The Flintstones Inspired Dog Names

Out of all the family canine companions to appear on television shows, few were as unique as Dino. 

Despite being a prosauropod-like dinosaur, referred to in the show as a “Snorkasaurus”, Dino displays all the traditional qualities of a pet dog. His size is actually quite ironic as well, given that the family of dinosaurs he comes from are used both in the show’s musical intro as a monstrous quarry machine and as a protein-filled delight of Fred’s (massive bronto ribs). Regardless, nearly all of his remaining qualities are certainly dog-like. 

Surprisingly enough, despite many other animals on the show using actual English, Dino actually spoke only once in the entirety of the original series, the creators much more intent on keeping him closer to a dog than anything else. In the episode “The Snorkasaurus Hunter”, Dino appears in a flashback story where he fully articulates himself as voiced by Jerry Mann but otherwise never speaks a word of English in any other episode before or after.

Outside of enjoying playing with the kids and digging the family out of trouble, Dino also gets to participate in one of the show’s most well-known running gags, one many dog owners have come to be familiar with in their own homes: when Fred comes home from work, Dino always gets excited, knocks him over and barrages him with licks, which Fred eventually gives into. 

Although Dino is not actually addressed by name until the fourth episode, he appears, alongside the Rubbles and Flintstones, as one of the most tenured and often used characters in the entire series, and that includes its mass of derivatives that began airing just six years after the original came off the air. Since making his first debut in the show’s pilot, Dino went on to appear in nearly all of the original show’s 166 episodes, nine television spin-offs and eighteen films and specials. The only thing he didn’t appear on was the first season of The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show in which he was replaced by the short-lived family pet Woolly, but has otherwise appeared alongside The Flintstones with regularity, even getting a few of his own shorts and a live-action version thanks to a combination of the brilliant minds at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and some crafty CGI. That incredible roster of appearances combined makes Dino not only one of the most popular, but one of the most tenured and often used dog-types in the history of cartoons.