That faith-foreshadowing quote by cordelia just made me think of how there are at least three separate instances in s3 where angel is compared to a dog... wanted to know your take if there was some meaning to it beyond the obvious
I think the main point being made is the analogy of soulless vampires as animals .vs. souled vampires as people. It's a comparison that is hit pretty hard in Angel (which I go into more detail on here), both with the "coackroach party" that frames the episode and several quotes.
Giles: “A vampire isn’t a person at all."
Xander: “Question: a hundred years or so before he came to our shores, what was he like then?”
Giles: “Uh, like all of them. A vicious, violent animal.”
Giles: “Vampires hunt and kill. It’s what they do.”
Xander: “Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly.”
Angel: “I walk like a man, but I’m not one.”
Angel: I’m just an animal, right?
The basic idea is that soulless vampires/animals lack the ability to make choices, so they can't be entirely blamed for their actions, but also they cannot be redeemed, only eliminted. Ensouled vampires/people are able to choose their nature, so they can be judged but also forgiven.
Season 3 is where the lines between Angel and Angelus start to be blurred a little bit, so questions start to be asked - at what point does he stop being an animal and start being a man? For example, in Beauty in the Beasts he is pretty much pure animal, but still acts with protectiveness and love. Here, love redeems, and proves Angel's humanity. But there is also a running danger of love reducing humanity, reducing them to a dog.
Mr. Platt: Look, lots of people lose themselves in love. It's, it's no shame. They write songs about it. The hitch is, you can't stay lost. Sooner or later, you... you have to get back to yourself. If you can't... Well, love becomes your master, and you're just its dog.
- 3x04 Beauty and the Beasts
Spike: I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it.
- 3x08 Lovers Walk
This is a danger for Buffy - and its a danger that Angel fears himself, which is why he has a nightmare of Buffy burning in the sun - being a vampire, being a dog. She can't allow herself to be ruled by love and not make active choices for herself.
