Mutt Dogs, also known as Mutt Wolves, are very large dog-like human-like mammals that appeared in the Hunger Games films.
Plot[]
In the 74th Hunger Games, the Gamemakers released a pack of wolf-like creatures on the final three tributes, Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, and Cato. These creatures were able to balance on their hind legs, jump very high, and had four-inch long razor-sharp claws. Each of the mutts resembled one of the tributes who had died previously in the Games, had a collar marked with the district number of the tribute it was based on, and had eyes that looked remarkably human.
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An example of a Wolf mutt
This was achieved by using Capitol technology to recreate the humans, mixed with a form of wolf. This made them look so much like their tribute, that Peeta wondered if they had been made using the tributes' real eyes. The muttations mortally wounded Cato trying to kill him but he was armored with some Capitol-created armour. Katniss and Peeta listened to him suffer for the night before she was able to take a mercy shot and put him out of his misery. The 74th Hunger Games was the only known year that these creatures were used, acting as a painful and effective weapon to drive together the remaining tributes at the Cornucopia. Katniss recognized five wolf mutts: Glimmer, Foxface, the boy from District 9, Thresh and Rue. Katniss realized what these muttations were when she shot the wolf mutt that looked like was Glimmer.
A wolf mutt being created at the Gamemakers' room.
In the film, the mutts don't resemble the tributes at all. They look more like generic large, vicious, bulky dogs. They run on all fours, and resemble each other. In the book they could balance on their hind legs and jump high, but in the film they did not. The wolf muttations had brown, grey, black, or silver fur, and short muzzles. The Gamemakers designed these beasts in the Control Room, where they monitor everything that goes on in the games. The mutts are first seen when Lucia, a Gamemaker, shows a hologram of one to Seneca Crane for evaluation. He says that they're excellent, so she inserts it into the Games. In the film, the mutts are responsible for the deaths of Cato and Thresh. At the end of the scene, the muttations run off into the woods, instead of jumping into a tube which leads back to the Capitol like in the book. Also in the film, Katniss gives Cato a mercy shot a lot earlier.