Snitter

"'m inside my head now, and it's where I should be."

- Snitter



Snitter is one of the two main protagonists (alongside Rowf) of Richard Adams' 1977 book The Plague Dogs, and its 1982 animated film adaptation. He is a fox terrier who once had a kind and loving master named Alan Wood until he was hit by a car and was sold to a scientific research facility, where scientists experiment on his brain. He and Rowf escape the lab and have to survive in the wild with the help of a fox known as he Tod.

He was voiced by John Hurt, who also played Hazel from the 1978 film Watership Down, and Winston Smith from the 1984 adaptation of George Orwell's Ninteen Eighty-Four.

Biography
He once had a beloved and caring master, but when he was hit by a car, Snitter was sold to a research lab by his wicked sister, where he meets up with a black lab named Rowf. The scientists in the lab have performed numerous brain surgeries on Snitter, merging his conscious and subconscious mind. This causes him to have nightmarish flashes and dreams at random times, whether he is asleep or awake. Frequently he hallucinates the sight of his master approaching, and turns round in joyful greeting, only to find there is no one there.

After another experiment on Rowf, Snitter squeezes to his cage and they discover that his door is unlatched. They explore the facility in order to escape until they sneak into an incinerator. While Snitter starts to dream about his master, the two dogs realize that they're about to be burned as the scientists prepare to start up the incinerator before they narrowly escape.

Initially relieved and eager to experience their new freedom, the dogs are soon faced not only with the realities of life in the wild but with another more terrifying realization; they are being hunted by their former captors. They come to reluctantly befriend a fox known as The Tod in order to obtain food in the wild; they initially hunt domestic sheep grazing on the local hills. Snitter hopes for a new home as he once had a master. However, when he comes across a Jewish man named David Ephraim, he accidentally steps onto the trigger as he tries to jump into the man's arms, causing the gun to shoot into the man's face. As time passes, the two dogs grow thin and bony, having to steal more and more food while still avoiding capture. Rowf drives the Tod away after he selfishly had a nest of chicken eggs to himself. They head out to the farm to kill a chicken and they are caught by the farmers, but the wife lets them go. On a snowy day, they raid a car driver's groceries and are pursued by a hunter hired by the whitecoats. The Tod returns to help them and he jumps the hunter, causing him to fall to his death. The two dogs scavenge his corpse and the authorities find the remains of the hunter. As the three wander about aimlessly, the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment and the media are roped into the pursuit, driven by rumors of the two dogs carrying bubonic plague and murdering humans and sheep.

The Tod comes up with a plan to distract the hunters while Snitter and Rowf make a run for the train, but he eventually gets killed. Fortunately, the fox's distraction was long enough for the two dogs to make it to the sea. As they make it to Ravenglass, they are chased by the scientists in a helicopter until they reach the shoreline. As the army close in on the dogs, Snitter claims to see an island and starts to swim and Rowf reluctantly follows. The dogs swim in a mist, but they can't see the island. Snitter is about to lose hope until Rowf claims to see the island and urges Snitter to keep paddling as they disappear behind the mist.

Fate
In the book, they were eventually rescued by two naturalists named Peter Scott and Ronald Lockley and hauled onto their boat. The naturalists nurture the dogs to health and Snitter admits that he made the island up. However, Rowf told him that it wasn't made up, because the humans rescued them and they are finally free from their suffering against the whitecoats. They finally make it to shore, where they are finally reunited with their master, Alan Wood. Hot Bottle Bill and the Under Secretary want to shoot the dogs, but are confronted by Major Rose and Digby Driver and tell them that it's illegal to use guns near a nature reserve. They leave in their car as Rowf chases them away. Mr. Wood and the two dogs then head for home as Digby Driver and Major Rose help them on the way.

In the film, it is implied that they drowned and found peace in death as they are finally put out of their misery. This was the original ending of the book until the readers requested the author to alter his ending. An island is shown, possibly as a metaphor for the afterlife.

Trivia

 * Snitter represents Fiver from Richard Adams' Watership Down. However, unlike Fiver, who has the ability to forsee certain events, Snitter only hallucinates as a result of his vivisectional experiments by the whitecoats.
 * Snitter had black spots in the book, while he had brown spots in the film.
 * In the book, Snitter mentions mice running around in his head.
 * In the book, there were times where Snitter was jealous of his master's telephone and vacuum cleaner and thought they were some kind of animals.
 * Richard Adams was originally going to include Snitter and Rowf drowning at the end like the film did until the readers insisted on him softening his ending, so they can achieve a happy ending.
 * In the book, it is revealed that Snitter lied to Rowf about the island's existence, so he could have them escape the army. While they were being rescued by the two naturalists, Snitter admitted that he made up the island to Rowf before they were about to finally be reunited with Snitter's long-lost owner.