Nine Dogs and a Cat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Odie

In the 'Garfield' comic strips drawn by Jim Davis, Odie, the yellow-colored dog belonging to Jon Arbuckle, first appeared in 1978. Starting in 1997, Davis gave Odie the ability to walk on his hind legs, like Garfield the cat. There are suggestions that Odie may be smarter than Jon or Garfield give him credit for -- such as when he locked himself in the car on a camping trip, but while Jon and Garfield were outside in the rain getting wet, he stayed dry and ate chips (raising the question of just *who* was smarter.) Jim Davis originally called the dog Spot, until fellow artist Mort Walker ("Beetle Baily", "Hi and Lois") told him he had used the name Spot in his strip "Boner's Ark".

Answer: Goliath

The United Lutheran Church in America started producing the educational clay-animated series 'Davey and Goliath' for syndication in 1961. While it was a Saturday morning fixture in the 1960s and 1970s, many stations began dropping it in the 1980s, although religious stations continued to broadcast it.

The show remained in syndication until 2004. Some of the episodes dealt with pretty serious subject matter, including racism and gangs.

Answer: Huckleberry Hound

The blue anthropomorphic Huckleberry Hound first graced American airwaves in in 1958, voiced with a strong Southern accent by the prolific Daws Butler. Huckleberry's mangled, off-key rendition of "Oh My Darling, Clementine" was his signature song. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera named their mainstay character after Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. From the start, 'The Huckleberry Hound Show', in nationwide first-run syndication, became a cult hit, and a large percentage of his viewers were adults over 21 and college students. 'The Huckleberry Hound Show' won an Emmy award in 1960 for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming--the first animated cartoon to do so!

Answer: Ruff Ruffman

'Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman' was a reality game show that aired on PBS Kids and was hosted by the animated anthropomorphic dog named in the title. He had a black-cat intern named Blossom, who eventually became his boss! The contestants, between 10 and 14 years of age, had to complete various tasks, usually learning something in the process.

It lasted five seasons, receiving numerous awards but being cancelled due to lack of funding, having to compete for finite resources against powerhouses 'Sesame Street' and 'Electric Company'.

Answer: Underdog

"Underdog" ran on NBC television in the USA from 1964 to 1973, though it aired in syndication long afterward. When there was danger, especially to TV reporter Sweet Polly Purebred (voiced by Norma McMillan), mild-mannered Shoeshine Boy would become Underdog (voiced by Wally Cox). His frequent enemies were mad scientist Simon Bar Sinister (voiced by Allen Swift, imitating Lionel Barrymore) and gangster-wolf Riff Raff (also voiced by Swift, imitating George Raft). Filling in between the short episodes were other cartoon shorts featuring a penguin named Tennessee Tuxedo and a cat who was also a Mountie, named Klondike Cat, to name a few characters.

In the 2008 live-action film adaptation, Underdog was a beagle voiced by Allen Swift, and Polly a cavalier King Charles Spaniel voiced by Amy Adams.

Answer: Hong Kong Phooey

Voice actor and musician Scatman Crothers voiced the clumsy, incompetent martial-arts superhero Hong Kong Phooey (secret identity Penrod "Penry" Pooch") in an American Saturday morning cartoon show that aired on ABC from September to December 1974, but then was also shown in repeats until 1976! It was one of many short-lived animated TV shows released by Hanna-Barbera Productions in the 1970s. One of Hong Kong Phooey's allies was a cop named Sgt. Flint, voiced by Joe E. Ross, who had earlier played Officer Gunther Toody in the live-action NBC sitcom, 'Car 54, Where Are You?' (1961-63). For both characters, he punctuated his sentences with a signature "Oo-oo!"

Answer: Lassie

Lassie first appeared in 1938 in a short story in the Saturday Evening Post. Author Eric Knight expanded it into the best-selling novel 'Lassie Come-Home' in 1940, which was then adapted into a 1943 movie starring Elizabeth Taylor. That same year, the novel won the Young Reader's Choice Award. (There was a hyphen in the original title; "come-home" was meant as an adjective). Six more films about Lassie were made in the 1940s, followed by a TV series (1954-1973).

The movie 'Lassie Come Home' was remade in 2005 and starred Peter O'Toole. Lassie has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Answer: Jason

Headquartered in Rockford, Michigan, the Hush Puppies brand of casual shoes, originally brushed leather on a crepe sole, was created in 1958. The brand reached its nadir in popularity in 1994, and nearly went defunct; soon thereafter, it became popular among the hipster crowd and sales began to soar, and a year later stores could barely keep them in stock. Hush Puppies are now available by direct order online, and the line includes sandals, oxfords, trainers (sneakers), slippers, and many other kinds of comfortable shoes.

The basset hound Jason has been used in ads for the brand since its inception, and he shouldn't be confused with Tige, the pit bull terrier used in Buster Brown footwear ads (and in the original Buster Brown comics).

Answer: Argos

In the 'Odyssey' by Homer, Argos, sometimes latinized to Argus, was Odysseus' devoted dog, known for his swiftness and tracking skills. When Odysseus returned home disguised as a beggar, he found Argos old, neglected, weak, and mangy. But poor Argos, who could not stand, recognized his master and greeted him as best he could before passing away on the spot.

Answer: Pluto

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) wrote "The Black Cat" in 1843 for 'The Saturday Evening Post'. This piece of horror fiction deals with guilt and perverseness, malevolence and murder, from the point of view of a questionably sane narrator with a persistent cat, named for the Graeco-Roman Lord of the Underworld. In the end, the much-abused Pluto gives his deteriorating master his comeuppance, in a scenario reminiscent of Poe's earlier story, "The Tell-Tale Heart".

The word 'perverseness', which itself is discussed by the narrator, means "willful opposition or resistance to what is right, expected, reasonable, or good".