Christmas Special Showcase:The Town Santa Forgot

In this sweet and somewhat underappreciated cartoon, a grandpa(voiced by the legendary Dick Van Dyke) tells his kids the story of a greedy little boy named Jeremy Creek who sends Santa a mile-long list. Santa, naturally assuming that no one person could possibly need that much stuff, wagers that Jeremy Creek must be the name of a place, and sure enough, there turns out to be a town with that very name, which coincidentally wasn't on Santa's route, so Santa ships the toys there. A nice story with an excellent message. Please enjoy!(Fun Fact:This show is based off of a little-known story by Charmaine Severson.)

With a Little Bit of Luck

This is my latest Pound Puppies fanfiction. In this story, which is based off of an episode of the 2010 Pound Puppies series entitled, "Taboo", Cooler and the crew befriend a cat named Jinx, who's sure that she's nothing but bad luck, and try to help her find a home. Meanwhile, Dabney Nabbit, along with the two dognappers Flack and Tubbs, make several repeated attempts to nab Jinx, all with much hilarity ensuing. Please enjoy!

Jinxed

 

 

 

 

BTW, here are some pictures of a few of the story's characters:

 

 

 

The story's main focus, Jinx, the self-proclaimed bad luck cat. I purposely gave her a similar color scheme to Taboo, the dog from the original story(though she's a bit more of a grayish-black), and she even has the same drooping tail that he does(her tail droops due to the fact that she's a bit down-in-the-mouth).

 

 

Waggster and Mittens, the little puppy and kitten the Pound Puppies find a home for in chapter one. Their names are borrowed from the 2010 series, and Waggster's appearance is based off of that of a dog that appears in this book.

 



 

And finally, Stacie, the teenage girl who visits the pound in chapter four. She's a little ditzy, but very sweet. (BTW, it may be a little hard to tell from the picture, but she has painted toenails.)

 

 

 



Eye Don't Know

This is my very first Pound Puppies fanfiction. In this story, which is based off of the 1985 special(as well as the book series), Bigelow accidentally misplaces his glasses, and mistakes Flack and Tubbs(who have sneaked in to do a bit of dognapping) for Doc Weston and Dabney Nabbit, a situation that the dognappers intend to take full advantage of. Fortunately, however, the Pound Puppies take matters into their own paws and remedy this situation, with much hilarity and slapstick ensuing. Please enjoy!

Sight For Sore Guys

 

 

 

Here, BTW, is a picture of Sneakers(named for his little white paws), the dog Flack tries(and fails) to nab in Doc Weston's office in chapter two.

 

 

 

And here's a picture of Rebound, the(very hyper!) dog Tubbs tries(and fails) to give a bath to in chapter two. (Why, uh, no, no, he wasn't named after an equally hyper dog of the same name from the 2010 series. :-D)

 





Beep! Crash! Squall! Wheeze-Whonk! Skweegie!

Good morning...morning...morning...Mr. Echo...echo...echo...

How are you today?...today...today...

Good morning...morning...morning...Mr. Echo...echo...echo...

Won't you take my cares away?...away..away...

Here is a Pound Puppies fanfiction of mine, which is based off of the comic "Managing the Eco System" from the Donald Duck compilation Lost in the Andes.  In this story, the Pound Puppies wage an "echo battle" with Flack and Tubbs(who have come to steal Duncan, a rare dog belonging to Holly's friend Maddie) at the local carnival, via an echo machine. Hilarity, slapstick, and wacky noises abound! Please enjoy.

Good Morning, Mr. Echo

Here, BTW, is a picture of a Dunker(Duncan's breed) with a bit of info on the breed as well.

Here also is a picture of Duncan himself.

There's a Mystery in Town, So Call the Coolest Pup Around

...Oh, Scooby, A Pup Named Scooby Doo!

Woohoo! Yay! 100 posts! Yippee! All Right! Ah...ahem, where was I? Ohhh, yes....

