Dogs are some of the animals most commonly associated with police work, guarding, and general law enforcement-associated professions in modern culture. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, police dogs are often used by real-life law agencies, usually for the purpose of tracking contraband, drugs, and fleeing subjects. Secondly, and relatedly, the common use and depiction of dogs as trackers capable of uncovering traces and trails undetectable by humans lead to an obvious comparison with detectives and bounty hunters tracking their quarries through literal or metaphorical trails. Thirdly, dogs also have strong cultural associations with service, obedience, and loyalty, which harmonize fairly well with those given to civil law and those who uphold it.
As such, it's very common for fictional dogs to be depicted as taking part in law-enforcement professions such as policemen and private eyes. In more realistic settings, nonanthropomorphic Detective Animal are also very commonly dogs for these reasons.
Physically, these characters tend to be or resemble breeds such as bulldogs, bloodhounds, and German shepherds. In settings dominated by anthropomorphic dogs, this trope is still reflected in the tendency of police and guard roles being taken by these breeds in particular.
Subtrope of Animal Occupation Stereotypes and Dog Stereotype. Compare Police Pig; generally speaking, policemen tend to be depicted as pigs in negative portrayals and as dogs in neutral or positive ones. Compare Firehouse Dalmatian, and contrast Angry Guard Dog.
Examples
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Advertising
- "McGruff the Crime Dog" is an anthropomorphic dog who stars in a series of Public Service Annnouncements (PSAs) about reducing crime, with the tagline "Take a Bite out of Crime." He first appeared in the 1980s and has starred in many PSA campaigns since then, always with the same focus on how regular citizens can help prevent crime. McGruff's appearances have included TV and radio spots, plus occasional live appearances at schools and such. On TV he's animated; live appearances are a person wearing a costume. His appearance is based on the bloodhound, a breed that is associated with policework and solving crime, but not with violence the way a German shepherd, Doberman, or bulldog would be.
Anime & Manga
- BNA: Brand New Animal: All the police officers in Anima-City are dog beastmen.
- My Hero Academia: Kenji Tsuragamae, the chief of police, is a man whose Quirk gives him the head of a beagle. He's also a Reasonable Authority Figure willing to bend the rules to cover up the events of the Stain incident for the sake of preventing Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida from being expelled.
- Pokémon: The Series: Most of the Officer Jennys have a regional canine Pokémon as their partner. For example, in Kanto, Growlithe is the most common partner.
- Sherlock Hound is an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes featuring the great detective and Watson as Funny Animal dogs.
Comic Books
- Batman: In stories that he narrates himself, Batman's dog Ace the Bat-Hound is depicted as an expert detective.
- Blacksad: Commissioner Smirnov, Blacksad's Friend on the Force, is a morally upright but world-weary German shepherd. In fact, all the police are various types of canines, mostly dogs, but they also have at least one fox.
- The Dandy: Desperate Dawg is named after another Dandy character, Desperate Dan, but has a Non-Indicative Name, as he isn't a desperado — he's a sheriff.
- Dog Man (Dav Pilkey): The policeman Officer Knight and his police dog Greg are fatally injured in an explosion. As Greg's body and Knight's head respectively are dying, doctors sew Greg's head onto Knight's body, transforming them into the crime-fighting hero Dog Man.
Film — Animation
- An American Tail: Fievel Goes West: Wilie Burp the hound dog is a retired lawman (or, well, lawdog) who used to be responsible for keeping law on the lawless frontier, although by the time the movie starts, he is old and tired.
- Lady and the Tramp: Trusty the bloodhound used to track criminals through the swamps of The Deep South until he was retired after losing his sense of smell.
- Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island: While Scooby-Doo has always been a sort-of freelance detective with Mystery Inc in the franchise, Scooby and Shaggy actually work as airport customs security at the start of Zombie Island, since Scooby is so good at sniffing out illegal foreign food items. However, since they are unable to resist eating all the contraband, they are fired from their job.
Film — Live-Action
- The Muppet Christmas Carol: The policeman seen in the present-day London segments is played by a dog Muppet resembling a generic hound.
Literature
- Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest: One of the 2017 winners has a "dogtective" who talks in cat puns.
"I've got a feline these cats didn't know what they unleashed when they picked a bone with me," snarled Rex Steele, chief dogtective of the Paws Angeles Petlice Department. "This time, it's fursonal."
- Les Misérables: The police officer Javert is metaphorically compared to a dog raised by wolves in his first appearance to underscore how he is a fanatically dutiful protector of law in contrast to his criminal family.
- Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats: In "The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles", a cat breaks up a fight between two feuding groups of dogs. It's mentioned that there's supposed to be a Police Dog patrolling the area, but he misses the entire rumpus because he sloped off to the pub for a drink.
- Old Toffers Book Of Consequential Dogs, an authorized sequel to Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, has a poem about "Dobson, the Dog Detective", the opposite number to the criminal cat Macavity.
- Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: Cookies and Campers: The first and only Maen'gida guard seen, right before the story leaves civilization and its police and guards behind, is a Kyun'hela, a.k.a a dog person.
Live-Action TV
- Spoofed in Danger Five when the title characters are on an airliner watching TV shows in which a corrupt police dog is sniffing coke and beating up suspects. This gives them a "Eureka!" Moment that they've been lured onto a German airliner, so it's likely a riff on Inspector Rex.
- Engine Sentai Go-onger: Gunpherd is a hybrid of a police cruiser and a German shepherd who partners with former cop Gunpei. Gunpei also gets a police dog-themed uniform when he becomes a member of the Go-Ongers.
- Full Frontal also did a skit on the police dog genre, with the detectives complaining about a Cowboy Cop assigned to them who turns out to be a German Shepherd. At the end of the skit they arrest a bank robber, who turns out to have his own canine partner.
- Inspector Rex: Rex the German Shepherd is a skillful dog who works with a team of Austrian (and then Italian after the series moved to Rome) homicide detectives, and has been helpful in solving many crimes. Hudson and Rex is a Canadian adaptation.
- The Jim Henson Hour: Ace Yu is a dog as well as a private eye.
- Amusing lampshaded in Lost Girl when Kenzi says that Dyson, a Light Fae Wolf-Shifter who works as a homicide detective, is a policeman who's his own police dog. Bo can't help laughing while Dyson just walks off in a huff.
- Wishbone: Wishbone the Jack Russell terrier plays the roles of Sherlock Holmes in "The Slobbery Hound" (adapting The Hound of the Baskervilles) and "A Dogged Exposé" (adapting "A Scandal in Bohemia") and C. Auguste Dupin in "The Pawloined Paper" (adapting "The Purloined Letter")..
Newspaper Comics
- Krazy Kat: Officer Pupp, an anthropomorphic dog, makes up the whole police force in Kokonino Kounty. His main job is to try and keep Ignatz from hurting Krazy with his bricks.
Podcasts
- In Welcome to Night Vale, the Sheriff's Secret Police has a mascot named Barks Ennui, who takes the form of a cartoon dog.
Puppet Shows
- The Muppet Show: Episode 103 has a Sherlock Holmes spoof starring Rowlf the Dog as the Great Detective.
Tabletop Games
- Spud Dog Detective stars a dog trying to solve the mystery of who killed his master.
- Warhammer 40,000: The Adeptus Arbites use specialized servitors made from dogs called Cyber-Mastiffs, which are commonly used for hunting criminals and fugitives. They're fitted with enhanced sensory capabilities, strengthened jaws and teeth (along with other weapons), cybernetic limbs that allow them to traverse terrain that a normal dog couldn't, and an auspex so their handlers can track their locations and issue commands remotely.
Video Games
- Ace Attorney: Missile is a Shiba Inu who is a part of the series' police force, taken care of by Detective Gumshoe. This trope is mainly Played for Laughs however, as Shiba Inu are not typically used as police dogs, but rather are common household pets. In his debut game, he's given to Phoenix and Maya by Gumshoe to help their case but ends up causing problems by detecting the smell of Larry's Samurai Dogs at Gourd Lake and eating them all. Missile's appearances in the Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth spin-offs have him use his sense of smell that end up uncovering vital clues, unintentionally and intentionally.
- Animal Crossing: Copper and Booker are a pair of bulldogs that work as the police force and guards of the town.
- ARMS: Byte and Barq are a duo consisting of a robotic cop and a robotic dog, respectively. Playing as these characters relies on using both together very well.
- Back to the Dawn: Every member of Boulderton Prison's security staff is some species of dog. Chief Bruce is a mastiff, Deputy Billy is a bull terrier, and other guards include huskies, golden retrievers, and Shiba Inus. This also applies to the police officers seen at the beginning of the game.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: The Allied Attack Dogs are modeled after police dogs, working in tangent with the Allies' basic infantry, the Peacekeeper, whose design is inspired by SWAT officers.
- Cyberpunk 2077 features shorts titled "Safe and Sound", PSA's sponsored by the Night City Police Department to educate citizens on safety tips whilst going about their daily lives. The host of the show, Sergeant Dobbs, is a large, muscular Doberman in a police uniform.
