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{{Character Data
|title=Gaspode 
|photo= gaspode.jpg|Gaspode the Wonder Dog 
|name= Gaspode
|age= 7 in [[Moving-Pictures]]
|race= Dog
|occupation= 
|appearance= scruffy, grey-brown, terrier-like
|residence= [[Ankh-Morpork]]
|death= 
|parents= 
|relatives= 
|children= 
|marital status= 
|books= {{MP}}<br>{{MAA}}<br>{{TFE}}<br>{{TT}}<br>''[[Discworld Noir]]''
|cameos= {{SM}}, {{H}}, {{FOC}}
}}

'''Gaspode''' the Wonder Dog is a small terrier-like mongrel dog living in [[Ankh-Morpork]] who has the ability to think and speak like a human being. Gaspode is somewhat scheming and avoids interacting with humans outside of his own interests, which he explains as a good survival trait for a stray animal's rough life. He has an extreme dislike of baths and a subsequent unpleasant mix of odors and minor diseases (indeed, according to Gaspode, he suffers from multiple ailments - including licky end, which should only be contractible if one is a pregnant sheep - and is only still alive because the various diseases are too busy fighting each other to kill him). Gaspode can usually be found accompanying the [[Canting Crew]] around [[Ankh-Morpork]], where he acts as a thinking-brain dog for [[Foul Ole Ron]].

Gaspode can also understand the language spoken (or barked) by other dogs.  In {{TT}}, disguised as [[Deep Bone]], he helps [[William de Worde]] to translate [[Wuffles]]' recount of a high-profile crime in order to uncover a criminal's alibi. 

Gaspode takes advantage of the fact that most people seem unable to process that a dog can talk, as the phenomenon is usually interpreted as a subconscious self-suggestion by others; notably, he tends to ''speak'' sounds like "growl" and "bark" rather than actually vocalize. Exceptions to this are [[Carrot Ironfoundersson|Captain Carrot]] and [[Angua von Überwald|Angua]] though Samuel Vimes heard him once in The Fifth Elephant.

Gaspode first appeared in {{MP}}. His ability to think abstract thoughts and speak human language was first awakened by [[Holy Wood]] magic, and then reasserted itself when he ate the magically contaminated rubbish in the [[Unseen University]] dump by the principle of [[morphic resonance]] (see also {{MAA}}). 

Possibly the sole member of the [[League Against Cruelty To Dogs]].

Gaspode sometimes introduces himself as 'Gaspode the Wonder Dog' and is named after the Discworld's equivalent of [[wikipedia:Greyfriars_Bobby|''Greyfriars Bobby'']] and [[wikipedia:Hachiko|''Hachiko'']], dogs who showed exceptional loyalty after his master's death. Gaspode cynically believes that the reason [[The Famous Gaspode]] stayed on his master's grave howling until he himself expired was that the headstone had been lowered onto his tail. The present Gaspode has dreams of running with a wolf-pack, and like many dogs vacillates between the desire for wildness, trying to curry respect among other dogs, and the begrudging need for human contact. These [[wikipedia:Walter_Mitty|Walter Mitty]] tendencies make him reminiscent of another canine character, the Dog of Murray Ball's long-running comic strip ''{{wp|Footrot Flats|Footrot Flats}}''. Both have been heard to sarcastically remark 'Woof bloody woof.'



[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[Category:Serial characters]]
[[Category:Supporting characters]]
[[Category:discworld Flora & Fauna]]
[[de:Gaspode]]