First post here. Long time lurker.
Remember episode 12 : Locke said "No! I like dogs". I doubt it wasn't intentional from the writers.
So... Locke = Jacob???

From Belgium.

creepy. the paw looks like a manhand. O_O it could be a briard, but it reminds me a bit of bloodhound too. (it looks like it's resting its head in a man-ish hand.. and the other hand is casually infront of it. like a human-pose)

why would Jacob have a picture of a dog anyway?? and did anyone see a hairy arm hit the glass window when Jacob was throwing his fit?

First, I recognized that it was some sort of terrier. It could be either an Airedale mix, as suggested, or a Briard, as also suggested. I knd of like the humor of it being a Briard, as in the Others are its herd. Does Jacob go back to the OT and represent a herdsman of sorts?
I, too, can see a human face in the painting. It looks sort of like Merlin. Is Jacob a merlineasque figure bing held in a version of the Crystal Cave?

"The Eye says" has the right idea.. their link shows the following:
Apparently, that pooch you see in Jacob's house is a painting of Lulu, as in the dog of Jack Bender, executive producer director and all the rest on Lost. Interesting stuff, especially as we know he picks up his brush quite a lot for the show - like the mural in the Swan, those Thomas paintings and those in the Widmore office. There does seem a little discrepancy though as, indeed I'm no artist connoisseur, but the Lulu pic seems a bit different to some of Jack's other work. At any rate, it answers the question of the dog's breed - female Airedale-terrier mix

appears like it may be a Briard ( would support a french connection to rousseau, but other than that, i know nothing.
this quote about breed standard from web:
"The Briard is an ancient French breed, also known as the Chien Berger de Brie. Briards are depicted in artwork going back to the eighth century, and described in records from the fourteenth century. They have a rich documented history through the centuries.

Thomas Jefferson imported Briards into this country in 1789. One hundred and thirty three years later, the first litter of Briards was registered with the American Kennel Club. The Briard is a herding dog, bred to work. They will assist the shepherd in taking the flock out of the farm yard, safely down the road, and into a field that has been partly harvested. The Briard acts as a living fence, a boundary, left with the flock to keep them in the harvested part of the field, away from the crops they must not touch. When the shepherd returns, the Briard gathers his flock, and moves it back to the farmyard. "

I think it looks like sprocket from Fraggle Rock. So maybe what they are telling us is that everyone on the island are nothing but a bunch of puppets.

maybe a self portrait of Jacob..he looks doggish to me

If I stare at it long enough, I can sort of see the three hooded figures that Firelily mentions. Maybe it's one of those pictures that's two pix in one, like "Do you see the beautiful lady in front of the mirror, or do you see the old hag in the hat?"

I'm so proud of myself because this is the first thing I've ever noticed for myself on a first-through viewing before checking out SWLS, and my first thought was "It's a dog... an old old old dog... yellow lab or golden... perhaps it's been experimented on by the Others a la Rats of NIMH ... and it's got something to do with Vincent."

For what it's worth, my dog almost always rests with her front paws crossed like that, and she's (mostly) a yellow lab...

On second thought, a change of idea to my prior comment to the image being a
' dog ' I think the image is really a man or a man/dog. He's his own best friend.

btw, the paw(s) looks like a human hand

[b][/b]I like the image of the dog. Evidently aka Jacob likes dogs. Maybe it's where Vincent has been hanging, lol [color=Purple][/color]

The light that is shining on the dog appears to be moonlight coming through the window.

If Jacob doesn't use technology, where is the light coming from that is shining on the dog?

The posted link to the Lulu article answers "who", but here's my thought on "why": If anyone remembers the cartoon The Secret of NIMH, you'll recall that the rats/mice/other animals of NIMH were subjected by humans to a myriad of horrible scientific experiments which caused psychosis and other nasty effects in the animals, but ultimately led to the mice and rats gaining human intelligence. The dog in the painting looks just like Nicodemus, the wizardlike leader of the intelligent rats (minus the piggy-snout nose). FWIW, the resemblance hit me hard enough to comment. Could this be insight into Ben's and/or the "new" Dharma's motivation and purposes? Probably nothing, maybe something.

The lighting makes this painting look so haunting. At the head of the dog, it resembles three hooded figures or perhaps a three-headed figure - Cerberus perhaps?

It looks like a dog to me.

(E-Rich - that was the funniest post!)

actually, to me it looks like what we see as the eyes and nose, as the hooded faces of three men in cloaks. like an optical illusion. I might just be nuts though.... but it looks like the faces have eyes.

i can see a face hide in that picture...

i can also see dead people but who cares?

Golden Lab?! Just a guess.

Perhaps the dog is a mastif? The image reminds me of those old paintings of them a bit.

I am a veterinary student, so I know my dogs pretty well. Definately not a St. Bernard or Sheepdog. The ghostly lighing makes it seem as if it has long fur, but it doesn't, except for the hair on the lower part of the front legs. I thought wolfhound at first, but they have more wirey hair, especially around the muzzle. DEFINTELY not a lab. I would say it is a dog in the hound family but which one, tough to tell. So many look similar. Also, it was very common for portraits to be painted of hunting dogs back in the day although they usually were painted next to their master.

