A subtrope of Weaponized Animal. Dogs and cats in fiction usually use the tools that nature gave them, such as their teeth and claws, to attack enemies. However, sometimes your Team Pet decides that these weapons simply aren't enough, somehow, and instead use armaments such as swords, knives, or guns. Since they don't have hands (or sufficiently dextrous paws or Feather Fingers), they must grip said tools of war in their mouths to compensate.
This is a natural extension of the way many quadrupeds use their mouths to do things that humans do with their hands, such as transporting their kills, or carrying their offspring. If you're going to arm such an animal in a setting with an additional weapon, it's not going to work if you try having them hold the arm in their arms, so to speak.
This trope is only for four-legged creatures using their mouths to hold or operate weaponry, instead of using the offensive capabilities they have naturally. It doesn't apply to things like titanium tooth implants for combat dogs
who have lost teeth in the line of duty, or any sort of claw extension meant to deal damage; it is for quadrupedal companions who have eschewed their traditional combat gear in favor of human weapons gripped in the mouth. Compare to Cutlass Between the Teeth. A Non-Humanoid Sapient Race might wield weapons like this.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Cardfight!! Vanguard features a whole slew of canids holding swords or daggers in their mouths in the Royal/Shadow/Gold Paladin clans, such as Wingal or Sleygal Sword.
- Kurojaki, head of the Koga dog clan from Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin, wields a sickle with his jaws and uses it against other dogs. Picking a fight with Gin results in him gouging out an eye with his own sickle.
- The five lions of GoLion (aka the Lion Voltron) all carried their swords in their mouth since, well, where else is a lion gonna carry a sword?
- The only wolf in Wolf's Rain that doesn't use his teeth to fight is Hige. While Hige's human illusion appears to use his knife normally, this is simple a projection of said illusion; he is, in reality, holding the knife between his teeth.
Fan Works
- Fallout: Equestria: Being quadrupeds, Earth Ponies and Pegasi usually attack with guns in their mouth, using their tongue to pull the trigger. Whilst they can use their hoofs or wings to attack, this tends to be improvised or as a last resort.
- If Wishes Were Ponies...: In one chapter, Harry, the CMC, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny experiment with using wands as ponies. This is harder because they either have to use one of their legs to hold their wands (costing them some speed/balance while running) or hold the wand in their mouth (which runs the risk of mispronouncing a spell and having it backfire).
- Harry Is A Dragon, And That's Okay: June the warg (talking wolf) and Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail Barlos the three-headed dog need to hold their wands in their mouths since unlike Harry, their paws aren't dextrous enough for fine tool usage.
- There's No Rule That Says A Wolf Can't Be A Jedi: As a loth-wolf the size of a vehicle, Swift obviously can't wield a lightsaber in the usual way. Master Xan is intrigued by the challenge, however, and comes up with an attachable handle for the saber, large enough and thick enough for Swift to grip it in his mouth and toggle a modified switch with his tongue. (As his mastery of the Force improves, he leans toward wielding it with telekinesis instead.)
"I'm trying to redesign lightsaber forms so that you can use them," Master Xan explained. "In my head. That way I can get an idea of how we're going to need to modify a lightsaber so you can use it."He tapped his own lightsaber against the palm of his other hand. "I suppose we can't stick one to your tail…"
Film — Animated
- The Good Dinosaur: Arlo's family is made up of sauropods. When Henry tries to teach Arlo how to deal with "critters" that raid their food, he wields a stick in his mouth (which, with him being over twenty feet tall, closer to a log) and uses to it demonstrate how to beat a pest to death. When he's acting as a sentry, Arlo wields a smaller (but no less deadly) stick in his mouth. He maneuvers it by either moving his head or using his tongue to shift it around in his mouth.
- In Tangled, Cool Horse and royal guard, Maximus, takes this to the next level by fighting Flynn with a sword held in his mouth (given that he has nothing resembling thumbs, he can't hold it otherwise) and gives a better account than all of the human guards put together. This, alongside other acts of heroism, leads to his promotion to Guard Captain at the end of the film.
Literature
- High School D×D: Tobio Ikuse, agent of the Fallen Angels, possesses the Longinus known as Canis Lykaon, "The Dog God of the Black Blade". Legend has it that this living weapon was created when the first werewolf and a divine sword were combined into one. As such, Canis Lykaon manifests as a great black wolf that wields a blade forged of pure darkness in its mouth.
- A species of mutated rats in Non-Stop gains intelligence and begins using weapons, mostly tiny daggers which they hold between their teeth. They do occassionally stand on their hind legs but never take a weapon into their front paws.
Live-Action TV
- Shuriken Sentai Ninninger: Shiro Ninjer's Otomo Nin, Wanmaru, is a dog mecha with a kunai attached to his mouth.
- Wishbone: In the show's fantasy segments, Wishbone frequently carries objects in his mouth. Instances with weapons include a sword in "Cyranose" and a spear in "The Roamin' Nose."
