# In "Silence of the Lambs", did she keep the dog? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2017, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961 "2017-09-22T11:00:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/1 "2017-09-22T11:00:17Z")
Well? Near the end of the movie, we see the just-rescued Catherine Martin clutching Precious, the newly-deceased Buffalo Bill’s little bichon frise. Do you think she kept the dog? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/2 "2017-09-22T15:03:40Z")
Definitely. She was holding that dog tight and wouldn’t let the officers take it away from her. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/3 "2017-09-22T15:26:28Z")
Well, she did break its leg. So I assume she at least got it to the vet. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/4 "2017-09-22T17:05:39Z")
I voted no, thinking she has a cat waiting for her. Also, it seems like it would be a constant reminder of her captor. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/5 "2017-09-22T17:21:19Z")
In the book, IIRC, one of her rescuers (a fireman?) keeps the dog. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/6 "2017-09-26T20:16:11Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Well? Near the end of the movie, we see the just-rescued Catherine Martin clutching Precious, the newly-deceased Buffalo Bill’s little bichon frise. > > Do you think she kept the dog? While she’s last seen clutching the dog as if for dear life, I never took it as showing any affection for the dog itself. That dog was her last-ditch effort to save herself in a situation where it didn’t seem like she’d be rescued. Catherine was in shock and clutching the dog defensively, like her life still depended on it. I imagine that once she calmed down a bit, she would have dropped that dog off at the first animal shelter she could find; maybe even paid them to put it down. Why keep around something that’s bound to remind you of the worst thing to ever happen in your life? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/7 "2017-09-26T20:41:07Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > While she’s last seen clutching the dog as if for dear life, I never took it as showing any affection for the dog itself. That dog was her last-ditch effort to save herself in a situation where it didn’t seem like she’d be rescued. Catherine was in shock and clutching the dog defensively, like her life still depended on it. > > I imagine that once she calmed down a bit, she would have dropped that dog off at the first animal shelter she could find; maybe even paid them to put it down. Why keep around something that’s bound to remind you of the worst thing to ever happen in your life? Cause gurl is on fleek!! Shes strong AF! She didn’t go down like the others, she had a plan! A good one! It’s a reminder that she didn’t surrrender. “Yeah that fucker is dead, and I got his little dog too!!” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/8 "2017-09-27T00:25:09Z")
That whole sequence brings up some what-ifs: 1. How long would Catherine have lived if Clarice hadn’t come bumbling along? Minutes? Hours? 2. Would Precious have been a casualty in a Catherine/Jame pit match? 3. Was Catherine the last one needed for the woman’s suit? That thing looked pretty complete… Oh, and I think she kept the dog. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/9 "2017-09-27T01:31:28Z")
I always believed she kept the dog. The most disturbing part of the book to me was how Buffalo Bill has a sort of transient thought about how no matter how weak his victims were from starvation, dehydration, lack of movement and everything when it was finally time to do the deed, and they saw all the instruments or tools he had to basically kill and skin them, they always fought back with a tremendous amount of strength and tenacity upon the realization of what was about to happen to them. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/10 "2017-09-27T02:15:27Z")
I think she kept the dog as a coping mechanism, to feel as if she’s helped “rescue” poor Precious from the clutches of her evil master. It’s not the dog’s fault that Buffalo Bill was such a jerk. > [@ivylass](#): > > Well, she did break its leg. She told Bill that Precious had broken her leg in the fall, but she could have been lying. I don’t think she was ever capable of actually hurting the dog. > [@JohnT](#): > > 1. How long would Catherine have lived if Clarice hadn’t come bumbling along? Minutes? Hours? > 2. Would Precious have been a casualty in a Catherine/Jame pit match? > 3. Was Catherine the last one needed for the woman’s suit? That thing looked pretty complete… 1. A couple minutes at most – Bill had his gun in hand to kill her just as the doorbell rang. The book goes into further detail, mentioning how disappointed Bill was that he wouldn’t be able to use her skin. 2. Huh? 3. What I never understood is why Bill needed more than one woman. Why not just kidnap one really large woman and use her whole skin? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/11 "2017-09-27T03:11:22Z")
#2: Catherine had the dog hostage. Assuming Jame didn’t just shoot her, would the dog have been injured while they were grappling? (But, yeah, you’re right: he probably just would’ve shot her.) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/12 "2017-09-27T03:35:57Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > In the book, IIRC, one of her rescuers (a fireman?) keeps the dog. I’m pretty sure Thomas Harris ends the climactic chapter with something along the lines of “… one of the state troopers, ordered to drop the dog off at an animal shelter, brought it home to his children instead.” It never occurred to me that Catherine would keep the dog. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/13 "2017-09-27T05:16:27Z")
Of course she didn’t keep the dog, you psycho! I should eat your liver, just for asking such a question. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/14 "2017-09-29T19:56:49Z")
Harris’s most recent book, “Silence of the Bichons” just hasn’t caught on. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-silence-of-the-lambs-did-she-keep-the-dog/796961/15 "2017-10-04T12:57:50Z")
Now, because of Tom Petty’s death, I’m wondering if Catherine Martin was able to listen to “American Girl” ever again…?