# If Pluto is a dog, what is Goofy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 29, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518 "2013-08-29T18:11:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518/21 "2013-09-11T01:20:17Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > Horace Horsecollar was [sometimes shown riding a horse](http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n270/robotfencer/horacehorse_zps9d74746f.png) in Mickey’s comic strip. > > I also remember reading a Donald Duck comic book story that heavily involved (non-anthropomorphic) ducks, which I thought was kinda weird. Disney made fun of that in Fantasia 2000, with Donald doing a double take on the duck couple going into the ark. [http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B00003CWPX?ie=UTF8&index=1](http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B00003CWPX?ie=UTF8&index=1) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518/22 "2013-09-11T02:10:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Ethilrist** : > > None of that compares to watching Donald carve the turkey at Thanksgiving. The horror… What’s so bad about that? You eat cows, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518/23 "2013-09-11T02:13:52Z")
Maybe it’s not a turkey… ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518/24 "2013-09-11T16:07:49Z")
> [@gwisby](#): > > It was always my understanding that Goofy isn’t a dog, but a Goof. As you mentioned, he was once known as Dippy the Goof. Okay, smartypants, what kind of animal is a “goof”? All of the Disney parade are animals. Goofy is a dog, so is Pluto. Pluto is a pet dog, Goofy is a person dog. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518/25 "2013-09-11T17:40:25Z")
It amazes me how many people try to over-complicate this. If Peg-Leg Pete is a cat, and Figaro is a cat, how can Minnie keep Figaro as a pet? How can Mickey be person-sized while Chip and Dale are rodent-sized? Why is Bugs Bunny taller than Elmer Fudd? (Non-Disney example.) Sheesh! Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518/27 "2013-09-16T18:59:44Z")
Many years ago, in the letters column of _Howard the Duck_, there was a lengthy breakdown of the great chain of being as it exists in Disney, with[ul] [li]full humans, like Snow White, and Madame Triple X in _Dangerous Disguise_,[/li][li]all-but-human dogfaces and pigfaces, like Chief O’Hara,[/li][li]fully anthropomorphic animals, like Mickey and Donald,[/li][li]clothed, but wild, animals, like the Big Bad Wolf,[/li][li]naked, but still somewhat anthropomorphized animals, like Chip and Dale,[/li][li]naked and natural animals that nevertheless talk, like Bambi,[/li][li]animals that do not talk, but still possess some degree of sapience, like Pluto, and[/li][li]full animals, like the animals on Grandma Duck’s farm.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518/28 "2013-09-16T20:02:16Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Many years ago, in the letters column of _Howard the Duck_, there was a lengthy breakdown of the great chain of being as it exists in Disney, with[ul] > [li]full humans, like Snow White, and Madame Triple X in _Dangerous Disguise_,[/li][li]all-but-human dogfaces and pigfaces, like Chief O’Hara,[/li][li]fully anthropomorphic animals, like Mickey and Donald,[/li][li]clothed, but wild, animals, like the Big Bad Wolf,[/li][li]naked, but still somewhat anthropomorphized animals, like Chip and Dale,[/li][li]naked and natural animals that nevertheless talk, like Bambi,[/li][li]animals that do not talk, but still possess some degree of sapience, like Pluto, and[/li][li]full animals, like the animals on Grandma Duck’s farm.[/li][/ul] Ah, the [Sliding Scale of Animal Anthropomorphism](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism), as they call it over at TV Tropes. Powers &8^] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-pluto-is-a-dog-what-is-goofy/667518.md?page=1)