Arnie Swanton can usually be seen helping Bart Phippin get about. He has the temperament of a good plough horse, mild and sturdy, enough so that even Bart's worst moods tend to bounce off him. It's known but never mentioned in the village that he's gradually losing his sight, an ailment that pushed him to leave the Navy and head inland.

He's probably a poacher, given he keeps a hound and how often the household seems to have rabbit, but given the rapid shrinkage of common land where those that need can hunt no-one cares. Dockie the spay bitch is his eyes and keeps off haunts and fair folk in the hours of darkness, and his big hands and sharpened sense of hearing make quick work of any game to be got.