Once Upon a Dog

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A Soviet animated short (1982) directed by Eduard Nazarov based on a Ukrainian folk tale.

A farmer's guard dog gets too old to do his job properly and gets in the way of everyday chores, so the farmer gives him the boot. Dog runs to the woods and meets the Wolf there. They become friends and the wolf decides to help his former enemy to get his job back...

Can be seen on YouTube with English subtitles here.

Tropes used in Once Upon a Dog include:
  • Abhorrent Admirer: The Wolf readies to sing and places his paw on one lady knee while under the table, and the lady, thinking it's a guy sitting near her, makes doe eyes to him. The guy is not happy.
  • Crack! Oh, My Back!: Happens to the Wolf while he is laughing at the dog during their first meeting.
  • Enemy Mine
  • Funny Background Event: the short is chock full of this, and they're so subtle they can be on foreground, yet you still miss them, like:
    • The suitor hopefully looking at daughter's window, gets his face badly scratched by a cat and is seen later in singing procession with bandages all over his face.
    • The way father proudly twirls his moustache implies that he took credit for the child's rescue.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Both leads were distinguished cinema actors, and the Wolf's hunched over design comes from one of the Dzhigarkhanyan's most iconic roles: The Hunchback from The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed.
  • Interrupted Suicide
  • Just Following Orders: The Wolf realizes that Dog chasing him was his job, and doesn't hold a grudge
  • Kick the Dog: After a number of accidents happening because of a dog, farmer does this
  • Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic: The Dog doesn't seem to be able to make a coherent sentence. Most of his phrases are just "eh"-s and "so"-s.
  • Shown Their Work: The Director of the short, not being Ukrainian himself, did a a few years' worth of study of Ukrainian village life
  • The Stoic: The Wolf helped dog and didn't ask for any favors back.
  • We Are Not Going Through That Again: when Dog comes to Wolf second time, he says: "Wha?.. AGAIN?.."
  • Wedding Smashers
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