Most people who have ever owned a dog know what a dog acts like in old age - for reference, see the image above. One of the more peripheral characters on this list, Heen the dog does not show up until around halfway through Howl's Moving Castle. When Grandma Sophie goes to visit the Grand Sorceress, Madam Suliman, she finds this small asthmatic dog walking alongside her. Initially mistaking it for Howl in disguise, she allows this dog to follow along with them for the remainder of the film. While it is difficult to discern what sort of dog he is (a terrier of some kind, maybe?) Heen is the type of amusing side character Ghibli animators specialize at bringing to life. His frail barks and lazy expression amusingly capture the character of a dog that is long past its prime but still has some life left in it- even if its expression is one of constant annoyance with the human characters and plot going on around it. Despite the innocent appearance, Heen is a dog with an agenda. A spy for Madam Suliman, he hides his true goal without much difficulty - as no one suspects a simple dog of espionage. However, despite this seemingly duplicitous job, Heen never brings the main characters to harm. At the end, it is he who manages to convince Madam Suliman to end the futile war effort framing the whole story - quite an accomplishment for a wheezing old mutt.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
