Tainted Dog | Bloodborne Wiki

Rabid Dog

Enemy Type	Beast
Health	80 ~ 611
Drops	53 ~ 1134 Blood echoes
Weak	Fire, Thrust & Serrated
Strong	??
Locations	Central Yharnam, Cathedral Ward, Chalice Dungeon, Forbidden Woods, Healing Church Workshop, Nightmare of Mensis, Yahar'gul

Rabid dogs are a common enemy in Bloodborne. These rabid, fast-moving enemies that can be found traveling in packs or assisting Hunter mobs, will relentlessly pursue the Hunter until they lie bleeding at their feet. Sometimes hunters will see stacked kennels around Yharnam and surrounding areas; dogs will eventually break out so be warned.

As mentioned, these dogs are agile and will prove to be difficult to handle, particularly in large numbers. They will attack hunters with leaps, bites and more, and can easily dodge attacks to quickly counter the player.

Strategy

Rabid Dogs are sent reeling by blood-type damage from firearms and the transformed version of the Bloodletter and Chikage
Quite often, they will attack exactly twice, interrupting the Hunter's counter attack. If hit, it is advised to quickstep away before countering.
Eliminating them while they are slowly patrolling is preferred. Do this with items like molotovs or knives.

Rabid Dog Information

These dogs have three variations

Rabid Brown Dog: Found in Cathedral Ward, Central Yharnam and the Forbidden Woods

Rabid Silver Dog: Found in Labyrinths but also in Hypogean Gaol where they obey Snatchers.
Their level of difficulty will vary depending on labyrinth depth vs your NG+ state.
Other than the colors there is no real difference between these and other Rabid Dogs.

Crow-Headed Dog: Found only in the Nightmare of Mensis.
They are the most powerful of their kind found in your NG+ cycle, with the exception of the Red Rabid Dogs found in Yahar'gul.

Rabid Dog

Location
Central Yharnam	80	53
Cathedral Ward	141	184
Chalice Dungeon	145	142
Forbidden Woods	202	593
Healing Church Workshop	204	521
Nightmare of Mensis (Crow-headed variant)	461	762
Yahar'gul (Blood Moon)	611	1134
Yahar'gul (Evening)	141	84

Notes & Trivia

In Central Yharnam, some dogs will still be in a cage. When the player kills them while in the cage, only 38 Blood echoes can be gained.
In the Cathedral Ward, the dog patrolling the area adjacent to the main gate has different HP/Blood Echoes stats. These are 172 HP and 834 Blood Echoes gained.
Rabid are foaming at the mouth and shake their heads as if gravely ill.
They have a lot of inflamed bald patches which could be from fighting with Beasts or a manifestation of the curse itself.
Their eyes are yellow with no real discernible pupil. This is very common among Beasts.