The Treatment of Dogs in Stephen King's work

*Originally published on 6/8/09




After listening to Salem's Lot, I've come to the conclusion that Stephen King is a cat person.  Dogs don't seem to fare too well in his books.  There's the infamous cat from Pet Sematary, however there are quite a few instances of dogs meeting grim fates.

The obvious one is Cujo, from the book of the same name.  This was inevitable, though, as there really was no other way for the story to go.  Like Old Yeller before him, Cujo was a really sick dog that needed to be put down for it's own good.  It's sad, yes, but the right thing to do when it comes to rabies.

A rather infamous one occurred in The Dead Zone.  Early on in the book, the future villain Greg Stillson, brutally beats a dog to death after it comes after him.  King caught a lot of flack for this.  He had to come out and remind people that no animal was actually harmed.  It's just words on paper after all.  Still, it managed to upset people.

The first instance of animal violence occurs in Salem's Lot, when a dog is ripped apart and hung on a pike shortly after the Marsden house gets sold.  King doesn't go into great detail here and the reaction from the townsfolk is one of rightful shock and disgust.

Another dog falls victim to the zombies in Cell.  When the Pulse first hits, one of the newly infected bites off the ear of a poor Black Lab.  One thing's for sure.  If you're in a Stephen King book, you don't want to be a dog or a love interest named Susan; things always seem to end badly for those that fall into one of those two categories.

One film example is in Secret Window, starring Johnny Depp.  After accusing Mort of plagiarism, John Shooter kills his dog.

I doubt Mr. King bears any actual malice towards dogs, however it is an unsettling pattern; at least for an avid dog fan like me.  On the other hand, one sure way to get readers to hate your villain is to have them go after an animal.  People are just fodder for whatever demonic force is threatening the town, putting dogs and cats in peril however, that crosses the line in most readers eyes.  Another thing to keep in mind is that neither vampires nor zombies would really have any qualms about hurting animals.  Zombies are mindless beasts fueled only by hunger, the infected ones in Cell were pretty much consumed with blind rage and attacked anything in sight.  Vampires are, for all intents and purposes, demonspawn so why would they care about animal violence?  The others are deranged psychopaths and violence against animals tends to be step 1 in their situations.

The rare exception to the rule is Kojak in The Stand.  He gets through the whole book just fine.  It's later stated he dies after 16 years, which is quite good for a dog.  That's an inevitable death though, he had a full life so there is no real complaint to be made there.

While the idea of animal violence does make me rather uncomfortable.  It's important to note that no animals are actually hurt during the novel writing process.  Also of note is the fact that it's always the incarnation of evil or sociopathic madman who is performing these actions.  They are never condoned or endorsed.