Lesser Dog is a miniboss the protagonist encounters in Snowdin Forest. It is later found as an NPC in Grillby's. It is a member of the Royal Guard.

Profile

Appearance

Lesser Dog's fur is a light cream color, and its red tongue appears to be perpetually lolling out of its mouth. It wears gray, presumably metal armor with a darker gray band around the waist area. It holds a sword and a shield with the Delta Rune.

Personality

Like several other dog characters, Lesser Dog becomes overexcited from physical attention. It is capable of extending its neck at a seemingly limitless rate when stimulated by being pet.

Lesser Dog appears to enjoy spending its time off sentry duty by playing card games (namely, poker and go fish) against itself at Grillby's. When interacting with it at this time, the text mentions how it appears to be losing.

Main Story

Neutral Route

While waiting around its sentry post in Snowdin Forest, Lesser Dog spends a lot of its time making snowdogs, mostly with necks in similar lengths to its own. A faun monster standing near the post notes that it seems to get overexcited in the construction of the figures and never finishes them. It may be that Lesser Dog is able to achieve focus by being pet, as after being pet by the protagonist its statues become more complete. The more pets it receives, the more statues Lesser Dog creates around its sentry post, until they all become broken statues of its very long neck when it is pet enough times or has the Stick thrown at it. In this case, the faun states that a dog came by full of excitement and started building sculptures, but its neck kept growing and it kept adding snow to the sculptures until they broke. On the flip side, if Lesser Dog is killed, its sentry post is accompanied only by a pile of formless mushy snow.

True Pacifist Route

In the playable epilogue for the True Pacifist Route, Lesser Dog has, apparently, finally won a game of poker against itself, sitting in Grillby's bar - the only dog character not to be outside the Snowdin Library playing with its family member(s) Endogeny. In the True Pacifist Ending Credits, it can be seen building sand dogs on the beach.

In Battle

Attacks

• A dog resembling the Annoying Dog appears to the right of the screen and runs on the spot for a moment before leaping to where the protagonist's SOUL is. If the dog did not jump far, it is possible for the dog to start to jump again as the attack ends.
• A blue spear comes in from the right of the screen and moves all the way to the left, followed by a white spear coming in from either the right or the left, stopping in the middle, and moving back for a moment before the attack ends.
• Lesser Dog stops attacking once pet six times ("Critical pet!").

Strategy

It is very easy to spare Lesser Dog.

• Lesser Dog can be spared simply by petting it only once. If Lesser Dog is pet more times, its head keeps rising, eventually ceasing its attacks, surpass the dialogue box, and even the menu. Lesser Dog can be pet 55 times before petting it triggers no new messages.
• Like other dog enemies, the Stick can be used to instantly make Lesser Dog spareable.

Quotes

• (Pant pant) [Neutral]
• (Wag wag) [Neutral]
• (Thinks of food) [Neutral]
• (Tiny bark) [Neutral]
• (Pants fast) [Pet; unused]
• (Pant! Pant!) [Pet #1-3]
• (Excited noises) [Pet #4-6]
• (Motor revving) [Pet #7]
• (Plane takeoff) [Pet #8]
• (Kettle whistle) [Pet #9]
• (...) [Pet #10]
• (Faraway bark) [Pet #11]
• (...) [Pet #12]
• (Bark) [Pet #13]
• (Pant pant) [Pet #14+]

