Name: Vinny the Snitch
Occupation: Informant
First Appearance: Hot Dog, Canine Defender of the Innocent issue #1

Bio:
Little is known about the mysterious Vinny the Snitch. For reasons that are known only to him, he chose to reveal his presence to Hot Dog in order to offer valuable information services. Vinny's rough-around-the-edges appearance belies a keen intellect and knowledge in many fields of study.

This rat has a near omniscient knowledge of things happening in the criminal world in the city of Gray Lassie. He chooses to use this information to help Hot Dog curtail felonious action, and yet he refuses to do the same for the city's police force.

Behind-the-scenes:
Vinny was created as a tool for the Hot Dog comics to allow exposition to be more directly conveyed. Vinny is a semi-omniscient character who knows more that's going on than any other character. This makes him ideal for imparting critical information to Hot Dog and to the reader, which allows the story proper to get started faster than would otherwise be possible.