A Dog Named Pluto

Pluto is not a real dog.  He is what you call a cartoon dog.  But he was named after a real planet.  Okay, well, it was a real planet back when Pluto got named after it.  But now it isn't a real planet anymore.  It's just a dwarf planet and it's part of something called the Kuiper belt.  And the way that Pluto the dwarf planet got its name was from the god of the underworld, who was called Pluto by the ancient Romans.

Whew!  That's a complicated way to get your name if you are just a cartoon dog.  Anyway, on August 18, 1930, Pluto got to be in his first Disney cartoon, which was called The Chain Gang.  At that time, he was just a bloodhound without any name at all.  Then on October 23 of that same year, he was in a film called The Picnic, and he played the part of Minnie Mouse's dog, Rover.

But even before this, Pluto the planet was discovered, and it got its name on March 24, 1930.  Of course, like I mentioned before, we now know that Pluto is not a real planet, but only a dwarf planet.  I'm just trying to explain how all these Plutos came along at the same time.

So on May 8, 1931, the Disney people made a cartoon named The Moose Hunt, and it had "Pluto the Pup" in it.  This was the same dog that had already shown up as the nameless bloodhound and then as Rover.  But the animators thought the name "Rover" was too common, so they changed the name to Pluto.  They said this had nothing to do with the planet named Pluto, and maybe they are right about this, or maybe they are lying.  It was way before I was born, so I do not know the real truth about it.

Anyway, Pluto became a very important and popular character in the Disney world.  He was in a lot of cartoons as Mickey Mouse's dog, but he also got to have a starring role in 48 short films during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.  He is the fifth most popular Disney character of all time, after Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy.  And he was awarded the #1 prize in The 100 Greatest Animated Pets of All Time.

Pluto is an important figure in cartoon history because he was designed so that he looked rounder and not as flat as earlier cartoon characters.  Also he was one of the first characters to show what he was thinking just by the way he was animated.

Like a real dog, Pluto does not talk or wear clothes or act like a human.  Goofy does stuff like this, but Pluto doesn't.  Pluto is just a dog.  But he is a very smart and creative dog who can communicate by using facial expressions, barks, whimpers, mumbles, and sign language.

Fifi the Peke was Pluto's first girlfriend.  Fifi was Minnie Mouse's dog.  She and Pluto had a litter of five puppies.  All of these puppies found homes someplace, except one who stayed with Mickey and was named Pluto Junior.  Fifi and Mickey got along okay except if Minnie Mouse was also there, and then Fifi didn't like Mickey much.  I think this is a clear example of resource guarding, which a lot of dogs do, especially with their owners.


A later love interest for Pluto was Dinah the Dachshund.  I couldn't find a whole lot of information about her, except for the fact that sometimes she also dates Butch the Bulldog.

Anyway, Pluto is still a very popular figure, and you can buy all sorts of products that have Pluto pictures on them.  Also you can go to Disneyland or Disney World and have your picture taken with Pluto himself, which would be lots of fun, if you ask me.