his usually-friendly dog absolutely hated him and wouldn't stop barking at the cellar door.
* A similar occurrence happened with the East Area Rapist/ Golden State Killer / Original Night Stalker (or EAR-ONS, in police terms). He would strike houses in California, commit petty theft, rape the occupant and then leave. However, it is widely believed he would extensively stake out an area beforehand, both on foot and using hang-up calls. Dogs in the area would bark at the dividing fences between houses or at something in the back yard, even if the owners couldn't see what was winding them up. A woman also received a knock on the door from a local man whose dog had been injured after chasing after something, which was also believed to be linked to EAR-ONS (the dog got medical help and was fine; the man later sent the woman a thank you for her assistance).
* Not strictly "evil" per se, but almost all animals have some form of precognition when it comes to natural disasters. So, in this case, humanity really ''is'' TooDumbToLive! No, seriously. Ask anyone who's been through a major earthquake. Dogs, cats, horses, birds, they all freak out. And get out, if they can.
** Most animals can hear the surface noises generated by the initial p-waves of an earthquake, though this sound is too high in frequency for human hearing. Chinchillas, which have hearing abilities roughly similar to humans, are just about the only animal that will not freak out shortly before an earthquake hits.
** After the Boxing Day Tsunami, there were reports that elephants kept at a vacation spot in Thailand became agitated, put tourists on their backs and moved to high ground just before the wave hit, saving them.
** Creator/GeorgeClooney credits his pet pig Max with saving his life in 1994, saying the pig woke him up before an earthquake dropped a beam over the bed ''they'' were sleeping in. Since Clooney got his StarMakingRole in ''Series/{{ER}}'' months later, and he SleepsInTheNude, we can also say that Max is responsible for Clooney not becoming famous for the wrong reason.
* Dogs and rats have been trained to detect land mines or gas leaks by smell.
** In the 19th century miners used to keep small birds for the purpose of detecting gas. From the troper's perspective, this would have been a {{Deconstruction}} of the trope since the birds were not there to be a living alarm bell, but rather to pass out or die before gas concentration could affect a human. This also gave us the phrase "CanaryInACoalMine."
* Despite the above examples, [[http://raksha-the-demon.tumblr.com/post/155506273349/the-baddest-fairy-catscatsholyshitcats this trope shouldn't be relied on]] in RealLife, as plenty of animals make a habit of reacting badly to strangers in general, or to specific types of people (all men, tall people, folks wearing hats, etc.), regardless of demeanor or intent. i.e., a [[NoSocialSkills badly-socialized dog]] will freak out at ''anyone'' approaching it in a manner that scares it, or an abused pet can react badly to ''anyone'' who accidentally does something that triggers bad memories.
* Not quite "evil" exactly, but any animal that can not detect (and prevent) a predator's "evil" attempt to eat them, will not be around to breed the next generation of evil detecting animal. This applies to most dangers as well.
** Particularly true of snakes, which many animals' brains are hardwired to notice even if they're camouflaged.
** The patas monkey, a land-dwelling social primate from the African savanna, has three vocalizations for danger meaning "snake", "leopard", and "eagle" (or more generally, "danger below", "from the side", and "above"). It is speculated that human language once began the same way.
* The "evil" aspect depends on a subjective value, but there's Lucky and Flo, two black Labradors that the MPAA praised for their ability to [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil sniff out counterfeit CDs]] (and legitimate ones).
* A blind man who was on the 71st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center released his guide dog from his harness so that the animal could escape (he feared that he would never make it down the stairs in time and wanted to give the dog a chance). The dog ''came back'' and pawed at him until it was finally obvious that he was not leaving without his master, then proceeded to lead him down 71 flights of stairs to safety. Guide dogs receive extensive training, but this still had to be a ''very'' perceptive animal to realize that this was an incredibly dangerous situation and he had to get his master out of there.
* Philosopher [[TheCynic Diogenes of Sinope]], who often compared himself to a dog and argued that people should aspire to learn from them, claimed that this was one of their virtues: He believed they always knew, instinctively, who their friends and enemies were.
* Feral dog packs can discern when one of their number is acting oddly due to rabies infection, and quickly expel the sick animal from the group or abandon its company.
* More than one unit mascot dog in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII gained reputations for predicting artillery barrages. It is possile that dogs, with their ability to hear high frequencies, can detect [[BombWhistle the sound of shells flying through the air]] before humans.
* The muntjac, a small deer-like animal from Southeast Asia, makes some characteristic "barkings" to alert other members of its species when they know that a tiger is near. Many animals of other species (and people are not an exception) have learned the meaning of this barking and become wary when they hear it. And bear in mind that muntjacs are quite small and have a talent for camouflage, so they could save your life without you ever seeing one.
** Similarly, in Africa most animals have learned to keep one eye on the giraffes. If the giraffes start running it's because they've seen something from their height worth running from, like a lion. Ostriches take on a similar role in areas where they are present but giraffes are not.
** Also common in other parts of the world, e.g. North American wild turkeys often stay close to white-tailed deer, trusting the deer will smell danger before the turkeys do; the deer likewise count on the turkeys' keen eyesight to spot threats.
* [[http://www.vachss.com/dogs/av_dogs/sheba.html Prosecutor Alice Vachss got a retired seeing eye dog as a pet.]] Normally it would sleep in her office and ignore everyone, but if it got up while Vachss was interviewing a child abuse victim, that child always would need serious therapy.
* Invoked with drug- and explosive-sniffing dogs, which are specifically trained to detect nasty materials and alert their human handlers to what they've sensed.
* On a number of occasions, a couple discovered that their babysitter was abusing their child because their normally gentle dog turned aggressive whenever the babysitter came over, or a cat was being actively hostile towards the babysitter.
* While not technically "evil" he's detecting, but [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_%28therapy_cat%29 Oscar]], a cat at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, is known for napping beside terminally ill patients hours before they pass away. One theory is he has learned to detect the smell of biochemicals released by dying cells. On the bright side, Oscar napping beside a patient tends to give them peace, as this gives the staff plenty of time to notify family for something they couldn't predict, and even in the worst case scenario, the patient doesn't die alone.
* [[https://positiveoutlooksblog.com/2018/08/02/science-confirms-dogs-can-recognize-bad-person/ There are scientific studies supporting this trope's existence]].
* While not “evil”, a lot of this trope can be attributed to dogs having the ability to tell if a person likes dogs or not, based on subtle cues. This is why a dog may get along with a stranger immediately after meeting them, or avoid them, as it can pick up on whether the stranger is comfortable or not around dogs.
* PlayedForLaughs in one of Creator/TheWeatherChannel's ads. A dog is barking at Jim Cantore and everyone else who recognizes him all freak out and run. Because he's a DoomMagnet, and his presence in your neighborhood would mean something bad's about to happen.
* Dogs are being trained to detect Covid-19 infections by smell. If this proves to be a reliable screening method, it will ''hugely'' improve the odds of suppressing the infection's spread.
[[/folder]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

* Subverted in ''Literature/InTheSeasonsOfRains'' by Ellen Steiber. The protagonist hears one of his cats (a female) screaming in terror, but when he goes to investigate finds his way blocked by his two male cats who scratch and bite him. When he returns to his bed, the female cat is sitting apparently unharmed on his bed. The man is being stalked by a HornyDevil (suggested to be the Biblical demoness Lilith) who can shapeshift into cats or owls.