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Why is Scooby-Doo a Great Dane?
Scooby was almost a sheepdog!
Have you ever wondered why Scooby-Doo is a Great Dane and not a Beagle like Snoopy or a Basset Hound like Droopy, or even a mutt like Muttley? Why was the Great Dane chosen to become one of the most popular cartoon canines of all time?
It all started when Fred Silverman, a CBS executive (and friend of Hanna-Barbera), wanted a teen comedy cartoon similar to the Archie comics, and Joe Barbera wanted a cartoon like House of Mystery. They tasked writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and character designer Iwao Takamoto with bringing this mashup vision to life. Barbera also mentioned that Silverman liked dogs, so this mashup needed a fun dog in the mix.
Like The Flintstones and other legendary cartoons, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! went through major changes during development, and many of the changes revolved around Scooby himself. It had other titles, such as Mystery's 5 and Who's S-s-s-scared?. Mystery, Inc. was originally intended to be a rock band that happened to solve mysteries while on the road with their bongo-playing dog, Too Much.
The three went back and forth on whether the dog in the show should be a large cowardly dog or a small feisty one. Ultimately, they went with large and cowardly, and the initial character designs for the small, feisty dog later evolved into Scrappy Doo. Originally, Scooby-Doo's name was "Too Much", and they considered making Too Much a Great Dane, but then changed him into a sheepdog out of fear of copying Marmaduke. A sheepdog seemed like it could be a popular choice, especially because Archie's dog was a sheepdog. Joe Barbera and Fred Silverman rejected the sheepdog and encouraged them to return to the Great Dane.
In the DVD featurette The Eerie History of Scooby-Doo, Iwao Takamoto recalled that the trio wanted a big, goofy dog, and the Great Dane was considered the biggest dog breed. Unbeknownst to the Scooby-Doo creators, one of their coworkers at Hanna-Barbera was a great Dane expert.
Takamoto recalled, "There was a woman that actually bred and reared Great Danes, so she came over and spent a solid hour describing all the positive things about what makes a prize-winning Great Dane."
After listening to the in-house Great Dane expert, Takamoto took the qualities she described and went in the opposite direction. The show didn't need a perfect showdog, but a silly dog who could match Shaggy's energy in both gluttony and cowardice. He gave Scooby bowed legs, a sloped back, a double chin, and heavy eyebrows, all of which built not exactly a blue ribbon-winning Great Dane, but a perfectly goofy and lovable Scooby.
