Rude Dog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rude Dog was a white cartoon dog developed by Sun Sportswear in the 1980s as part of a line of surfing- and skateboarding-related clothing.

[edit] Sun Sportswear Projects

The character was a stylized version of a Bull Terrier, and the name "Rude" had the dual purpose of glorifying bad behavior and referring to the Rude boy subculture of Ska that was popular at the time. The majority of the clothing used angular artwork and neon colors, in keeping with the fashion trend shared by Quiksilver, Vision Street Wear, PCH, and many others.

[edit] Cartoon Series

To further market the character, the Sun company also developed a Saturday morning cartoon entitled Rude Dog and the Dweebs. Rude Dog and the Dweebs was as colorful as the clothing it advertised. The punkish pooch himself drove a 1959 pink Cadillac across a backdrop of Beverly Hills imagined in hues of pastel and neon.

Rude Dog (Rob Paulsen in a Brooklyn accent) ran an auto shop, where he was assisted by the Dweebs, a motley group of mutt minions. The team included the stuttering Caboose (Frank Welker), the uptight Winston (Peter Cullen in a British accent), Reggie (Mendi Segal impersonating Jack Nicholson), Barney (Dave Coulier in a Southern accent), Ditzy Kibble (Ellen Gerstell), Satch (Jim Cummings impersonating Ed Wynn), and a friendly Chihuahua named Tweek (Hank Saroyan). Rude Dog had a girlfriend named Gloria (Ellen Gerstell).

Their feline foe was the vicious Seymour (Frank Welker), and joining him in the chase was the ubiquitous dog catcher Herman (Peter Cullen) and his assistant Rot (Frank Welker), who is a dimwitted rotweiller. Each week, Rude Dog and company balanced their auto shop duties with attempts to elude the persistent Seymour, Herman, and Rot.

The show debuted on CBS in 1989 and ran for one season. There was a rumor that the reason for the cancellation of the show was because Rude Dog looked suspiciously like Budweiser's commercial creature of the time, Spuds McKenzie. This similarity also led to some schools banning clothing featuring Rude Dog.