Flavor Text

• Wields a stone dogger made of pomer-granite. [Check]
• Lesser Dog appears. [Encounter]
• Lesser Dog cocks its head to one side. [Neutral]
• Lesser Dog thinks your weapon is a dog treat. [Neutral]
• Lesser Dog is really not paying attention. [Neutral]
• Smells like dog chow. [Neutral]
• You barely lifted your hand and Lesser Dog got excited. [Pet #1]
• You lightly touched the Dog. It's already overexcited... [Pet #2]
• You pet the Dog. It raises its head up to meet your hand. [Pet #3]
• You pet the Dog. It was a good Dog. [Pet #4]
• You pet the Dog. Its excitement knows no bounds. [Pet #5]
• Critical pet! Dog excitement increased. [Pet #6]
• You have to jump up to pet the Dog. [Pet #7]
• You don't even pet it. It gets more excited. [Pet #8]
• There is no way to stop this madness. [Pet #9]
• Lesser Dog enters the realm of the clouds. [Pet #10]
• You call the Dog but it is too late. It cannot hear you. [Pet #11]
• ... [Pet #12]
• You can reach Lesser Dog again. [Pet #13]
• You pet Lesser Dog. [Pet #14-19]
• It's possible that you may have a problem. [Pet #20-33]
• Lesser Dog is unpettable but appreciates the attempt. [Pet #34-44]
• Perhaps mankind was not meant to pet this much. [Pet #45]
• It continues. [Pet #46-53]
• Lesser Dog is beyond your reach. [Pet #54]
• Really... [Pet #55+]
• Lesser Dog is barking excitedly. [After Pets #1-3]
• Lesser Dog is overstimulated. [After Pets #4-7]
• Lesser Dog shows no signs of stopping. [After Pets #8-13]
• Lesser Dog is lowering. [After Pets #14-32]
• Lesser Dog is learning to read. [After Pets #33-34]
• Lesser Dog is whining because it can't see you. [After Pets #35-43]
• Hello there. [After Pets #44-46]
• Lesser Dog is questioning your choices. [After Pets #47-52]
• Lesser Dog has gone where no Dog has gone before. [After Pets #53+]
• You threw the stick and the dog ran to get it. You played fetch for a while. [Using Stick]
• Lesser Dog tucks its tail between its legs. [Low HP]

Gallery

Trivia

• Lesser Dog's name derives from the constellation Canis Minor, which is Latin for "lesser dog."
  • Despite the names, Lesser Dog is actually bigger than Greater Dog if armor is not considered.
• Lesser Dog's guard post contains a box of pomeraisins, and its weapon is made of pomer-granite. The joke here is a reference to the breed of dogs known as Pomeranian.
  • The aforementioned weapon is called a dogger, as mentioned in the CHECK text, which is a pun on the word "dagger." The dogger is made out of "pomer-granite", a pun on Pomeranian, a dog breed, and granite, a kind of rock. This is also possibly a pun on the fruit pomegranate.
• The Red Bird NPC in Grillby's comments on the disappearance of the Dogs, even if Lesser Dog is still alive.
• Interestingly, Lesser Dog is never mentioned by the other guard dogs. Killing it provokes no reaction from the other dogs at Grillby's. In turn, if Lesser Dog is the only guard dog left, how it acts at Grillby's does not change.
• If Lesser Dog is the only Royal Guard member the protagonist has killed, Undyne comments on it, claiming that it was only seeking affection.
• Lesser Dog is usually the third monster the protagonist encounters in Snowdin Forest (the first two being Snowdrake, then Ice Cap). However, when Lesser Dog is encountered is completely random, like other monster encounters. It is normally killed on a Genocide Route, although it is possible to move through Snowdin on any route without encountering it.
  • It is possible to avoid killing Lesser Dog on the Genocide Route by either getting the Lesser Dog encounter on the same frame as leaving a room, or by repeatedly opening the menu while moving to avoid all encounters until reaching the room with Glyde, and then exhausting the kill counter by killing Glydes.
    • If the protagonist doesn't kill Lesser Dog on the Genocide Route and hasn't yet faced The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror, Lesser Dog is seen building a snowdog. Afterwards, the protagonist can also find Lesser Dog at Grillby's. ^[2]

• Lesser Dog is indirectly mentioned by the River Person as they say: "Pet pet pet... The neck stretches infinitely into the cosmos. ... don't worry about it." This is a reference to how long its neck can grow should it be pet several times.

References