Doug is a character from 101 Dalmatian Street. He is an American Dalmatian who moved to London to become a firefighter dog. It is there he met and married Delilah, a descendant of Pongo and Perdita. The two also have a large litter of puppies from previous marriages which, when combined together, make a total of 99.
Background[]
Doug was born in America but moved to London to become a fire dog. At some point, he married a dog whom he had 15 puppies with, amongst which was Dolly. It is unknown if he either got divorced or became widowed as his former wife is never mentioned nor seen in flashbacks. Regardless, Doug raised his children alone for a little while. Sometime later, he met another dog named Delilah, whom he fell in love with and eventually married. According to Doug, the two had their first drink together by a pond in the park. When the two married, Doug gained Delilah's multiple children as her step-children, amongst which were Dylan —who was the eldest of Delilah's litter—, Dawkins and the Triple-D. Over time, he and Delilah became parents to more puppies, having another litter of 15 puppies together, before then adopting 54 more, both from rescue shelters and by taking in strays, adding up to 99 puppies in total.
Doug and his family did have a human owner before the start of the series; an eccentric billionaire named Dodie Smith, who left them the house and went to live on an island. She is not mentioned in the show, with characters just saying that the Dalmatians do not have a human. Even so, the family is able to adjust just fine thanks to inventions built by Dawkins.
Doug and his family currently live in Camden, London. While Doug and Delilah are off at work, the two eldest of the dalmatian puppies Dylan and Dolly are left in charge.
Development[]
In some early concepts, Doug was planned to have an appearance almost identical to Pongo, with black ears and a red collar. Whether or not he was originally planned to be Pongo before being altered is not known at this time.
Role in the series[]
Doug is a regular in the series; while he works all day as a fire dog, his eldest pups, stepson Dylan and daughter Dolly, watch over their miscellaneous younger siblings.
In the episode "Dog's Best Friend", Doug returns home from the night shift before he gets glomped by the puppies. He tries to get some sleep but is woken from the sound of a human, which Dee-Dee and Dizzy adopted for Dylan. He tries to tell Dylan what a big responsibility a human is, but gets trampled when he mentions the park. Later, when the food machine is out of control, Doug tries to keep the situation calm but gets covered by bowls and kibble. Doug then advises Dylan on what to do about the human they have adopted.
In "Boom Night", Doug helps fit earmuffs onto the other pups during the titular event to protect the children from the disruptive sounds before he and Delilah head to their respective jobs. Doug is more anxious than Delilah about the night, vocally questioning why the humans do it every year. Before he heads to work, Doug gets tearful and calls for a group hug from all the pups. He is later seen in a fire truck, howling in rhythm to the siren, where he almost notices Dolly and Dylan outside.
In "Snow Day", Doug is off work with London being closed due to snow. As such, he decides to prep his kids for a family outing in the park when they ask to go. He first tries to get the pups into warm winter wear by being "The Hat Reindeer", placing wool hats on the heads of his children one at a time. He and Delilah agree to a contest against Dylan and Dolly to see who gets the pups prepared the fastest.
In "A Summer to Remember", Doug and Delilah start the family vacation off dealing with their children constantly asking if they are in Cornwall yet until they arrive. Upon getting to the beach, he and Delilah try to have some romantic alone time, only for the pups to interrupt them.
In "Fetch", Delilah & Doug are celebrating their anniversary. According to Doug, the two had their first drink together by the pond in the park.
Trivia[]
- While all the other puppies refer to him as "Dad" or "Father", Dawkins still refers to Doug by name, suggesting that Dawkins is one of his stepsons.
- Dawkins does refer to Doug as "Dad" in "Balancing Act", but not in Doug's presence.
- Compared to other adult Dalmatians, particularly those who appear in family pictures around the house where he resides, Doug is a very muscular Dalmatian.
- In the Brazilian Portuguese dubs, Doug was incorrectly referred to as Pongo in an episode.
- In the first episode, "Dog's Best Friend", Doug mistakenly said that 100 human years would equal 700 dog years. This calculation was based on the myth that 1 dog year equals 7 human years. In reality, the first year of a dog's life is equal to 15 human years. The second year for a dog equals about nine years for a human (a 2-year-old dog is 24 years old in dog years). And after that, each human year would be approximately four years for a dog. 100 human years is equal to 416 dog years.[1]
Gallery[]