Why aren't there any dogs in the Redwall universe?

[Ally046]

Why aren't there any dogs in the Redwall universe?

There are cats.

Do you think that if there were dogs in Redwall, they would be good, bad, neutral?

[Verdauga]

There aren't dogs specifically, but there are foxes (which, correct me if I'm wrong) are canines, I believe.
And there are a few things to be settled if Jacques did put dogs in Redwall. What breed would they be? Would there be multiple breeds, like the feral/wildcat situation? If that is so, what sizes would they be comparatively?

If there were dogs (and not just wolves) their presence would more obviously imply the existence of humans than anything else.

Anyway, if they were used, they would probably be more grey characters (yet another possible reason they weren't used), with wild dogs being a fearsome force in Mossflower, but "tame" dogs would be more good.

It just doesn't work out for me with how I see Redwall's world.

[Mara the Wolf]

This is actually fairly simple. BJ stated humans do not exist in the Redwallverse (which is weird as he still leaves plenty of hints towards them, like ferrets, feral cats, etc., which I have a topic on). He also stated on one site that reason beavers don't exist in Redwall is because humans hunted them to extinction in the UK, and, with a handful of exceptions, only British animals are to be found in the Redwallverse. As for the kittycats, while there's no explanation for feral cats, there is a subspecies of wildcat native to the British Isles: the Scottish wildcat (which is not the ancestor to the domestic cat - that'd be the African wildcat). Dogs, on the other hand, are believed to either have been tamed wolves, or that wolves and dogs share a common ancestor, and most likely would not exist in Britain without humans.

[clunylooney]

I mean, foxes are in the same family as dogs, as are wolves who make a kind of appearance in one book. But if dogs such as domesticated or something like that, I'd imagine they'd be like voles. Sometimes there good and sometimes there bad.

[LordTBT]

Likely because dogs are domesticated animals via humans, and the cats in the Redwall series are wild cats.

However, if you want to get technical, a "town dog" is mentioned in "Redwall" - which, as always, should be considered an anomaly.

[Ally046]

Really? What was the context of it?

[HeadInAnotherGalaxy]

From vot Ah remember, Ah zink Cluny und 'iz 'orde 'ad done zummat tae zcare a toon Dog or zummat loike zat- zere vaz a part vhere Methuselah vaz readin' tae ze Redwallerz aboot 'orrible zin'z zat Cluny und 'iz 'orde 'ad done. 'avenae read zat book in yearz, zough, und az LordTBT mentioned, a lot o' vot iz mentioned in ze firzt book daeznae really appear in ze rezt o' ze zeriez. 'e'd originally intended it tae juzt be vone book, nae an entire zeriez.