We got our first look on Monday at Scooby-Doo from Netflix’s upcoming live-action series Scooby-Doo: Origins. The show is a modern re-imagining of the classic cartoon, which seems like it may do for Scooby-Doo what Riverdale did for Archie Comics by leaning more heavily into supernatural horror elements. It also stars a real-life puppy as opposed to a CGI-generated one, bucking a Hollywood trend that sees CGI creations in place of real animals. All of this sounds like a good fit for the franchise, but some Scooby-Doo fans have still found something to rage about online, and even by internet standards, it’s pretty dumb.
In Variety’s Facebook post debuting the pup playing Scooby, people are lashing out because the puppy doesn’t look like a Great Dane. “That’s not a Great Dane puppy,” said one commenter, while another said “Thats a funny looking great Dane.” Other comments read, “That’s not a Great Dane,” “He doesn’t even look like a puppy Great Dane lol,” “they breed swapped scooby doo,” and “Looks more like a Labrador retriever than a Great Dane.” Similar comments were also featured on Instagram, Reddit, and X.
There’s one problem: that is a real-life Great Dane puppy. People — and especially Scooby-Doo fans, apparently — have no idea what Great Dane puppies look like. Fortunately, more dog-knowledgeable fans chimed in — some even posted pictures of their own Great Dane pups.
To be fair, the confusion comes from the fact that Great Danes don’t achieve their characteristic jowly, hangdog look until they’re fully grown at about 18 to 24 months, whereas Scooby-Doo: Origins is depicting Scoob as a puppy. Another issue may stem from the fact that Scooby-Doo, in both the cartoons and his previous live-action films, has cropped ears, which were common when the cartoon began in the 1960s, but is widely seen as a cruel practice nowadays.
Or perhaps, and I’m just speculating here, nearly 60 years of watching cartoon Great Danes has warped the public’s understanding of the breed.
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