The Powerpuff Girls Inspired Dog Names

While many movies and television shows seem to hold some overt reverence for their canine characters, The Powerpuff Girls stands on its own as one of few who choose to somehow simultaneously highlight and marginalize one of their only true doggy characters: The Talking Dog. And yet, with the show’s approach and borderline satire, it could also be poking fun at some of the dynamics we share with our dogs. 

While he’s a relatively common recurring character who appears in numerous episodes, The Talking Dog also appears in the show’s very first episode, “Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins” and even hints at who the villain is when the girls are stumped as to who is turning everyone in town into meat. From then on, his position is somewhat of a gag, as he is often depicted almost exclusively as a one-line-only kind of character, poking fun at the fact that even though he can talk, no one really seems to care. In addition, he is often ill-fated, being the victim of many falling objects, his pain frequently ignored by the characters in the show, which could be a larger statement in itself. 

He does, however, get featured in one important episode titled, “Shut the Pup Up”, in which he is the only witness to a crime and is therefore placed in a special witness protection program. In turn, the Girls take him into their home but soon learn that having a talking dog is more than they bargained for. In context, for younger viewers, this may be as simple as showing that dogs are more responsibility than many people seem to think. On a deeper level, however, his words and actions often seem to hint to the idea that there is much more to the human-canine dynamic. During the episode, he manipulates the Girls into getting him food (which should be familiar to many dog owners) but when they present him with standard canned dog food, he plays passive aggressive and guilts them into getting him something higher quality and tastier, prodding at the idea that even though we take an animal in, how far are we willing to stretch our ability to provide for them to increase their quality of life is always a question. While many of his passive demands seem a bit excessive, it also seems to imply that as long as we are willing to provide it, dogs will always take more, even if it is as indulgent as it is endearing.