Taran is an assistant pigkeeper with boyish dreams of becoming a great warrior. However, he has to put the daydreaming aside when his charge, an oracular pig named Hen Wen, is kidnapped by an evil lord known as the Horned King. The villain hopes Hen will show him the way to The Black Cauldron, which has the power to create a giant army of unstoppable soldiers.
No. Gurgi's species is never formally identified, but he is not a dog. An actual dog features as a minor antagonist, chasing the heroes during their initial escape from the Horned King; other than narrowly avoiding being crushed by a castle gate, it does not come to any harm.
Hen Wen the pig is subjected to various abuses when she is captured by the minions of the Horned King, including being chained up, having her face dunked into water and being threatened with a hot coal.