The dogs
There are three at the start — Bluebell, Jessie and Pincher. Their nine puppies are taken away as soon as they are weaned to be educated privately by Napoleon, and they come back as the thing that settles arguments on Animal Farm.
Nothing the book records for them. They are the only animals whose upbringing is described in detail and whose opinions are never given at all.
The book
At a glance
- The farm's dogs — three at the start, then nine more
- Bluebell, Jessie and Pincher; the nine are never named
- Napoleon, in a loft above the harness-room
- Fairly well, and only the Seven Commandments
- Nine, under the laws agreed at the start
- Chapter I onward
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeThe dogs come into the barn first on the night of Old Major's speech: Bluebell, Jessie and Pincher, ahead of the pigs. They are also three of the four animals who vote that rats are not comrades, having just chased four of them back into their holes. After the Rebellion they learn to read fairly well and are not interested in reading anything except the Seven Commandments.
Soon after the first hay harvest, Jessie and Bluebell whelp nine sturdy puppies between them. Napoleon says the education of the young matters more than anything that can be done for the grown, takes them from their mothers as soon as they are weaned, and rears them in a loft reachable only by a ladder from the harness-room. The rest of the farm soon forgets that they exist. They come down the following winter, at a whimper from Napoleon, and chase Snowball off the property.
From then on George Orwell uses them as punctuation. They growl when four young pigs stand up to object and the objection stops. They walk with Squealer on his rounds. They guard the farmhouse doors and sleep one at each corner of Napoleon's bed. At the executions they seize four pigs by the ear, drag them to Napoleon's feet, and tear out the throats of every animal who confesses. Orwell notes that they wagged their tails to Napoleon in the same way the old dogs had been used to do to Mr Jones.
How the book draws them
- The first threeBluebell, Jessie and Pincher, first into the barn for Old Major's speech. They catch sight of four rats listening to it, and it is only by a swift dash for their holes that the rats save their lives. Three of the four votes against rats being comrades are theirs.
- The nineJessie and Bluebell whelped nine sturdy puppies between them soon after the hay harvest. Napoleon took them away as soon as they were weaned, saying he would make himself responsible for their education, and kept them in a loft reached only by a ladder from the harness-room, in such seclusion that the farm forgot them.
- What came down the ladderNine enormous dogs in brass-studded collars, not yet full-grown and as fierce-looking as wolves. They kept close to Napoleon, and it was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way the other dogs had been used to do to Mr Jones.
- What they are forGrowling when four young porkers try to speak. Escorting Squealer. Guarding the farmhouse doors, and Napoleon's bed at all four corners. Surrounding him when he goes out, six at a time, growling if anyone comes too near.
- The executionsAt a high-pitched whimper from Napoleon they seized four pigs by the ear and dragged them squealing to his feet. The pigs' ears were bleeding, the dogs had tasted blood, and for a few moments they appeared to go quite mad. Every animal that confessed had its throat torn out.
- Where it failed onceThree of them flung themselves at Boxer, who caught one in mid-air and pinned it to the ground with his hoof while the other two fled. He looked to Napoleon to know whether to crush it. Napoleon appeared to change countenance and sharply ordered him to let the dog go.
- ReadingThey learned to read fairly well, and were not interested in reading anything except the Seven Commandments.