Tabletop Games
- The first set of miniatures for Animal Adventures, a supplement for Dungeons & Dragons, includes Tedric the Chihuahua Rogue. Being both a dog and a rogue, Tedric lives up to his class's Knife Nut tendencies by clutching his dagger in his little chihuahua jaws.
Video Games
- Great Grey Wolf Sif from Dark Souls takes up the blade of their former master Artorias in order to defend Artorias's grave and holds it in their teeth, enabling them to use some of the Abysswalker's moves.
- Equestria at War: Downplayed. As this is a mod for Hearts of Iron IV, it does feature the many creatures of the world of Equestria (both canon and non) utilizing human armaments like guns, knives, and so on. Some creatures, such as griffons, have hand-like talons, if not having hands entirely like the yeti, but equines, penguins, bears, and others use guns just like everyone else. Ponies in particular zig-zag the trope, as unicorns have magic as a means to manipulate these weapons, and pegasi have wings, which are shown to behave somewhat like hands, but earth ponies have no such advantage yet use guns without issue. However, in addition to all of this, each species has their own racial tech tree which shows that they are using their natural defenses in addition to their other weapons.
- While in the Pridelands during Kingdom Hearts II, Sora transforms into a lion cub. He has to hold his Keyblade between his teeth in order to use it.
- D Dog in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain can be given a knife that he can use to execute sneak kills while active as Snake's buddy. His knife is sheathed at his side, and he pulls it out using his mouth when preparing to take down an enemy.
- Foxes in Minecraft pick up dropped items in their mouths. If a fox is holding a weapon in its mouth, it will use the weapon when attacking.
- In Ōkami, Tachigami, the mouse Celestial Brush god of Power Slash, holds his sword in his mouth. Interestingly, Amaterasu, the lupine main character, does not hold her glaive weapons in her mouth; she carries them around on her back instead.
- Persona 3 has Koromaru, an albino shiba inu who can also use a persona. Apart from his persona, Cerberus, Koromaru also uses knives in combat, and will hold them in his mouth to use them.
- Zacian, the legendary Pokémon on the cover of Pokémon Sword, holds the Rusted Sword in their mouth when in Crowned Sword form. Otherwise, in their Hero of Many Battles form, they will simply attack like any other canine Pokémon.
- The combat monsters employed by jaegers throughout the Trails Series occasionally hold double-sided knives in their mouths.
- Team Pet Repede, the dog party member from Tales of Vesperia uses daggers as his weapon of choice, and holds them in his mouth.
Webcomics
- Crimson Flag: After being feralized Bryce usually relies on his Flying Weapon to fight, but he does wield it with his mouth occasionally.
- The Gods of Arr-Kelaan: After Beyurn turns Krushcor's barbarians into pigs they pick up their swords in their mouths and slaughter one another, knowing that their patron god will resurrect them. Or not, as Thanatria chooses then to issue a moratorium on resurrections.
- Swords: The Rapier Tapir is a tapir armed with a sword in its mouth. It is highly skilled, shown dispatching several opponents including other armed four-limbed animals such as the Pret-Y-Pus (a platypus) and the Allez Gator (an alligator).
Web Original
- Hamster's Paradise: The calliducyons are a family of sapient canine-like rodents that lack grasping appendages. However, this hasn't stopped them from making and using weapons with their teeth, with some using clubs or even torches to bash their enemies, and others gnawing bones or branches in a sharp point and wielding it as a spear. The coastal baywulves are especially well known for their skills with the "woodtooth" as they call them, and will using them to kill marine prey many times their size.
- In this Not Always Legal story, a snapping turtle grabs the nightstick of a police officer after having been pushed off a road by said police officer with the nightstick.
Officer: "11-10, be advised, suspect is now armed and attempting to flee."
- "How to Reload an AK as a Wolf", by Letvinity shows how a wolf can reload an AK - the wolf uses its mouth to either hold the AK steady while loading, or to seat the magazine into the rifle.
- Rocket Jump made a John Wick parody called "Dog Wick", where John is killed instead of John's dog, leading to the canine going on a rampage with a gun in its mouth.
"Do you have any idea who was the guy you killed? You killed... John Wick's dog's... human!"
- Wolf Song: The Movie: A couple characters fight with daggers they carry in their jaws, despite the whole cast being wolves. The rest fight normally, with claws and teeth.
Western Animation
- American Dad!: In "Less Money, Mo' Problems", Stan and Francine travel to a bad neighborhood, and see a dog carrying a gun in its mouth (which it has no trouble firing).
- The Simpsons: In "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", during the montage of "alternate shooter of Mr. Burns" scenes, one of them is of the Simpsons' dog, Santa's Little Helper, who somehow shoots Burns while holding the gun in his mouth.
Real Life
- Internet sensation Lady Pinto Bean is a dog who often wields LARP swords in her mouth in mock battles.