Bad Dog

The Bad Dog, also translated as "Rabid Dog" in Kingdom Hearts II, is an Emblem Heartless that is introduced in Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts II
A pack of Rabid Dogs are seen attacking Megara in the Underworld before getting scared off by Sora. Rabid Dogs appear often to fight Sora, but oddly, a pack of three attacked a group of Dusks to help Sora escape with Auron's free will for unknown reasons.

Design
A Bad Dog resembles a small, blue dog with a massive head and an equally massive, toothed maw. Its ears are long, stand on end, and curl at the tips. It has a crooked, blue tail and four short legs with no discernible digits on its paws. Its long, pink tongue is often seen hanging out of its mouth. The Bad Dog's large, yellow eyes each sport a black spiral pattern. It also wears a large, red collar with several conical, silver spikes on it, though, because of the Heartless's size, it is worn around its waist instead of its neck. Its Heartless emblem is on its rear.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, the Bad Dog's body is dark red in color, its mouth is lavender on the inside, and the black spirals in its eyes are red. Its collar is yellow and the spikes on it are lavender.

The Bad Dog's name references the fact that it resembles a real-world dog. Its Kingdom Hearts II name also references, an illness that induces manic behavior, which its Japanese name, "Mad Dog", also references. Dogs are more responsible for transferring the virus to humans than any other animal.

Kingdom Hearts II
Rabid Dogs are one of the more harmless enemies, but they tend to appear in packs. Most of the time, they will act passively while keeping a distance from Sora. However, they will retaliate when attacked, using their Multi-Howl attack when damaged at a close range and their Pounce attack when at a long range. If approached closely, the Rabid Dog will use its Howl attack. However, they have low defense, are vulnerable to magic, and can generally be defeated easily. Rabid Dogs are open to attack when their Pounce attack is blocked, causing them to be stunned, or after their Multi-Howl attack, where they fall limp for an extended duration or until attacked. As such, a safe strategy is to attack the Rabid Dog once to bait out its counterattack, quickly move away, then finish it off while it lays limp.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Bad Dogs are relatively unthreatening on their own, but may cause more damage if in groups. Watch for when the Bad Dog lurches back, as that signals its attack. Blocking its bite attack has the added advantage of stunning the Bad Dog. Along with the short range of its attacks, the Bad Dog is also very weak to all forms of magic, especially Aero and Blizzard, so it is recommended to pick them off with magic from a distance.