A Pup Named Scooby Doo was a cartoon series made by Hanna-Barbera in 1988. It featured Scooby Doo and the gang as 10-year olds, back when the Scooby Doo Detective Agency was first established. The premise was basically the same as previous Scooby Doo series:the gang was called on to investigate a mystery involving a ghost or monster of some sort, which would always turn out to be a disguised villain. What really set this series apart, however, is that it was much more humorous, with wacky situations, goofy characters, and bizarre monsters being commonplace. Many of such wacky monsters included a clown ghost, a haunted hamburger, a strange alien, the ghost of a(very) strict librarian, a one-eyed sludge monster...

...and then there's Chickenstein.! (...Yeah.)

Various running gags were commonplace in most episodes, such as Daphne calling her ever-patient butler Jenkins to do things for her, and Freddy blaming the aptly-named town bully Red Herring for being the guilty party. (Which he never was!)

Wild takes were also very commonplace; as suggested on this TV Tropes page, you really do get the notion that the artists were running a bet on who could draw the wilder take.

Here, as per example, are Exhibit A....

...and Exhibit B.

Overall, this is a good, funny, and extremely humorous show. The characters are, as always, likeable and well-cast, retaining their personalities faithfully from the original. Personally, this is one of my favorite Scooby Doo incarnations(next to anything with Scrappy Doo in it. *GUILTY*) An excellent show that any Scooby Doo fan is sure to love.

The theme song's mighty good, too!

All four seasons of the show are available on DVD at the links below:

Season One

Seasons Two, Three, and Four

"Scooby-Dooby-Doo-oo-oo!"

Fan Fiction Showcase:Of Pups and Love, a Pound Puppies FanFic by WoggleBugLover

In this very cool, well-written, eight-chapter fanfic based off of the Pound Puppies '85 special, the eponymous dogs go on a journey to reunite lost pup Rugby(who, BTW, is very cute!) with his family, finding adventure and dodging the dognappers Flack and Tubbs on the way. As one might suppose from the title, it's noted also that Barkerville and Nose Marie have a bit of a crush on each other as well. Please enjoy!

You Can Read it Here!

One point of interest, BTW, is that there seems to be more truth than poetry to the notion of Barkerville and Nose Marie liking each other, as, for example, noted from the picture on this lunch tray below:

As well as on this coloring book page. (They're DANCING!!) I purposely gave Nose Marie the same color scheme she has in the TV series, BTW.

Classic Cartoon Showcase:Before They Were Stars:Pound Puppies in City Pound

(I think City Pound may be the official name of this episode.) In this nifty little pilot episode for the Pound Puppies series(complete with a celeb-filled cast) the daring entourage of dogs endeavor to both reunite newcomer Violet with her owners and save pound supervisor Bigelow's job while dodging the dogcatcher Dabney Nabbit and doing battle with the dastardly(albeit dopey and ditzy) dognappers Flack and Tubbs. (By golly, if this doesn't win the prize for most alliteration in a single article, it probably at least ranks!) Please enjoy!(BTW, watch for a humorously hypocritical moment in part one where Nabbit calls the dogs "Walking flea farms" and tells them to "Suck in their bellies." Uh, Nabbit? Have you checked a reflective surface lately?)

Classic Cartoon Showcase:Shirt Tales in Horsin' Around and Mission:Mutt

In the first half of this Shirt Tales episode, Clarence, the old carriage-driving horse, is retiring to a farm in the country, but he isn't happy. He feels out of place among all the racehorses residing there, due to the fact that he himself has always wanted to be in a race, but just never had the chance. Can the Shirt Tales help  make his dream a reality?

In the second half, the furry little superguys meet an enormous and enormously appealing dog named Bubba.(Who, for some mysterious reason, seems to have a pouch on his belly...perhaps he's part kangaroo?) Bubba tells the Shirt Tales that he's bored with his home life, and seeks excitement. Unfortunately, he finds more than he bargained for when Hatcher, the local dogcatcher(who's so nasty he makes Nabbit look like a sweetheart!) nabs him and takes him to the pound. Can Bubba's new little friends save him? Please enjoy!

