Dog/Legends

Dogs were domesticated animals noted for their keen sense of smell^[1] and their barking vocalizations.^[5] They were often kept as pets by Humans^[3] and other species, such as Talz.^[4] A similar, wilder canid was a wolf.^[source?]

At least one dog lived in Anchorhead.^[3]

In their youth, both Luke Skywalker^[3] and Lando Calrissian owned dogs, though Calrissian's was run over by a hovercraft. The memory would haunt Calrissian for years to come.^[6] Likewise, Luke would reflect upon his pet as he left the Tatoo system for the first time on the Millennium Falcon.^[3] Ken sometimes wished he had a pet dog or cat instead of a pet mooka.^[5] The K-9 series companion droids were designed to imitate a dog in both appearance and behavior.^[7]

Several other creatures, such as the akk dog and the Cyborrean battle dog, may have been related to dogs, or named for dogs due to similar behavior and habits.

"Dog" was also sometimes used as a term of contempt. A Mandalorian mercenary once referred to the bounty hunter Durge as Jaing's "dog."^[8] Likewise, while C-3PO's head was temporarily attached to a B1-Series battle droid's body during the First Battle of Geonosis, he shouted, "Die, Jedi dogs!"^[9] Han Solo once said that Gamorreans "are as dumb as a box of rocks and sleep like a dog."^[10] A more complimentary idiom was "top dog," which Canderous Ordo once used to mean the top bounty hunter on Taris.^[11]

Though most mentions of dogs referred to non-sentient domestic animals, at least one sentient being existed who was only identified as a "dog." This being was an associate of the mercenary bunny Max.^[2]

Behind the scenes

"I had an Alaskan Malamute when I was writing the film. A very sweet dog, she would always sit next to me when I was writing. And when I'd drive around, she'd sit in the front seat. A Malamute is a very large dog—like a hundred and thirty pounds and bigger than a human being and very long-haired. Having her with me all the time inspired me to give Han Solo a sidekick who was like a big, furry dog. Not quite like a dog, but intelligent."

―George Lucas^[12]

George Lucas owned an Alaskan Malamute named Indiana during the 1970s.^[13] She would ride next to Lucas in his car and, due to her size, some people mistook her for a human passenger.^[14] In part due to these cases of mistaken identity and having her as a regular companion inspired in Lucas the character of Chewbacca, a dog-like intelligent sidekick.^[12]

Dog-related words such as hound,^[15] cur,^[16] pup,^[17] or puppy are used figuratively in some sources.^[18]^[19]