[Sazza]

From The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures page 160.

DEVIL'S DANDY DOGS

In the folklore of western Britain, especially around the area of Dartmoor, many stories are told of the Devil's Dandy Dogs - a pack of fire-breathing, fire-eyed hounds led by the devil himself over the moorland on stormy nights. Anyone unlucky enough to get in their way will be torn to pieces, though prayer can turn them aside. They are similar to the Whist Hounds, who hunt on wild nights and are considered to be a sign of imminent death to anyone who sees them. They are said to be the souls of unbaptized children, though others say that they steal such souls. These creatures almost certainly derive from the Celtic Cwn Annwfn, an otherworldly pack with white bodies and red ears, who were led from the underworld by their master Arawn.

[Holiday]

So, they're sort of like Hellhounds?

From Wikipedia:

Quote

A hellhound is a dog of Hell, found in mythology, folklore and fiction. Hellhounds typically have features such as black fur color, glowing red eyes, super strength or speed, ghostly or phantom characteristics, and sometimes even the ability to talk. Hellhounds are often associated with fire, and may have fire-based abilities and appearances, hellhounds appear out of nowhere suddenly and have been known to vanish in a blink of an eye. They are often assigned to guard the entrances to the world of the dead, such as graveyards and Indian burial grounds, or undertake other duties related to the afterlife or the supernatural, such as hunting down lost souls or guarding a supernatural treasure. As legend goes, if one happened to see the hellhound three times, he or she will die an abrupt and unseen death.

[Bright One]

Celtic / Welsh in origin, interesting. Often these things are linked to the Anglo-Saxon and Viking pre-Christian religions, which are themselves closely linked, and often in the Christian era "Woden" or "Odin" would be interchangable with the devil, or simply demonized. The Welsh kingdoms of Britain held out against the West Saxons until the eighth century, shortly before the vikings arrived, and the kingdom of the West Saxons was the only Anglo-Saxon kingdom to survive the onslaught of the viking Danes in the ninth century. The West Saxons were Christianized when they conquered the West Welsh so there wouldn't have been much of a pagan Anglo-Saxon influence, nor would there have been a Danish pagan influence as there was in the rest of England - particularly the Danelaw. So, the pagan traditions that might have been demonized by the Celtic / Welsh Christians would have been the Celtic / Welsh pagan traditions. The far south west is said to have been relatively free from Roman influences too compared to the rest of the Britannia province so there might have been a lack of Roman / Imperial religious influences also.

This post has been edited by Bright One: 12 August 2009 - 06:02 PM

[Holiday]

There is a demon dog in Catalan mythology named Dip that is lame in one leg, and sucks people’s blood.

I read about it in a book.