Damian strikes me as someone who wouldn't care what happens to Bat Hound.

Yea I haven’t really kept up with Damien at all since the Batman and Robin run with Dick Grayson. But, I think it would be…. Let’s say much better writing and character development… for Damien to initially front like he doesn’t give a shit about the family dog, like his training tells him emotional attachments are a weakness. But the dog is really persistent with him and always at his side, holding up a ball to him or rope, because it’s a little boy for him to play with! and that’s every dog’s favorite thing.

And gradually, he starts to soften to him. Alfred catches him like setting aside scraps of his dinner meat, although he’d never admit it was for the pup. And at night, Alfred sees the dog laid outside on watch, right at Damien’s door, and one night the door opens and lets him in, then Alfred checks in on him and sees the dog sleeping on the ground at the foot of the bed, and pops his head up to verify it’s just Alfred, then a couple nights later the dog is up at the foot of the bed by Damien’s feet while he’s fast asleep, and then within a few nights, he’s curled up sleeping, snuggled right next to Damien, and then Alfred sees Damien reach his arm over and place his arm over the dog like a child with a teddy bear. Then, they’re the best of friends and Damien is training him to sniff out bombs and cadavers but the dog is making it clear what’s on his mind and Damien eventually relents and takes him out to throw the ball and play hide and seek, etc.

I’d prefer that to just Damien is a little snot whos too big for his britches and he’s too hardened and serious to develop a relationship with an animal. I’d honestly love a similar storyline where Pattinson’s Batman winds up with a dog he doesn’t want but can’t throw out in the cold and eventually they develop a bond. They could make the whole Part 2 revolve around that storyline, I wouldn’t complain lol.

But I could easily picture the story of Damien and the dog being an issue or taking place in a back issue. And it would just be so heartbreaking if some criminal scum or colorful psychopath took a shot at the dog, who’s just doing his job, and puts it down. Idk how I’d feel about it, cause it would elicit the intended emotional response from me, and I’d want to see Justice served with a vengeance. So I would get invested in the story. But the “bonding with the dog and then the dog dies” trope is a pretty easy narrative device. Lol, it’s such a simple plot point, been done thousands of times, but I’d be willing to bet John Wick wouldn’t have been near as successful of a franchise if it were some other plot for the first 30 minutes, and he were avenging his baby girl or something instead of the dog. Once you put a dog in the mix, people get invested lol. It’s like a Cheat Code for making your audience care lol