Origin

Dog is the son of Thomas Logan, groundskeeper of the Howlett Estate. Because of the abuse he endures at the hand of his father, he, too, becomes an abusive, hate-filled person. Originally, he was somewhat a friend to James Howlett and Rose, a girl who cared for James, when they were young and frail. However, as he ages, Dog became more and more aggressive. After many rejections from Rose, Dog eventually tried to rape Rose, and when that failed, killed James' pet dog in retaliation. Because of these two incidents, James' father, John, fires Dog's father, Thomas Logan.

Angered by his being fired, Thomas Logan, in a drunken fit, breaks into the Howlett's property with his son. It is revealed that Thomas has been having an affair with Elizabeth Howlett and is the biological father of James. Elizabeth and John had a mutant son before James. Blaming John for the mutation, she instigated an affair to have a human child. Thomas kills John Howlett which causes James Jr.'s mutation to kick in. James extends his bone claws for the first time, kills Thomas Logan, and severely scars Dog's face. Rose, not knowing what to do, takes James away, leaving Dog alone. When the police arrive, Dog blames the whole thing on Rose and James.

Creation

Dog Logan was created by Frank Tieri and Sean Chen and first appeared shadowed in Wolverine issue 166 (2001) and first appeared fully in Origin issue 1, where he was further developed by Paul Jenkins, Joe Quesada and Andy Kubert.

Major Story Arcs

Finding James and Rose

Dog is adopted by Howlett Senior after the events. Dog Logan grows up on the estate and becomes somewhat of a protegee to the old man Howlett Senior. Later, on his deathbed, Howlett Senior wishes to make amends with his grandson, James. He sends Dog to find him and bring him back. Dog tracks him so well even after so many years that it seems his tracking skills are not altogether human. Dog however has different plans then what he was ordered to by Howlett Senior as he tries to kill Rose and James. During a battle between Dog and James Howlett, James tries to kill Dog but ends up killing Rose instead. A horrified James Howlett flees the scene and leaves Dog alone. He was not seen for many years and was presumed to have died years later.

Hellfire Academy

Dog settled for a life off the grid, hunting his own food. One day, he is visited by a version of himself from the future who encouraged him to start hunting Wolverine again. This put him on the radar of the new Hellfire Club. They were starting an academy similar to the Xavier Academy and needed a hunting and fighting coach.

When the Hellfire Academy finally came to blows with the Jean Grey Academy, as it was renamed under Wolverine's stewardship, the Hellfire Academy lost. The whole campus started to get sucked into the Siege Perilous, a mystical gateway related to Academy faculty member, The Philistine. Wolverine offered Dog a chance to come with him and his academy, but Dog refused his help and jumped into the portal.

Dog and Sabretooth Connection

At his conception, many fans speculated if Dog Logan was actually Sabretooth due to some basic similarities. Both Sabretooth and Dog are big Caucasian males with similar appearances, both enjoy killing, both have grudges against Wolverine, both have abusive fathers, and both possess excellent tracking skills. An interviewer asked Paul Jenkins if the character was Sabretooth. Jenkins said he had not intended it to be him, but he wouldn't have a problem with another writer doing it later. The theory picked up steam when Fox movie studio developed X-Men Origin: Wolverine, the first Wolverine solo movie and combined Dog Logan and Sabretooth into a single character. Two months before that movie came out, Marvel Comics finally confirmed that they were two separate characters with the one-shot X-Men Origins: Sabretooth, which depicted Sabretooth's origin. Since then, Dog Logan had returned as an adversary to Wolverine as a member of the Hellfire Academy, where he actually met Sabretooth.