Stupid Dogs was a show about just that - Little Dog and
Big Dog, two canines with a nose for trouble and not
enough brains to get out of it. The show was a break from
Hanna-Barbera’s traditional style, animated more along the
lines of Ren and Stimpy than Scooby-Doo. The show also
shared Ren and Stimpy’s taste for booger jokes and potty
humor mingled into plot-free exercises in unbridled
wackiness.
The premise was simple: Little Dog was the loudmouth
with a deathly fear of cats, Big Dog was his mellow
companion. A broad-shouldered human named Hollywood
appeared on most episodes to antagonize the dogs, uttering
his instant catchphrase, “Isn’t that cute . . . But it’s
WROOOONG!!” The show was filled with throwaway one-liners
that fans have been bandying about ever since: “It tastes
like caca,” “Where’s the food?” “(Monkey to astronaut): I
think you’ve been drinking too much Tang,” and Little
Dog’s catchphrase, “Ball!”
2 Stupid Dogs also brought the return of a little-known
character from the Hanna-Barbera archives: Secret
Squirrel. Each episode of 2 Stupid Dogs featured a Super
Secret Squirrel segment, spoofing the 1960’s spy craze
with the title squirrel, his bull superior Chief, and his
Peter Lorre-inspired assistant Morocco Mole.
2 Stupid Dogs endeared themselves to viewers with their
endlessly hilarious stupidity. In one episode, Little Dog
tried to use a hand puppet to fool a cat into thinking
there was food in another alley. After a brief
conversation with his puppet, Little Dog fooled himself
instead, calling the puppet a liar when the truth came
out.
After two seasons of original episodes in syndication,
the show moved to The Cartoon Network.
