Redeclaration of instance variable in a subclass?

Question

public class Animal {
String name;
public Animal() {
name="Generic Animal";
public void makeSound() {
System.out.println("Making an animal sound");
public String getName() {
return name;
public class Dog extends Animal {
String name;
public Dog() {
name = "Fido";
public void makeSound() {
System.out.println("BARK!");
public String getName() {
return name;
public static void main(String[] args) {
Animal a = new Dog();
a.makeSound();
System.out.println("a's name is " + a.name);
Prints out "a's name is Generic Animal. But if I get rid of instance variable name in class Dog, it prints out "a's name is Fido". Why?

Answer 1

Here is a corrected one and an inner class thrown in just for good measure:
class Junk{
  int i;  //class variable has visibility throughout class.
  Junk(){
    i = 4; //assigning 4 to the class variable
  public void myMethod01(){
    int i = 25;
    System.out.println(i); //will print 25
    myInner mi = new myInner(); //inherits 4 to print
  public void myMethod02(){
    System.out.println(i); //will print 4 (if called before myMethod03--what does it print after?)
  public void myMethod03(int i){
    this.i = i;
    i = i - 3;
    System.out.println(i); // will print the argument value - 3
    System.out.println(this.i); //will print the value that was passed in and assigned to the class variable i;
  public static void main(String[] args){
    int i = 55;
    Junk m = new Junk();
    m.myMethod01();
    m.myMethod02();
    m.myMethod03(99);
    System.out.println(m.i); //will print 96 and then 99
    System.out.println(i); //will print 55
  class myInner{
    myInner(){
      System.out.println("myInner inherited value: " + i);  //prints inherited value of i
      myInner01(); // will print out 31
    public void myInner01(){
      int i = 31;
      System.out.println(i); //will print out 31
}