In the Lemon-Limelight:Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch

This is the first of my series of articles of underappreciated cartoons that, despite their low fanbase, are still more than worth a peek.

Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch is a cartoon series made by Hanna-Barbera in 1971. The show concerns three wacky bears living at the Wonderland zoo. The trio consists of the scheming, afro-adorned group leader Hair, the sloppy, doleful Square, and the short, gibberish-speaking Bubi. The bears would often try to flee the zoo in search of adventure, and end up being pursued by the zookeeper, Eustace P. Peevley and his(rather inept) assistant, Lionel J. Botch(The latter of whom is known for his pet phrase, "Ooh! Ooh!" not unlike Welcome Back, Kotter's Arnold Horshack; unsurprisingly, this was Botch's voice actor Joe E. Ross' pet phrase.). The bears, however, usually outwit them in the end, often with the help of their zoo animal friends, such as Bananas the Gorilla (who bears a striking resemblance to Magilla Gorilla), Furface the Lion (gotta love that name!), Bumpo the Elephant, Slicks the Fox, and Pipsqueak the Mouse, among others. One particular point of interest is that the bears owned, among other things, an invisible motorcycle. (Hmm, do you suppose they got it from Mermaidman?)

The show had a very short run, with only 16 episodes made. Reruns can be seen on Boomerang. (Check local listings for the time and channel.)

UPDATE 7/7/12:I recently discovered this DVD which contains, among other(very nifty!) things, a Hair Bear Bunch episode!:

Saturday Morning Cartoons:1970s Vol. 2

 

Overall, this was a humorous, well-made show that truly deserved more attention. (I may be a little biased because I love Hanna-Barbera stuff!) Despite the show being made in the '70's, it doesn't seem particularly dated, even by today's standards, and the characters are interesting, funny, and likeable. (Even Peevley and Botch!) A rather underrated(Even Joe Barbera disliked it; when even the producer doesn't like the show, that's the definition of underappreciated!) show that's definetly worth a peek.

The theme song is also mighty catchy!

For those interested also, there are some Hair Bear Bunch items available at the site below(including, of all things, a tissue box cover); some are a little expensive, but well worth it for any Hair Bear Bunch fan :

A few Hair Bear Bunch goodies

Square Bear mug

Many more such nifty items are available on ebay, many of such being comics(which I highly recommend.) :)

"Let's split!"



Fanart of Botch saying his signature phrase.

Another fanart I just had to add. (This one's just silly.)

Book Review:Pound Puppies in Problem Puppies

Here I'm opting to review another Pound Puppies book; one of the more common ones.

We're first introduced to a (very cute!) little brown dog named Sassafras who lives on Farmer Brown's farm(One point of interest about Sassafras is that in the Golden Book Video version, he speaks with a very adorable southern accent). His job is to chase away the rabbits(who, BTW, are also very cute; they look kind of like Pound Bunnies!)* that come by, but he, being good friends with these bunnies, prefers to play with them(Another point of interest, BTW, is that one of the rabbits' names is revealed to be Cottontail in the video version). Such results in the rabbits getting into the farmer's prized vegetables and gobbling them up, which causes him no end of aggravation. Farmer Brown angrily bawls Sassafras out for this, tells him that he's going to take him to the pound and that he's going to get rid of the rabbits himself.

Living not that far from the farm is another (equally cute) dog of obvious coloration named Pumpkin, who also has a bit of a problem; his young owner, Hannah(who looks a little bit like Holly, or possibly a junior version of Tammy from Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw) hasn't stopped sneezing since she got him(In the video version, she asks her mom, with false hope, if the sneezing might be being caused by their dusty house; her mom, regrettably, knows better). Hannah loves Pumpkin, but, due to her allergies, her mom regrettably has no choice but to take him to the pound.

The dogs and their owners arrive at the pound at about the same time. Doc Weston(who, in the video version, even says, "I've never seen two sadder looking dogs, or three sadder looking people.") tries to comfort them all, knowing meanwhile that Cooler and the other Pound Puppies will do whatever they can to remedy this situation.

