"But Jack could only think of sleep.
And how wonderful it was to have his house back."
And how wonderful it was to have his house back."
- At the end of the crossover with Hellboy, the main characters crowd Hellboy and lick his face. It's adorable!
- The very first story closes on Jack curling up in his doghouse, finally able to get a good night's sleep. He sees the Orphan out in the rain, looking pathetic, and lets him come in, and they curl up together. Until now, the Orphan apparently had a neutral relationship (at best) to the dogs, and this is implied to be the first time he helped them with anything. What we're seeing is the first moment of real friendship, and it's adorable!They padded off to their homes and hideaways, wondering if it had all been a dream. Wondering what it would be like when the black dog came to claim them.
But Jack could only think of sleep.
Jack: [to the Orphan] All right, come on. [they curl up together]
And how wonderful it was to have his house back. - Jack's kindness to the Orphan carries over into the end of "The View from the Hill", where the Orphan is the one who goes to check on Jack after his fainting spell, despite the threat of being chased off by Jack's owners. He even flat-out says he's worried about Jack and doesn't try to dress his kind gesture up as anything else.
- The Orphan's growing bond with the rest of the main characters is heartwarming in general. While they do trade snark, it's clear the dogs consider him one of them just as much as if he were a dog. In turn, while the Orphan might hide his good intentions under his nonchalant facade, he clearly cares about everyone else enough to repeatedly risk his well-being for them. In "The View from the Hill", when the sheep ask if the dogs really do consider the Orphan their friend, Whitey enthusiastically replies, "Of course he is!" — the Orphan isn't just the Wise Dogs' cat ally, he really is one of them through and through.
- Trixie, the ghost dog from "Stray", talking about she can finally move on and find her family in the afterlife. Crosses with Tear Jerker.
- Ace and the gang playing with the boy in "A Dog and His Boy".
- Another crossover with Tear Jerker is Hazel deciding to "stay" with her puppies and all the other ghosts of the pets in the pond."Come home with me, all of you. I'll stay with you until the Great Dog calls our names. I'll keep you safe and warm. And I'll sing to you in the dark, so you'll never be afraid again."
- The whole premise of "The View from the Hill" is about a flock of ghostly sheep who refuse to pass on to the afterlife, because they don't want to be sent to a Species-Specific Afterlife and be separated from their also-deceased sheepdog companion. This revelation also comes with the implication that the main characters might just feel the same, not wanting to be separated from the Orphan in death.
