Brian is an anthropomorphic white Labrador. He can talk, walks mostly on his hind legs and uses his front legs as arms. He drives a second generation Toyota Prius and is often portrayed as the only sensible “person” in the Griffin family. Brian is Stewie’s best friend. Many subplots in the series revolve around the two of them. Occasionally, the two are also the focus of the plots. Brian and Stewie live a love-hate relationship, constantly arguing and humiliating each other, but also always showing appreciation for each other. In the episode “Brian and Stewie” they admit that they love each other as friends and give meaning to each other’s lives.

Brian loves to drink dry martinis and shows withdrawal symptoms in various episodes when he tries to stop drinking. He occasionally smokes, and regularly smokes marijuana. After a brief stint as a drug-sniffing dog, he becomes addicted to cocaine, but manages withdrawal and gets sober.

His parents are Coco and Biscuit, who were normal dogs, although Brian’s human traits have been present since he was a puppy. He claims his father was a racist, and Brian seems to have inherited those feelings. Brian went to Brown University, an elite university, but dropped out one course before graduating. He is also an Iraq war veteran, Stewie had signed them both up for the army. Family Guy uses a fluid timeline where the characters don’t age much, so you always assume the show is set in the current year. However, some of the characters, like Meg Griffin, have aged two to three years since episode one, while others, like Stewie and Brian, have aged very little. At the beginning of the series Brian was 7, now he is 8. Despite his intelligence, Brian occasionally shows conventional dog behaviour. He barks at the postman and is very sad on Sundays when the postman doesn’t come. He is scared of the hoover, which Lois calls “Mr Hoover”.