- Final Fantasy XIV: The arcanists working as custom agents at Mealvaan's Gate use their carbuncle familiars much like police dogs. Resembling a cross between a small dog and a rabbit with multiple bushy tails, these carbuncles can be trained to sniff out contraband. They can also unleash potent magics in the event of violence, a frequent occurrence in the pirate-filled nation of Limsa Lominsa.
- The Flower Collectors: Diego is an anthropomorphic Bernese Mountain Dog who works as a detective in the police department after the Flower Collectors disbanded.
- Live A Hero: Barrel is an anthropomorphic dog that works as a police officer. He can also transform into a superhero themed after a Wild West sheriff.
- Pokémon: Law enforcement officers typically use the doglike Growlithe and its evolved form Arcanine to assist them in solving crimes. In the Unova games, which are restricted to Pokémon introduced in the fifth generation, they instead use the sheepdog-like Herdier and Stoutland.
- Sam & Max: Sam is an Irish wolfhound who works as a freelance police detective.
- Tail Concerto stars Waffle Ryebread, an anthropomorphic dog policeman dealing with his job and his attraction to literal cat burglar, Alicia Pris.
Webcomics
- Kevin & Kell: The local police force consists of various types of dogs, including at least two bulldogs.
- Latchkey Kingdom: Rex, the captain of Hilla's royal guard, which is possibly the kingdom's only guard, is a sapient canine resembling a Doberman. He needs a Babel Finch to translate his barks and growls into Yinglish.
Web Original
- Nijisanji: Mysta Rias is a detective with a very prominent dog motif, especially Dobermans. He wears a collar and has a dog pattern on his shirt on his first model, his hats on both of his models are made to resemble Doberman facesnote , and he's even seen sniffing the ground to track his target in his lore video.
- SuperMarioLogan: In "The Police Dog", Brooklyn Guy's partner Simmons gets shot by a criminal early into the episode, so the Chief gave him Mr. Cuddlesworth, a police dog, as a replacement. They both solve a missing child case as well as a prank phone call. Mr. Cuddlesworth gets shot at the end of the episode and dies. As the gun was actually a Nerf Gun, Simmons was Faking the Dead and Mr. Cuddlesworth was simply playing dead.
Western Animation
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: At the beginning of "Road Hog", a policeman dog gives Sonic a ticket for going over the speed limit, and when Sonic is unable to pay for it, he is taken to court and sentenced to community service. It is later revealed that Dr. Robotnik had hypnotized the law with Colonel Stench's hypnotic flower pollen to arrest Sonic so he wouldn't interfere with his plan to hypnotize all of Mobius into worshipping him. This policeman dog also appears in the episode's "Sonic Says" segment, where Tails calls for him after being captured by Scratch and Grounder, and he chases after the two robots.
- Around the World with Willy Fog: The police detectives Inspector Dix and Constable Bully are depicted as dogs, unlike the other main characters, who are felines.
- Classic Disney Shorts: The first appearance of what would become Pluto the Pup was as a bloodhound in the Mickey Mouse cartoon "The Chain Gang", tracking Mickey down after he breaks out of prison.
- C.O.P.S. (1988): Blitz is a cybernetic police dog with near-human intelligence and Super-Senses that let him track criminals almost anywhere.
- The Deputy Dawg Show is about a dog who's a deputy sheriff.
- Family Guy: In the first half of two-part episode "The Thin White Line", Brian is recognized for his sharp sense of smell. He becomes a drug dog for the Quahog police to deal with the boredom in his life, but soon becomes addicted to cocaine. The others stage an intervention and he goes to rehab.
- Garfield and Friends: In the U.S. Acres segment "Rainy Day Robot", Gort, Wart, and Mort disguise themselves as a car to steal Orson's crop of vegetables. Unfortunately for them, their disguise attracts a policeman dog, who tickets them. When Mort explains their ruse to the policeman dog, he doesn't believe them, saying "That's the third time today I've heard that excuse."
- The Huckleberry Hound Show: Huck played a police officer in "… Meets Wee Willie" and "Freeway Patrol".
- PAW Patrol: Chase the German shepherd plays the role of the police officer within the PAW Patrol. However, he never arrests anybody, and he acts more like a detective.
- A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: In "Robopup", the Blakes' security guard introduces the titular Robopup to the gang, whose purpose is to solve crimes — particularly helpful since the house is being haunted by the Ghost of Chef Pierre. Robopup seems to outperform Scooby at every turn, making Scooby feel bad, until it turns out the security guard was the one posing as Chef Pierre, and had programmed Robopup to throw the gang off the scent.
- The Raccoons: The police officers in the series are depicted as bulldogs.
