What is Scooby Doo’s Real Name?
According to Business Insider, Scooby-Doo’s real name isn’t Scoobert Doobert.4 It’s Scoobert Doo. Scooby’s full name, “Scoobert,” was revealed in the 1988 Scooby-Doo spinoff “A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.” But Scoobert’s last name, Doo, was confirmed in “It’s a Wonderful Scoob,” a 1985 episode of the short-lived series “The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.”
It is said that Scooby-Doo is named after a Frank Sinatra scat at the end of “Strangers in the Night”: “Scooby Dooby Do.” The former director of daytime programming at CBS, Fred Silverman, said he came up with the name after hearing Sinatra sing the song’s scat refrain, “Do be do be do.”
Scooby-Doo turned 50-years-old last year, and to celebrate, we compiled a few interesting facts you might not know about the classic cartoon.
What Kind of Dog Is Scooby-Doo?
So, what type of dog is Scooby-Doo? You’ve probably read Scooby Doo’s dog breed is a Great Dane. Not so fast, here are the facts.
Iwao Takamoto, Scooby-Doo’s father and creator, revealed that his endearingly klutzy canine Scooby-Doo was inspired by the ideal features of a prize Great Dane. After speaking with a breeder of show dogs, Takamoto learned “what made a prize-winning Great Dane and went in the opposite direction,” Takamoto told Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald in 1997.1
Essentially, Scooby Dog has all of the opposite features of a Great Dane. So, is Scooby-Doo’s dog breed a Great Dane? Well, not really. Let’s dive deeper.
Takamoto insisted that making Scooby big and clumsy would give the dog more comic potential. Let’s explore how Scooby Doo’s characteristics compared to that of a Great Dane dog breed.
| Scooby-Doo | Great Dane | |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Misshapen | Regal |
| Lifespan | 50 years | 8 – 10 years |
| Coat | Smooth and short | Smooth and short |
| Color | Brown | Different colors |
| Exercise needs | He is always on the run | 2 hours daily |
| Intelligence | Second-smartest member of Mystery, Inc | 12th smartest dog breed |
| Friendliness | Very friendly | Moderate |
| Energy Level | Unlimited energy | Energetic but laid back |
| Shedding | None | Moderate to high |
| Barking | Medium | High |
| Health | Constant accidents | Generally healthy |
| Height | 39″ | 44″ |
| Weight | About the same as a Danes | 99 – 200 |
According to the American Kennel Club, Great Danes are the picture of elegance and balance. Their regal appearance, great size, well-formed, smoothly muscled body are signs of dignity and strength. Great Danes are known as the “Apollo of dogs” due to their stately grace. This breed is well-balanced and not clumsy.
On the contrary, Scooby-Doo is a misshapen Great Dane with a less refined frame and body type. In Takamoto’s own words, he said:
“The legs were supposed to be straight, so I made them bowed. I sloped the hindquarters and made his feet too big. He was supposed to have a firm jaw, so I receded it. [Even his color is wrong].”
A Great Dane’s coat comes in different colors and patterns, perhaps the best-known being the black-and-white patchwork pattern. Great Dane’s “official” colors include merle, brindle, fawn, blue, black, mantle, and harlequin.
Scooby-Doo is brown from head to toe with several distinctive black spots on his upper body and does not seem to have a melanistic mask face mask found very often in Great Danes.
The AKC doesn’t state anything about brown with a few black spots on the back. While there is a resemblance in coat colors, it’s not hundred percent correct.
It’s not surprising that people are often confused about what kind of dog Scooby-Doo is.
Scooby-Doo is by nature a chicken-heart, which is not a Great Dane trait. Scooby-Doo usually hides in wicker baskets to avoid danger.
Great Danes’ emotional attributes are totally the opposite of Scooby’s. This dog breed is courageous and never timid. They are sweet by nature, great home guardians, and dependable dogs.
Stanley Coren, a professor of canine psychology at the University of British Columbia, ranked Great Danes as the 12th-smartest breed. In contrast, Scooby-Doo is the second-smartest member of Mystery, Inc., trailing only Velma.
That certainly supports the belief that Scooby-Doog is a Great Dane!
Great Danes, according to Professor Coren, are excellent problem-solvers. For example, they can quickly distinguish between intruders and friends.
Scooby-Doo also has an excellent problem-solving ability. He turns into an escape artist when escaping from werewolves and monsters, which requires excellent coordination and fast thinking skills.
Scoob may indeed be a Great Dane after all!
Despite their size, Great Danes consider themselves lap dogs. Great Danes may be large dogs, but they fit into the lapdog category in their minds. It is common for Great Danes to spread out on a couch or sit on your lap if you let them. They are very affectionate and friendly animals.
Similarly, Scooby-Doo will often jump straight into Shaggy’s arms when frightened. Scooby-Doo is Shaggy’s best friend, and in the show, you can see the sheer moments of joy they share.
Another reason Scooby Doo may be a Great Dane.
A full-grown Great Dane can eat a ton of food. They need all those calories to fuel that giant body. Likewise, Scooby-Doo will devour entire buffets and enormous sandwiches when no one is looking.
After looking through both pups’ main characters and traits, is Scooby-Doo a Great Dane?
What Kind of Dog Is Scooby Doo?
Scooby Doo is a Great Dane, one of the biggest dog breeds. The character was created by Iwao Takamoto, animator at Hanna-Barbera Productions. Takamoto studied the breed when developing the character, but took plenty of liberties for the fictional series.
What Kind of Dog is Scooby-Doo?
Most everyone has seen the children’s cartoon Scooby-Doo, but not everyone knows what breed of dog the younger dog, Scrappy-Doo, actually belongs to.
Scrappy has a similar appearance to Scooby, but his fur is a bit lighter, and his face is shaped a little differently. This has led many to speculate on Scrappy’s breed, as it appears to differ from Scooby’s.
A fictional cartoon puppy written and designed by Hanna-Barbera Productions in late 1979, Scrappy-Doo is a Great Dane puppy with quirky catchphrases like “Scrappy Dappy Doo,” “Lemme at ‘em!” and “Puppy Power!”. Hanna-Barbera’s cartoon star Scooby-Doo is Scrappy’s uncle.
In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at Scrappy-Doo as a character, and at the particular breed of dog, he belongs to.
Keep reading to learn all there is to know about Scrappy-Doo and this great breed of dogs.
Scrappy Doo is a fictional cartoon character introduced to the cartoon “Scooby-Doo” in the fall of 1979. Scrappy calls New York City home, having been raised there as a puppy by his father who is never shown in the show.
Both Joe and Scrappy had a father that left them, they both call the Big Apple their hometown and both were raised by an uncle. In this case, Scrappy is raised mostly by Scooby, not his father.