Ghost Dog

The Ghost Dog is an unnamed dog encountered in Dom Beasley's missions in Grand Theft Auto V.

Description
The Ghost Dog is a yellow Labrador Retriever. The only person the dog comes in contact with is Franklin Clinton who is evidently the only one who can see and communicate with the dog.

The dog, along with Dexie and Chop, are the only dogs in Grand Theft Auto V who play a part in a mission.

Events of Grand Theft Auto V
The dog is first encountered in the Vinewood Hills. Franklin follows the dog along a dirt path to where Dom Beasley is found hanging by the lines of his parachute in a tree, appearing to have gotten stuck there from a previous jump. Franklin's interpretation of the dog's barking had indicated that Dom would be in the tree. After Franklin helps Dom untangle himself, the dog disappears without explanation, but then reappears in the mission Uncalculated Risk, where under similar circumstances, Franklin finds the dog barking, this time near the Land Act Dam.

The dog leads him to the edge of the dam, where Dom can be found preparing to jump off of the dam without a parachute. Dom then jumps off of the edge of the dam and dies on impact with the ground, and the dog disappears once again. Strangely, no explanation is given for the dog or its abilities, leading players to form their own conclusions about his nature. The dog's fate remains ambiguous for the rest of the game.

Mission Appearances

 * Risk Assessment
 * Uncalculated Risk

Possible Origins
It is presumed that the ghost of the dog is acting as Dom's guardian angel.

In the mission Uncalculated Risk, Franklin says that the dog says that he is obligated to tell Franklin about what Dom will do, but he doesn't give a shit. This could mean that the Dog is Dom's guardian angel.

On an in-game website known as www.accept-the-chaos.com, there is a picture of a family which includes two children, a father, a mother and the dog. The family was taking a trip in their Regina when they had an accident and crashed into a tree. The whole family, including the dog, died in the accident. The accident location is not clear, but could be near the Vinewood Hills location where Franklin first encounters the dog.

Photographs of a similar retriever can be found in the living room and Tracey's bedroom in the De Santa household, which could indicate that they once owned a dog.

Trivia

 * The dog's ability to communicate only with Franklin could possibly be a reference to both Franklin's caring attitude towards animals (i.e Chop) and the Rough Collie Lassie, a dog who can communicate with humans, usually to get aid for someone in peril.
 * The dog is somewhat similar to the Strange Man in Red Dead Redemption as both are possibly supernatural guardian figures, who appear to the player in a side mission to inform them that others are in peril. Both characters can only be seen by the player, they both have a picture of themselves in some area of the game world and they both inexplicably vanish as soon as their business with the player has concluded.
 * The dog can be killed in Uncalculated Risk.