Roscoe and DeSoto

Roscoe and DeSoto are two Dobermans belonging to Mr. Sykes who appear in the Disney's 1988 movie Oliver & Company. They were voiced by Taurean Blacque and Carl Weintraub. Roscoe and DeSoto wear studded a red collar and a blue collar respectively.

Both dogs speak with a soft Italian accent, in reference of the Italian Mafia.

Personalities
They both come off as smooth talking mobster-like goons who don't mind playing with their victims. But they can also be violent, vicious, brutal, ruthless and downright unmerciful. This also plays on the stereotype of Dobermans being savage, brutal and used often as attack or guard dogs.

Roscoe appears to be attracted to Rita, as he tells her in the film, "You know, Rita, I can't figure out why you'd rather hang around a dump like this, when you could be living uptown with a class act like myself". But she is plainly disgusted by him.

Roscoe seemed to be the more coolheaded of the two, while DeSoto is a bit more vicious, shown when DeSoto displayed a desire to eat Oliver (failed), while Roscoe thought it better to heed their master, Sykes' call.

Oliver & Company
In the movie, Bill Sykes (who lent Fagin some money) comes by Fagin's home to get his money back from him and he sends his two dogs, Roscoe and DeSoto into Fagin's boathouse to tell Fagin to meet up with his boss while they harass Dodger and the gang. Once inside, Roscoe flirts with Rita, while DeSoto sniffs around the houseboat. When Francis insults Roscoe, he loses his temper. The fiery Chihuahua Tito tries to fight them but is luckily held back by the Great Dane Einstein who suggests he pick on somebody his own size. However, Roscoe is not intimidated by him but Dodger waltzes up to him and asks him if he's lost his sense of humor. In reply, Roscoe smashes their TV, says: "See? I find that funny." and chuckles sinisterly.

Just as further unpleasantness is about to ensue and when their master, Sykes, calls for them with his horn, DeSoto finds Oliver but Roscoe tells him to forget it and to go. Nevertheless DeSoto tries to eat Oliver, who in return, scratches him on the nose, causing the two dogs to attack Oliver, not before Dodger and then the rest of the Gang stand in and protect him. Both dogs hesitate, knowing that they can't take on the whole gang. Outside, Sykes honks his horn again outside for the dogs to return to the car, and Roscoe and DeSoto leave reluctantly, with Roscoe swearing retaliation, starting with Oliver.

Later, when Fagin goes to talk to Sykes about getting his money from Oliver's owner awkwardly, Roscoe and DeSoto attack Fagin, after Sykes orders them to do so with a snap of his fingers, but Dodger leaps forward and fights the dogs, taking severe (but invisible) injuries. When Fagin tells Sykes about Oliver's owner being rich, shows him Oliver as proof and that they're coming tonight to get the cat properly and loudly this time, Sykes, convinced, has his dogs pull back from Dodger and tells Fagin he has 12 hours to pay him his money back as his "last chance" while Fagin and Oliver come to Dodger's aid after Dodger lays injured and unconcious with severe (but invisible) injuries from the Dobermans' attack.

After Sykes kidnaps Jenny, Oliver, Dodger and the gang secretly follow them to Sykes' warehouse. While Sykes ties up Jenny, he tells her not to cry while Roscoe and DeSoto pace around, growling. Then, he orders Roscoe and DeSoto to sniff around the place for intruders after hearing a noise. When Dodger and the gang sneak into the warehouse, 1 of the dogs, Georgette, screams because of a broken nail, alerting Roscoe and DeSoto. Later, DeSoto is the first to smell them, informing Roscoe.

Roscoe and DeSoto run into Francis, Tito, and Einstein, who were distracting and luring Sykes away while the rest help Jenny, but just as they're about to attack, Georgette pulls a blanket down on the two dogs, trapping them until Sykes comes along and frees Roscoe and DeSoto. Sykes and his dogs chase Oliver, Dodger, Jenny, and the gang, who escape with the help of a crane and Tito's electric speciality then fall and land on a long slide after Sykes destroys the crane's control with an axe, through the warehouse but just as they have them cornered and Sykes is about to snap his fingers "again" to order his dogs to attack, Fagin bursts in on his scooter, after hearing a honking noise which is actually his scooter's horn, and the gang flee.

The 2 evil dogs chase Fagin and the gang on the street but luckily, they are able to outrun them until Sykes and his dogs give chase in his car. When Fagin drives his friends in a substation, Sykes is still able to follow them. In a tunnel, when Jenny gets knocked onto Sykes' car, Oliver jumps on and bites Sykes' hand, but Sykes tosses Oliver into the back, where Roscoe and DeSoto are. Dodger manages to jump aboard also and jumps on Roscoe who later grabs a hold of Dodger's bandanna after being thrown out of the car's back window by Dodger. The bandanna snaps and Roscoe falls onto the electric railway tracks caused by the friction between Sykes' ruined car tires and the tracks, which kills him. DeSoto then jumps onto Dodger, but Oliver manages to jump onto DeSoto and scratch him on his nose "again", causing DeSoto to yelp in pain, jump, and fall onto the railway tracks and die as well. Sykes is too busy chasing the gang to even notice what's happened to his dogs and shows no mercy for his dogs as he continues to chase the gang until his car runs into a train, killing him, too. Thus, sending him and his car into the Hudson River.

House of Mouse
DeSoto appears in the song "Everybody Wants to Be a Woof" in House of Mouse. While singing in the quartet with Tito growling at him, DeSoto replies to Tito with a growl in return thus, scaring him off like a fraidy cat instead of Tito being brave and not afraid of the Dobermans. Later, he is seen fighting off, along with the quartet and later Pluto, Pete.

Trivia

 * Roscoe Blvd. and DeSoto Ave. are major streets in the San Fernando Valley, several miles from Walt Disney Studios.
 * The characters of Cane 1 and Cane 2 (Dog 1 and Dog 2) in the Italian series Slash:// look exactly like Roscoe and DeSoto, even bearing the same collar colours.
 * The name of the actor who gave the voice of Francis in Oliver and Company is Roscoe Lee Browne.
 * Roscoe appears more as Dodger's archenemy while DeSoto appears more as Oliver's archenemy.
 * Although both Dobermans look alike, it is unknown for a fact whether they are twin brothers or not.