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Thought about a lot of different kind of dogs. One of the suggestions was a dog that was brighter than the kids themselves and he’s the one that solves the mystery and he’s a really feisty little Airedale kind of a guy. For some reason it appealed to me, I wanted to try a big dog. They were pretty wide open about the whole thing. The biggest dog I know of is a Great Dane.
I wish I could remember her name, but she was a woman that bred Great Danes and was serious about it, she took prizes with some of her dogs. She worked in our ink and paint department, so I called her and asked if she wouldn’t mind coming over and telling me about her prize winners. She did, came over and gave me a lot of pointers. The good strong legs, the firm strong chin, all sorts of things. And so I took most of what she said and a certain percentage I went the opposite to make it comedic. Instead of straight legs he had bow legs. He was a Klutz, he wasn’t very brave.
As the writing developed on that, his idiosyncrasies began to crop up. There was a show called Dobie Gillis, played by the guy on Gilligan’s Island, Bob Denver. There should be one guy like a beatnik, so I designed him (Shaggy). They seemed to make it off as a natural pair, so we paired them together.
Date: August 6, 1998
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Janice Tanaka
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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