Napoleon's cadre of privileged guard dogs represent the police in a totalitarian state. They are often likened to Stalin's secret police, but they are not secret: they are an open form of terror. It's important to note that while Orwell was critiquing Stalinist Russia, he was also critiquing any form of government based on terror. He had Nazi Germany on his mind as well as the Soviet Union while writing this work.

In the broadest sense, the dogs symbolize that Napoleon's dictatorial regime is based on violence and terror. They represent that violence. Through show trials, in which the dogs viciously kill animals who "confess" to crimes against the state, the other animals are frightened into silence. Just the presence of the dogs—or a warning growl—can be enough to keep the other animals from speaking out. Like the police in a totalitarian state, the dogs are given special privileges not afforded the rest of the animals.

At the beginning of the story, Orwell writes that Napoleon's main focus is on educating the youth, which differs from Snowball's egalitarian political agenda. Napoleon ends up training nine puppies in the loft of the barn and turns them into extremely loyal, ruthless killers. While Snowball is giving a speech in front of the animals, Napoleon calls on his nine ferocious dogs, and they chase Snowball off the farm. Napoleon then becomes the leader of Animal Farm, and the nine dogs surround him wherever he travels, acting as his personal bodyguards. Napoleon also uses the dogs to intimidate and punish the other animals who disagree with his political decisions. Napoleon's nine ferocious dogs symbolically represent The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, abbreviated NKVD, which was Stalin's secret police force. The NKDV was responsible for carrying out The Great Purge, which occurred from 1936 to 1938 and was notorious for its brutality during Stalin's reign.