Could you tell me a bit about the different dog breeds found in Tamriel?
Oh, certainly! Now, you’ve got those breeds that everyone knows about: the famed Alik’r Dune-Hound, so good at tracking people across the sands; the golden Bravil Retriever that goes after ducks; big old bear-dogs; the Shornhelm Shepherd with ears that go floppity; Skyrim’s wolfhounds; and the huskies of the far north; the Cyodiilic Spaniel, which is small and yappy; the Akaviri Dog, which is big and fluffy and yappy; the Colovian Foxhound, which has an honest face. I scarcely need to go into detail about those breeds because almost anyone who has spent any time in a city has seen them.
One breed that I quite like is the Phalène, though outside of Bretic regions, it’s usually called the Pelin Spaniel. What clever little dogs they are! They have the heart of a warrior and the size of a cat. They’re very fluffy and have great, big, drooping ears like a moth. They usually have a white or cream coat and people like their ears to be red, though you can find them black or brown. They have white diamonds on their brow. There’s a myth that Saint Alessia had a little one but I scarcely believe it because they’re from High Rock and everyone knows that all the foofy little dog breeds there came from toy dogs bred by the Direnni. In the eastern regions, people just keep them as lapdogs, but in High Rock, people often use them as poison-detecting dogs because of their keen noses.
Morrowind has house wolves. They look like…well, you know, wolves. But big. They have these deep, broad chests and absolutely massive paws and pale eyes and long coats, usually grey or black. It’s best not to call them dogs in front of Dunmer because, you know, outlanders have dogs. We have domesticated wolves. You know, which is completely different. They’re very steadfast and loyal, very intimidating, and they tend to only bond to a few people. If they don’t consider you their family, then good luck trying to get them to do anything. They say that they’re descended from wild wolves captured from Skyrim in the days before Nerevar. Their (rare) howling is an omen of peaceful death.
The Imperial Dog is a rare kept almost exclusively by Imperial nobility (hence the name) and the very rich, and as you can imagine, it’s an inbred mess. They have very long legs and necks, a waspish body, big, pert ears, a black tongue, and a thin, curled tail. Their skin is black and their coat is more of a suggestion than anything else. They remind me a bit of ugly jackals. I’m given to understand that they have a whole host of health issues, which really is a shame. So many noble dogs have all sorts of ailments. It’s quite saddening.
The smallest dog in the world is the Santaki from Hammerfell. It’s roughly the same size as my foot and it thinks it’s as big as a dragon. They’re sandy-colored with a long body like a badger-dog. People keep them as pets because they’re funny looking and bitty, but you can find them roaming the Alik’r in wild packs. They like to eat snakes, scorpions, mice, and anything else it can snap up. They’re mean. They say that the Dwemer bred them. I guess someone had to.
I’m told that there’s a Wrothgarian dog that’s bred to help herd the woolly centipedes that orcs keep, but I’ve never actually seen one myself. I don’t know what it’s called but it has a curly coat like a lamb.
You don’t really see very many dogs in Elsweyr and people make jokes about that, but you do have lion-dogs, which look like golden puffs of fur with eyes and little pointed ears, and they are bred by Khajiiti monks, though I don’t know why, since they’re not very functional. I’m not really sure what the point of them is but they’re sort of cute. They don’t like it when you put clothing on them. They do like it when you give them bits of rabbit. One of my friends in Daggerfall had one. It acted as close as one can get to a cat while still being technically a dog. He used to carry it around in a handbag. It was a very large handbag.
The nix-hound of Morrowind and the keleneth (elk-hound) of Valenwood are not dogs but instead are very large insects with horrible mouths. They are not cuddly. They do not want to curl up by your feet. They should be feared. They are not cute. I don’t care what some people say.