Cooler and the other dogs welcome these newcomers with open arms; despite this, however, Sassafras is too upset to relate his story. Nose Marie(here referred to as, "The Nose" due to this book being made before the TV show) sniffs around him, upon which, smelling hay, cows, vegetables and rabbits, indicating that he's a farm dog. Upon the word "rabbits," Sassafras tells the group his sad story; he feels like a failure. (Poor little guy. Sniff! :*C) Pumpkin, who's feeling no better, relates his story next:Hannah so wants a pet, but she's allergic to dogs.

Fortunately, Cooler, resourceful as ever, comes up with a solution. He reasons that Hannah probably isn't allergic to rabbits, so if they bring the rabbits to Hannah's house, not only will they now be her pets, but they won't get into Farmer Brown's vegetables any more. (Two birds, one stone and all that.) Cooler powwows with Barkerville and they come up with a plan, then giving each of the Pound Puppies a special task. First, Scrounger is sent to gather the fixings for a stew, as well as some sleeping powder, which Chef Louie then uses to prepare the aforementioned. Then, Brighteyes and Howler(who, also due to this book being made before the TV show, howls rather than speaking English) seek out Catgut and mention loudly, within his earshot, the delicious stew.

 Catgut evinces interest in this, and informs the pound guard dogs about the stew. As planned, they steal the stew and drop off almost immediately. (Oddly, in the video version, the sleeping powder is never used or mentioned; Catgut and the guard dogs simply gobble down the stew and fall asleep despite this sequence making no sense without the sleeping powder.)

Cooler, Barkerville and Nose Marie make their way to the farm via their network of tunnels under the pound. They arrive there just in time to see Farmer Brown pointing a gun at the rabbits! (GLEEP! :-O) The panicked Pound Puppies, frantically wondering how to save the bunnies, brace themselves for the worst...

...But Farmer Brown just can't bring himself to harm the cute little guys. On top of that, he misses Sassafras and regrets being so harsh to him. (One point of interest is that in the video version, Farmer Brown's gun was Disneyfied into a net.) While he isn't looking, the Pound Puppies gather up the bunnies and spirit them away to Hannah's house. They deposit the rabbits on the doorstep, ring the doorbell, then quickly hide in the bushes.

 Hannah is surprised, albeit pleasantly so, to see them. She picks up and hugs her new pets, and fortunately doesn't sneeze. (Oooh, the bunny on the right is kissing her! THAT'S SO CUTE!!)

The dogs quickly hurry back to the pound, upon which Nabbit barges in, loudly complaining that Cooler's gotten out again. (Have mercy, the artist drew Nabbit badly here!) Doc Weston informs him that Cooler is only showing the new dogs how to shake hands, beg, and roll over; as such, Sassafras and Pumpkin, who have become good friends by now, show him. (What Nabbit doesn't know won't hurt him, right?)

At this very moment, Farmer Brown comes in asking about getting his dog back; Sassafras seems quite happy to see him, but Pumpkin is sad that his new friend is leaving. Upon noticing this, Sassafras starts growling and backing away from Farmer Brown, which confuses both him and Doc Weston due to the fact that only a moment prior, Sassafras had seemed happy to see him. (In the video version, this is changed to Sassafras crying.)

  One look at Pumpkin, however, clears up this matter. Farmer Brown happily takes both dogs home home with him. (You see, again we have the problem of no one understanding dog-speak. If only Holly had been there...)

Sassafras and Pumpkin are living happily on the farm, Hannah's happy with her rabbits, and all's well that ends well, as they say. :)



My thoughts: This is a cute book. Sassafras and Pumpkin and their respective owners(and even the bunnies!) are good characters, and the storyline is interesting. Some of my main beefs, however, are:

-Not to sound picky, but the plot was kind of weak, and the writing wasn't the best, especially compared to some of the other books in the series.

-The artwork also wasn't the best(e.g. the way Nabbit was drawn, as noted, and, in the picture of Catgut shown above, he has terrier-like whiskers).

