Candy is similar to his dog in several ways. First, they are both old and past their prime. The dog is described as "lame" and Candy has lost a hand. Candy very reluctantly allows the dog to be shot as a way to put him out of his misery. Clearly, his strong identification with his dog makes it difficult to part with it. We then hear how worried Candy is about his own future as he asks eagerly to be part of George and Lennie's dream of owning their own small farm. In talking to George and Lennie, he compares himself to his dog:
You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs.
In other words, Candy sees his dog as having met a better fate than he will once he is let go from the ranch. But their ends are similar: both essentially lose the chance to live once they are too old to work. For Candy, the dream of the farm provides some hope: he imagines cooking and hoeing in the garden and being able to stay alive in his old age with companionship and dignity.
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