I think it looks like the mystery is solved: this Blog has the answer Clickie

I think it looks like a St. Bernard

It kinda looks like Christian...

I think it looks liek a mastiff. Irish wolfhounds have long wiry hair.

The dog is definately an Irish Wolfhound.
These are large sometimes great dane sized dogs with what seems like a beard.

Clickie

I'm thinking Irish Wolfhound as well. Bloodhounds do have very long legs, but this leg seems to be wire-haired. also, it's a bit lighter in color than most bloodhounds. Maybe a lab, but most yellow labs don't have that much of a darkening around the eye. It happens, but not much. One thing that would make it interesting if it's an Irish Wolfhound is that they have notoriously short lives. What with seeing Richard appear ageless after a few decades of flashbacks, an old irish wolfhound would seem to be in the same anomaly as a polar bear on a tropical island...

maybe its a portrait of an experiment ala dr.meureou(is that how u spell it ..lol) it kinda looks like folded human arms and the eyes are a little more human than dog...gah! now im creeped out... har

Definatley a Labrador, same as Vincent.
I can see where the 'long jowles' appear but I am convinced thats just the lighting, just concentrate on the eyes and nose, cannot possibly be any other breed.
The leg and paw are consistent with it being a lab too.

I'm in agreement with the Wolfhound theory, looks like either an Irish wolfhound or Scottish Deerhound.
those paws are way to long big and hairy to be a blood hound and way to much facial hair....

Very much a dog. Maybe it's a nod to the fact that Jacob is one of the three heads of Cerberus, the "three-headed-guard-dog" smoke monster that roams the island. Maybe there are two other phantoms trapped on the island somewhere.

Not a dog. This is an image from "The Island of Doctor Moreau."

the hounds of Baskerville! Sherlock at its finest! It does look like a hound of some sort.

Hound for sure, most likely a Bloodhound

sorry about that... the site was really laggy. i'm embarrassed

At first i wasn't sure how the dog was really important (i'm still really not sure i guess)... but what i find interesting is how it is so clearly lit. I looks like a display-light is right above the picture. Implying the existance of some sort of electricity and newer technology in Jacobs place. If that is the case, is Ben lying about yet another thing? But then again, I could be seeing it wrong. About the dog, I think it's a bloodhound too. Judging by the droopy eyes and long jowels, it's at least something similar to me. http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/customergraphics/bloodhound/bloodhound2.jpg

At first i wasn't sure how the dog was really important (i'm still really not sure i guess)... but what i find interesting is how it is so clearly lit. I looks like a display-light is right above the picture. Implying the existance of some sort of electricity and newer technology in Jacobs place. If that is the case, is Ben lying about yet another thing? But then again, I could be seeing it wrong. About the dog, I think it's a bloodhound too. Judging by the droopy eyes and long jowels, it's at least something similar to me. http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/customergraphics/bloodhound/bloodhound2.jpg

At first i wasn't sure how the dog was really important (i'm still really not sure i guess)... but what i find interesting is how it is so clearly lit. I looks like a display-light is right above the picture. Implying the existance of some sort of electricity and newer technology in Jacobs place. If that is the case, is Ben lying about yet another thing? But then again, I could be seeing it wrong. About the dog, I think it's a bloodhound too. Judging by the droopy eyes and long jowels, it's at least something similar to me. http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/customergraphics/bloodhound/bloodhound2.jpg

hmm.. dog picture at Jacob's house. hmm... Vincent running free in the jungle for over a season now. I think I know who's going to save Locke ;D

DEFINITELY Irish Wolfhound.

BTW, how do you use the "insert image"?

I'd say thats a bloodhound, those eyes seems to familiar.

Not that it has any significance, but it looks to me like a canine Mona Lisa imitation. And I agree that it is a yellow lab, which gets my head spinning about Vincent's role - he's sort of appeared as a guide like Ben's mom and Jack's dad. Hmm...

It has the facial hair of an airdale terrier, but has the eyes and ears of a lab or golden. Hmmmm... My golden has huge paws too, its definitely a dog. My guess is that is an aged yellow lab or golden.

It looks like a Saint Bernard to me. My Grandmother has had that type of dog as long as I've been around.

Id almost say polar bear... look at the size of the paws keep in mind we are only seeing part of the picture

Read the title for this and thought that it would have been incredibly interesting if it was a yellow lab (Retrievers of Truth, explaining Vincent a little more maybe). It sadly definitely isn't.

It's definitely bigger than any kind of terrier. It has a much longer build.

im pretty sure it looks like a mastiff

Jacob was saying help me....Find my dog. Ha Ha

To me, it looks like a Yorkie or a Scottish Terrier. But it's too dark to tell.

I was going to guess wolfhound...looks like a hound to me.

Kind of looks like one of the dogs from the Retrievers of Truth site, but I can't get that site anymore so I'm not sure.

Looks like some sort of wolfhound, but that's just a shot in the dark.