-Catgut is described as being the dogcatcher's(i.e. Nabbit's) pet; he's actually supposed to be Bigelow's pet. Granted, Bigelow doesn't appear in this particular book, but still.

-For that matter, the Golden Book Video version suffered from a bit of Adaptation Decay, as noted above.

Despite these things, this book is by no means terrible (Ditto the video). In fact, it's a good, easy-to-come-by, and usually affordable choice for any Pound Puppies fan/collector.

*For those interested BTW, Pound Bunnies will occasionally be available on ebay. Regrettably, they'll sometimes be a little expensive, but well worth it for any Pound Puppies collector.


UPDATE 5/17/12:I'd like to share this picture of this Pound Puppy I recently got who looks almost exactly like Sassafras.

Buy the book on Amazon!

Buy the mini-book on Amazon!

Buy the video on Amazon!

Pound Puppies TV Series-What If

So, I had been thinking, a litle while ago, about the different continuities of the Pound Puppies, and how some characters who were introduced in the 1985 special hadn't made the cut when the show became a series. Then I got to thinking...what if they had?

Here is my opinion of what it could behave been like. I'm also adding a couple of pictures I drew of how the characters would have looked in the series' art style(Well, to be fair, it's actually more my art style, but I tried to copy the show's art style the best I could):

Has anybody seen these dogs?

I'll begin this what if with the three "missing" Pound Puppies, as I call them. (Scrounger's design, BTW, is based off his design in the episode, "Wagga Wagga", and Violet's design is a combination of her original design and her design in that episode.) Their roles and personalities in the show would be like this:

 

 

-Violet would be the group's second-in-command, a role she frequently took in the books.

Personality-wise, she'd still be sweet, polite, and smart, but also tough and adventurous(sort of like Cooler). She'd also, of course, be Cooler's girlfriend.(And you know, in retrospect, it kind of made little sense for her not to be in the series, seeing as that she was Cooler's girlfriend, and that Cooler had no romantic interest in Nose Marie.)

 

 

-Barkerville would be the group's strategist, as he was in the books and the '85 special.

Personality-wise, he'd still be polite, proper, and sensible(The most sensible member of the group, even!) His role as a strategist would be taken a step further in the second season; he'd have a computer that he would use to help find homes for the various dogs and cats they would be trying to place(In lieu of the dogs using "Puppy Power," i.e. the strange psychic abilities they apparently had to do this, which IMHO didn't make much sense...honestly, were they dogs or Alakazams?)

 

 

-Personality-wise, Scrounger would be...well, Scrounger! He'd still, as always, be sarcastic, hygiene-deficient, and have a voracious appetite. As far as things go, though, in the second season, his color would be changed to gray(as it was in the episode, "Garbage Night:The Musical).

And now, on to the villains:

Flack and Tubbs, the two dognappers from the '85 special, would now be Katrina Stoneheart's henchmen, sort of like Horace and Jasper to Cruella De Vil (One could say that they would now have an outlet for their dognapping). They'd mainly serve as comic relief, with their frequent botch-ups being a source of contant frustration to Katrina, as well as Brattina(and Captain Slaughter in the few episodes in which he appeared). 

As per the picture above, the biggest change to them would be their appearance; Flack's sweater, for example, isn't quite as loose-fitting as it was in the pilot episode(i.e. no longer giving him an artificially muscular appearance), his hair is longer, and his beard is a little shorter. Also, in the second season, he'd start wearing fingerless gloves. 

Tubbs now has larger eyes, a smaller mouth, and a slightly more visible nose. His scarf is also slightly shorter. In the second season, he'd don an orange sweater-vest(which, as one might expect, would be no more effective in covering his belly than his shirt was).

Personality-wise, the dognappers wouldn't have changed at all; Flack would still be sneaky and sarcastic, Tubbs would still be dopey and klutzy, and their ability to mess things up in hilarious slapstick ways would also remain the same.

(You know, I might be biased because I happen to like these particular characters, but it seemed like Flack and Tubbs kind of got short-shift in the series; they never appeared in so much as one episode, even in a cameo or a flashback. This is particularly hard to understand considering the fact that Dabney Nabbit, Mayor Fist, and Doc Weston have all appeared in at least one episode of the show.)

