Lesser Dog
Lesser Dog (JP: レッサードッグ) is a miniboss the protagonist encounters in Snowdin. It is later found as an NPC in Grillby's. It is a member of the Royal Guard's Snowdin Canine Unit.
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. According to concept art shared in the UNDERTALE Art Book, Lesser Dog is based on a Labrador.
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.
Lesser Dog's name derives from the constellation Canis Minor, which is Latin for "lesser dog".
Lesser Dog's weapon is called a dogger, 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.
Lesser Dog usually spawns as the third random encounter in Snowdin, the first two being Snowdrake, followed by Ice Cap. On a Neutral Route, Lesser Dog's encounter is delayed until after Doggo is defeated, with its encounter randomly replaced with either of its preceding enemies. On the Genocide Route, this restriction is lifted, allowing Lesser Dog to spawn before the encounter with Doggo. In all rooms where Jerry or Gyftrot can spawn, if Lesser Dog has not been fought, it is guaranteed to spawn as the first encounter. Despite this, it is still 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.
While waiting around its sentry post in Snowdin, 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.
If Lesser Dog was spared or otherwise never fought,[3] it can be found at Grillby's playing cards with itself. Lesser Dog is not acknowledged by the other members of the Snowdin Canine Unit, and killing it provokes no reaction from them either. In turn, if Lesser Dog is the only guard dog left, how it acts at Grillby's does not change. The Red Bird in Grillby's comments on the disappearance of the Dogs, even if Lesser Dog is still alive.
If Lesser Dog is the only Royal Guard member the protagonist has killed, Undyne comments on it, claiming that it was only seeking affection.
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.
- 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!").
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.
- (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+]
- 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]
Lesser Dog, along with the rest of the Snowdin Canine Unit, makes an appearance in Deltarune as a member of the Wet-Nose Bandits, a group of criminals. They start off in jail, having run straight into Undyne's arms while fleeing a failed break-in, but can be accidentally freed when trying to warn Undyne about Dark Fountains.
- 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.
- While sparing or fleeing from Lesser Dog aborts a Genocide Route, it is not considered a mandatory kill, and can be left alive (even found later as usual) without aborting the route if its encounter is skipped.
- ↑
A dog just rushed in here, filled with inspiration.
— Faun
It kept trying to build a snowdog that expressed its own emotions... - ↑
WAIT, WHY ARE THEY A ROYAL GUARD AND NOT ME!?
— Papyrus - ↑ Undertale: Did not encounter Lesser Dog on YouTube
- ↑
Now that people have started receiving their cards, I can finally show the extra cards I did for the set. And here they are!
— dogbomber on Tumblr, October 21, 2016.