Ein

Ein is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi brought aboard the Bebop by Spike after a failed attempt to capture a bounty. Ein is a data dog: while the televised series only briefly hints on the fact that this means Eins brain was somehow enhanced drastically the manga shows Ed accessing data stored in Eins brain via a virtual realitytype interface with which she has a conversation with a human proprietor. It is obvious that Ein is abnormally intelligent as he is able to answer the telephone drive a car just the wheel use the SSW play shgi and generally do a number of other things that an average canine should not be able to do but he never talks in a human language during the show. He does however speak in Session 18 Speak Like A Child after the credits Ein tells Spike Next Episode: Wild Horses. He is able to speak to other species as demonstrated in Session 17 Mushroom Samba he spoke to a cow with a subtitled bark of Thanks to which the cow has a subtitled moo back of No problem. It is likely that Ed is the only crew member with any idea of Eins capabilities as the other crew members are quick to dismiss Ein and never seem to acknowledge him as more than a pet. Ein initially takes a shine to Jet but when Ed joins the crew he comes around to her as well. Frequently the two trade roles with Ein expressing very human sentiments via facial expression and Ed regressing to a feral state. He went with Ed after she left the crew probably because of his attachment to her. His name is a pun on the Japanese word for dog inu but is also German for one. Ein may also be short for Einstein after Albert Einstein because of the extraordinary intelligence he possesses.