On an interesting note, the writers of the series apparently had originally intended to make Dabney Nabbit a regular character. (In fact, on some websites and in some books, he's been mistakenly listed as one of the regular characters.) According to some of the model sheets from the show (which show up on ebay from time to time), they had intended to make him a janitor. Huh? A janitor? Honestly, Nabbit just doesn't seem like the type that anyone would acquaint with cleanliness! You know, IMHO, it would have made more sense to have him still be a dogcatcher, and have him also be working for Katrina.(Honestly IMHO, seeing as that he was so popular in the books, it kind of made little sense not to include him.) Also, in the second season, he'd have a catch phrase: "I'll nab 'em, and I'll nab 'em good!"

To take this what if a step further, I wrote a few fan fictions based off of episodes of the TV show in this continuity:

Wags to Riches Novelization

Brighteyes, Come Home Novelization

 

Tail of the Pup and King Whopper Novelization

 

Garbage Night: The Musical Novelization

 

 





I do I do I do, do like Scrappy Doo, and do you do you do, do you like him too?

"I love my Unca' Scooby!"

It's a well-known fact that Scrappy Doo has been given a bad rap:he's been accused(unfairly) of being annoying, accused(also unfairly) of ruining the show, dissed in newer versions of the show, made into a villain in the live action movie, and even had a highly negative TV Trope named after him. So, it's very refreshing, after all this, to see that some people do still like him(myself included).

In fact, there are a few Scrappy Doo fansites. Here are a couple I found, the latter of which was made by one of the show's writers:

http://www.erictb.info/scrappy.html

http://www.povonline.com/scrappydays/scrappy01.htm

Here also is a fan fiction I found portraying Scrappy in a positive (even sympathetic) light:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/870992/1/Scrappy_Origins

(I even wrote a review for it. *Guilty!*)

There's also this site, which has, among other things, a few (very cute!) Scrappy Doo items for sale. (Some are, regrettably, a little pricey, but well worth it for any Scrappy fan):

http://www.whatacharacter.com/p-s/s--page1.htm

On that note, I've seen many more nifty Scrappy Doo items on ebay, some of the niftiest of which being the "I heart Scrappy" charms for charm bracelets(which I highly recommend.)  :)

UPDATE 6/12/12:I recently acquired this Scooby-Doo trading card which name-drops Scrappy(and in a positive way!)

UPDATE 7/5/12:I also recently found yet another Scrappy fansite which contans such nifty things as character bios, poems written by Scrappy fans, and an "interview" with Scrappy.

http://www.oocities.org/hollywood/film/3353/

There's even(drumroll please...) a Scrappy Doo Fanclub on this famous fansite!(Happy Dance time!)

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/scrappy-doo

 

 

"Ta-da-da-da-da-da! Puppy Power!" 

 

Book Review:Pound Puppies in Public Nuisance

This is my first book review; as per my previous post, I opted to start with a book from the Pound Puppies series.

The story begins with Cooler watching a cop show starring his hero, Police Detective Gumshoe Gallagher, in the Pound Puppies' mission control room when Brighteyes rushes into the room to inform him that a new dog's been brought to the pound. She mentions on a side note that it's the dogcatcher, Dabney Nabbit's birthday, and he's sad because he thinks that no one remembered. (Little does Nabbit know, however, that the dogs are planning him a surprise birthday party!)

Something that I thought I'd note, incidentally, is that Brighteyes' personality in the books is very different from her personality in the TV series; in the books she's a savvy, intuitive type, whereas in the series she's more of a ditzy character. To be fair, I like both of her personalities, but I thought the first one seemed a bit better.

Cooler peeks into the pound office (via an air vent) and observes a policeman bringing in a (very cute) small, brown dog of the bloodhound persuasion, who's wearing a muzzle. The policeman informs Mr. Bigelow, the pound supervisor, that the dog is a public nuisance; he had been barking all day until the whole neighborhood called to complain.

