Dog Collared is a 1950 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.
Title[]
The title is a play on a "dog collar," "collared" meaning apprehending or stopping someone.
Plot[]
Porky learns that it's Be Kind to Animals Week so he pets the first cat he sees, but the cat thinks Porky's crazy. Still, Porky feels good about himself for being kind, so next he pets a huge dog. It returns the affection by pawing and licking Porky until he swats the dog away. The dog cries and Porky feels like a first class heel. He apologizes and the dog starts slobbering all over him again. He swats him again and runs away but the dog follows him. He throws a stick for the dog to fetch, then runs in the opposite direction to his car, but the dog appears in the back seat, causing Porky to wreck.
Porky uses a number of different disguises and modes of transportation to get home, but the dog still manages to follow him there. Porky locks the door and pulls down the shades, but then turns on the television in time to see a report about a missing dog and a five-thousand-dollar reward.
He heads back outside to look for the dog, and finds him about to jump off a bridge. Porky stops him, then takes him to his owner's house. The dog hides when Porky knocks, but the butler says their dog is a talking dog and closes the door. Porky mutters "That's silly, if he could talk I'd keep him myself," and the dog says "Well, fatboy, you got yourself a dog!" before picking Porky up and starting to lick his face.
Availability[]
Porky Pig Tales
Ham on Wry: The Porky Pig Laser Collection
Porky Pig Tales Time-Life edition
Looney Tunes Special Bumper Collection Volume 9
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Porky & Friends: Hilarious Ham (original opening restored)
Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature Vol. 2, Disc 3
Rover Dangerfield (original opening restored, HD)
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
The version shown on ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show cut two scenes that were deemed insensitive to minorities and one scene that showed attempted suicide:
- In the sequence where Porky dons several ethnic disguises to get away with the dog, only the parts where Porky disguises himself as a Chinese man (with the dog doing the same by making his eyes slanted and with a trash can lid on his head as a hat) and an Native American were cut (contrast that with Cartoon Network's version pre-2010, where the entire sequence of Porky disguising himself as ethnic stereotypes [including the Scottish one, which is considered acceptable to air] was cut).[2]
- When Porky learns the dog that's been hounding him throughout the short is a missing dog with a $5000 reward, Porky responds "A thousand a-ble-a-ble-bucks!" before the TV announcer corrects him with "No, five thousand a-ble-a-ble-bucks!" Because the ABC censors at the time thought this would offend those who stutter or have similar speech impediments, the radio announcer's mocking answer was changed to "No, five thousand...bucks!" (which kills the joke and makes the announcer sound more blunt in his answer).[2]
- The part in which Porky finds the dog about to jump off a bridge was cut to remove Porky finding the dog about to jump off the bridge, the dog jumping off, then stopping in mid-air, and the dog jumping back on the bridge.[2]
As mentioned above, Cartoon Network once aired the cartoon with the entire sequence of Porky donning several ethnic costumes to escape the dog, then aired it with only the Native American and Chinese parts edited. As of 2015, the short has aired uncut.
Notes[]
- The working title was "Man's Pest Friend".
- The unnamed dog from this cartoon has a personality very similar to that of Charlie Dog, a Chuck Jones creation, and the entire cartoon's scenario in general plays out like a typical Charlie Dog & Porky Pig cartoon, with the dog having a fanatical desire to get Porky to adopt him as his pet despite Porky refusing to do so, right down to acting dramatic just so he can earn sympathy from Porky.
- This is one of only three WB cartoons released in 1950 not to bear the "all-green" Color Rings scheme, the others being "Hillbilly Hare" and "Two's a Crowd".
- Richard H. Thomas' last name appears on a drug store.
- This was the last of four shorts where Manuel Perez animates for Robert McKimson. He would move back to Friz Freleng's unit starting with "Canned Feud".
Gallery[]
References[]