Dag

Dag is the main antagonist of Barnyard. He is Otis' arch-nemesis and the coyotes' leader and boss.

Early life

Little is known about Dag's past, but it was revealed in the film that Otis and the others have met Dag and his pack before and have been lifelong enemies.

Personality

Dag is a selfish, greedy, lazy, short-tempered, violent, mean-spirited, vicious, sadistic, self-centered meat eater. Despite his ruthless, evil nature, he is something of a coward, more likely to run away from violence than confront it. So as such, he got the coyotes to do most of his dirty work for him. In the face of his cowardice, he possessed great strength of will and determination, and he would end a conflict to cling to his hunger craze. Due to his carnivorous drive, Dag would do all he could to appease his hunger, even if it meant killing animals. It was even his drive that made him contemptuous as he was, in fact, a real lady killer and he used heavy seduction to his advantage. Dag is very clever and threatening, and he shows weak charisma and mock cordiality. To show how this sadistic desire went, he had a ring of hens' feet from their previous engagement. He acted seductive around the hens as his means of baiting them before eating them.

Appearance

He is especially cruel and sadistic and shows despicable schadenfreude towards Ben being killed by him and his coyotes on the night of the raid on the hen house, and Otis not being able to be there to save his father before he got killed; and Dag made this a sick joke, along with Otis being with his friends partying instead of helping his father.

Dag is an emaciated and gaunt coyote and has a unkempt, wild look. He is extremely thin to the point where his ribs are exposed and his hip bones can also be seen when standing his hind legs. Despite being boney, this gave him an advantage to speed and agility. Unlike the rest of his pack, Dag has shaggy, distinctive, shocking blood red fur with a light pinkish-red on his stomach and snout, with glowing crimson red eyes and pointed black nose.

At times, he stands up on 4 legs and his hind legs. When on his hind legs, he is taller than Otis on four legs. He also has a short mangy tail with spiked ends. He has large paws with long, curving black claws, black pads on the bottom of his paws, and long sharp fangs. Dag also has two notches that are close to each other on his left ear and a thin whitish-red gash over his left eyelid.

Biography

Dag and his gang have had previous encounters with the Barnyard animals, most likely attempts on the hens but were stopped by the Barnyard's leader Ben, whom Dag greatly feared.

Dag and five of his gang break into the henhouse and nearly steals a few of the hens, only to be stopped by Ben. Dag was instantly scared the moment he saw Ben but quickly changed his attitude to hide his fear. Dag pointed out how he and his coyotes out numbered Ben, but Ben was unfazed and challenged the coyotes. While Ben initially had the upper hand in the beginning, Dag snuck up behind him and bit Ben's neck. As the fight continued outside, Dag snuck behind Ben while he was distracted with the other coyotes, and bit his leg, giving him rabies. Ben collapsed and the other coyotes pounced on him. Dag attempted to sneak off with some hens, but Ben grabbed his leg, used him to beat up the other coyotes, and came out victorious. Ben also spared Dag, who cowardly ran off. Despite saving the hens, Ben was heavily injured from his fight and collapsed in front of the henhouse. When Ben's adoptive son Otis found him he held Ben in his arms to comfort him, but Ben succumbed from his injuries after his fight, dying in Otis' arms.

Later, Otis tries to take vengeance on Dag, but he loses his burst of courage as soon as the coyote noticed him. Dag sadistically shames Otis by telling him that things would have been different if he was there for Ben. He then makes a "deal" with Otis, telling him that he will only steal a few animals each night, but if Otis tried to do anything about it, Dag and his pack would slaughter every animal in sight, possibly including the farmer. In the morning, Otis decides to leave the barnyard, realizing that he has no chance.

However, the next morning, Otis was informed that the coyotes took all of the hens and his chick friend named Maddy, making Otis realize that Dag double-crossed him, since he was not expecting him and the coyotes until tonight. Otis then went off to the junkyard to rescue the chickens.

Otis arrives at the junkyard just in time to prevent Dag from devouring Maddy, but Dag's goons easily overpower him. Dag snuck around Otis and bit his leg, just as he had done to Ben, and the rest of the pack pounced on him. Dag mocks Otis, and joins the rest of the pack as they prepare to eat the hens. Fortunately, Miles the mule, Pip the mouse, Freddie the ferret, Peck the rooster, Pig the pig, and the Jersey Cows arrive to help Otis and Dag's goons were easily defeated.

Eventually, Dag tries a sneak attack on Otis similarly to how he overpowered Ben, but Otis was warned by Peck, who successfully did a loud crow. Otis caught Dag by the throat, hit his head against a bus window and threatened to punch him to death in a fit of rage, like his father did; but instead, Otis warns the evil coyote to never come back and he fearfully agrees, making Dag scared enough to believe Otis will kill him thr next time he sees him. Otis then whacks Dag with a golf club, sending him flying far, far out into the distance while howling in pain, finally ending his & coyote packs' menace once and for all & avenging Ben and rest of the hens which Dag and his coyote packs had killed.

Even though it is most likely that he survived, it is unknown what has happened to Dag afterwards. It is possible that he and the other coyotes still live in the junkyard and presumably found new hunting grounds. Either way, it's possible that they never bothered Otis and the farm animals again after their defeat. Now they're too scared to face Otis and his friends again.

Trivia

• One of the main criticisms Barnyard received was some similarities with The Lion King, comparing Dag to Scar. This is fitting as both of them kill the protagonist's father, let aside that Dag is just as evil as Scar and appears skinny like him. The only real difference between the two is that Dag hunts for food (albeit in a sadistic manner) and Scar wants power. Additionally Dag is unrelated to Otis and Ben, unlike Scar who is the uncle of Simba and the brother of Mufasa.
  • Dag does not appear in any episode of Back at the Barnyard (though the show itself deviates from the movie's events), but he was seen in several games.
• At one point in the film, Dag says that his favorite part of the chicken to eat is the skin.
• Besides poultry, Dag also craves beef. This is the reason he bit Otis and Ben to get the taste of cow.
• Dag became Pooh's enemy in Winnie the Pooh Goes to Barnyard: The Original Party Animals.
• Dag became Simba, Timon and Pumbaa's enemy in Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa's Adventures of Barnyard: The Original Party Animals.
• Dag became Kieran and Sora's enemy in Kieran's Adventures of Barnyard: The Original Party Animals.
• Dag made his first guest appearance in a Lion King crossover in Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa's Adventures of Home on the Range where he teamed up with his pack of coyotes to work for Alameda Slim.
• Dag will become Top Cat's enemy in Top Cat Goes to Barnyard.
  • He can be seen as a dark version to Otis as both of them are rather hedonistic in one way (Dag for letting his pack do all the fighting and Otis for preferring to have fun rather than take things seriously). The only difference is that Otis manages to grow out of his hedonism while Dag doesn't.
    • This fits in to the film's message about how "a strong man stands up for himself while a stronger man stands up for others" as while Dag is strong to stand up for himself, Otis is stronger to stand up for others.

Gallery

Dag's Defeat