One of the lesser-known
Looney Tunes characters, Charlie Dog was a
mutt that had a tendency to annoy and irritate his way into
domesticity with his targets. Most often his target happened to be
Porky Pig, who he starred with in 4 cartoons. His character was a sort of
stereotypical Brooklynite, and he came across as an all around
wiseguy (or should that be wisedog...). His debut was in the
1941 black and white
featurette "
Porky's Pooch". He looked slightly different, with a black ring around his eye, and the namesake of
Rover, but he had all the attitude of his
colorized version. He returned in
1947 in "
Little Orphan Aridale", this time named Charlie and given his most well-known and often-repeated
gimmicks. One in particular is where his
antagonist mails him to another country, either
Scotland or
Siberia or somewhere else, and he returns almost immediately in garb and demeanor of destination. Also common is this routine...
"I'm 50% Pointer - 'There it is! There it is! There it is!', 50% Boxer (shadowboxing), 50% Watchdog (showing off a pocket watch), 50% Setter...(sits on a rock or chair and puffs on a Meerschaum pipe) 'irish setter!'. 50% Spitz 'pah-tooey!', but mostly I'm all Labrador Retriever. (doubting usually follows with the reply) Well find me a Labrador and I'll retrieve it!"
After 3 color cartoons with Porky Pig, Chuck Jones wanted to start Charlie on a series of his own. Unfortunately that only lasted two featurettes and a cameo in 1958's "Dog Tales". The character was retired afterwards, but made a return in the 1990's in both merchandise and exposure, appearing in both "Space Jam" and having a recurring role on KidsWB's "The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries"
Looney Tunes Filmography:
Release Dates and Titles found at The Big Cartoon Database: http://www.bcdb.com