Cooler then introduces the new dog, whose name they discover is Bogart(which seems a very appropriate name for a bloodhound), to the rest of the group. Bogart then proceeds to share his (very sad) story with them: He's a stray, and has been one all of his life. He was wandering through a quiet neighborhood one day, when he heard someone crying.

He followed the sound to a garden shed and observed, via a knothole in one of the walls, a beautiful (and also very cute) cat tied to a shovel.(She looks a little like a Pound Purry!) She informed him that her name was Simone, and that she was a rare, prize-winning show cat being held for ransom by a pair of cat-nappers. She then proceeded to mention that she belonged to a rich old lady who has a young grandson named Sam, both of whom she misses dearly, which causes Bogart himself to wonder what it would be like to have a home and loving family of his own. (Sniff. :*C)

Bogart had then tried to open the shed door, but wasn't stong enough, so he started barking a lot in hopes of attracting someone's attention. He persisted with this, despite being run off by the cat-nappers several times.

 An interesting note regarding these two cat-nappers is that they bear more than a passing resemblance to...

...a certain pair of dognappers, to the point where one wonders if these cat-nappers might, perhaps, be cousins of theirs, or at least some close relatives. Hmm...

Bogart, regrettably, only succeeds in angering the neighbors, who then call the police, who carry him off to the pound. Now he's being (very unfairly) called a public nuisance and Simone still needs rescued.

(You know, what the main problem here seems to be is that no one can understand "dog-speak." If Holly had only been there, she could have traslated for Bogart and cleared up so much of the confusion. Their fault for being in a different continuity, I guess.)

Fortunately, Cooler, being as resourceful as ever, concocts a plan: he, Scrounger, Violet and Bogart will set out to rescue Simone, while Brighteyes, Howler and the others will prep Nabbit's surprise party.

Scrounger then sets about collecting all the things they'll need for both missions, while Brighteyes and Howler use a ruse to lure Itchy and Snitchey, the pound guard dogs, into the main room for the party.

Another point of interest BTW, is that since this book was made after the TV show came out, Howler now speaks English, as he does in the show. (Honestly, IMHO that was a wise idea; he seemed lost without a voice.) Also, another interesting note, as per this picture, is that Howler has brown eyes(up close).

Bogart leads Cooler and the others to the house where he had seen the cat-nappers; they surround the house, shine flashlights in the windows, and play the sound and dialogue from the Gumshoe Gallagher show via a loudspeaker, which scares the cat-nappers out just in time for the real police to arrive.

The group leads the police to the shed where Simone is being held captive, at which point they reunite her with her owners and arrest the cat-nappers. In addition to this, Sam decides to keep Bogart. Sam's grandmother thanks the group and asks them if they'd like to come to their house to celebrate, but they decline, because they have to hurry back to the pound.

Back at the pound, the guard dogs lead Nabbit into the main room, where they're greeted by the Pound Puppies who have prepared an elaborate birthday party for Nabbit, which he's pleasantly surprised by. About midway into the festivities, Nabbit starts to wonder where Cooler, Violet and Scrounger got to, at which point the dogs quickly blindfold him for a game of "Pin the Tail on the Puppy," and distract the guard dogs with a couple of pieces of cake in an effort to buy Cooler and the others some time to get back. Needless to say, when they finally do return, Nabbit is surprised to see them. It's another case solved, thanks to the Pound Puppies!

UPDATE 6/10/12:I had wanted to mention that I recently acquired a coloring book with a similar subplot to this book; Nose Marie is sad because she thinks her birthday's been forgotten, but she doesn't know that the other dogs are planning a surprise party for her. 

I purposely gave her the same color scheme that she has in the TV series in this pic, BTW.

My thoughts:Overall, this is one of the series best entries. The art style is excellent, Bogart and Simone (and even the cat-nappers!) are good characters, and the storyline is very nicely done; IMHO it would have translated well to an episode of the TV show. Perfect for any Pound Puppies fan/collector.

Buy it on Amazon!