On a symbolic level, he represents a man recently freed from the chains of slavery (his dragging leash). He seems lost with his new-found freedom, tripping over the leash, still in the mentality of slavery. He tries to befriend the Child, who drags him home, where bad things will happen.
The dark brown dog enters the story, symbolizing a former slave. The little brown dog is introduced with a rope around his neck, symbolizing the former slavery he had recently been freed of.
