Big Dog (known as Vicious Dog in Garfield's Bingo) is a dog that frequently enjoys barking at Garfield. His rear end is rarely shown. He is usually located next to a "Beware of Dog" sign. His prototype's first appearance was on September 12, 1995, changing designs once in a while until around 2007.
Physical appearance[]
The Big Dog is a large terrier-type dog with an overweight body, folded ears, and a big black nose. Initially, his fur was tanned with vivid brown ears. In February 2004, his original fur color was replaced with lavender and black spots. The Big Dog also received a green collar with yellow studs.
Personality[]
Early comic strips depicted the Big Dog as a cat nemesis - he barks loudly and has joy in tormenting cats. Later comic strips introduced the relationship with Garfield as a more cordial one - the two usually communicate as friends or business associates.
Trivia[]
- Both of this character's official names, "Big Dog" and "Vicious Dog", appear to be derived from "Big Vicious Dog", a fan-given name for the character which was previously used as the title of his Garfield Wiki page from 2009 to 2025 due to the lack of an official name. While Garfield's Bingo, released in 2016, referred to the character as "Vicious Dog", the wiki page's title was not updated until 2025 with the release of Garfield Kart 2 - All You Can Drift, which was the first instance of the character being directly referred to as "Big Dog".
- It should also be noted that the Garfield Originals episode "Big Dog" is the first instance of the character being indirectly referred to as "Big Dog".
- A brown version of Big Dog was shown on October 25, 2003.
- A macaroon version was shown on February 8, 2004.
- This version of Big Dog also was shown to have an assistant, a blue dachshund. After the macaroon dog said he was late for another appointment, he turned the dachshund towards Garfield.
- Luca in Garfield: The Movie appears to be a live action version of Big Dog.
- On the October 14, 2006 strip, the Big Dog has his own website, although only the first three letters of the URL (www) were shown. The website was also shown to contain a survey, as shown on the April 15, 2020 comic strip.
- Garfield once tried to get Big Dog to harm Nermal; this backfired as the dog found the kitten too cute to maul, instead targeting Garfield.
