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The Briand dog in “Pigeons, a Pony, the Tomcat and I” works in the trenches during World War I. He and other dogs are trained to growl very quietly when Germans are coming—and the Briand performs his task perfectly. Though Kiki and the tomcat praise him for his work, the Briand shares that he just wants to be able to go home and tend to his sheep. And in the end, the Briand runs away from the front and as far as Kiki knows, gets his desired happy ending.
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The Briand Character Timeline in Only the Animals
The timeline below shows where the character The Briand appears in Only the Animals. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pigeons, a Pony, the Tomcat and I: Soul of Cat (Died 1915, France)
...as they pass by. As the cats approach the next sentry, Kiki sees a massive Briand dog tied to a post. After growling softly at the cats, the dog turns back...
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The Briand keeps growling, so the sentry warns the dog that this had better not be about...
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...prisoners. The officer looks stunned and says that he’ll make sure headquarters hears about the Briand. The sentry shares that supposedly, after Paris was saved, a pigeon who carried a crucial...
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...the tomcat wait until everyone but the sentry is asleep. They creep closer to the Briand, who looks exhausted. When the tom mentions that the Briand might receive a medal, the...
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...out on Colette’s divan. They’re all at war now. The tom brings news that the Briand ran away and made it the hundreds of miles home. The commander in chief awarded...
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...less demanding than babies. The tom heads for his own trench and Kiki imagines the Briand’s journey home. She wishes she were a dog so she could survive the journey to...
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