History Main / TributeToFido

* In ''[[Literature/WaysideSchool Sideways Stories From Wayside School]]'', there is an in-universe example: a boy named Nancy, who dislikes his name, trades names with a girl named Mac, who disliked hers because she had been named after a dog.

* Laila, a Russian dog who became the first animal in space, has been memorialized by many:
** Music/HavalinaRailCo’s. Oddly, they misspelled the name as “Leica”.
* Music/JonathanCoulton's soul-crushing "Space Doggity".
* Music/{{Mecano}}’s own “Laika” features the dog looking outside her spaceship and wondering what’s that colorful sphere and why she is flying around.

* Music/HavalinaRailCo had a song about Laika, the Russian dog who became the first animal in space. (Though Havalina spelled it "Leica".)
* Not to mention Music/JonathanCoulton's soul-crushing "Space Doggity".

* J Michael Straczynski wrote an episode of ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' in which Max's ex-wife's cat was kidnapped by enemies, causing Max to demonstrate how tough he could be. The ep was dedicated to JMS's own recently deceased cat.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Amphibia'', Anne has a cat back on earth named Domino, who was modeled after Creator/MattBraly's cat of the same name.

[[folder:Anime]]

* Momo from ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'' is named after developer Guillermo “YaW” Andrades’ Shiba Inu, and its [[PaletteSwap Luma colouration]] resembles the breed.

* A Pomeranian named Missile appears in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'', based on game creator Shu Takumi's own Pomeranian (also named Missile).

* In the mobile game ''VideoGame/CastleCats'', [[https://castle-cats-pocapp.fandom.com/wiki/Edna Edna]] is based on a [[https://www.instagram.com/fire_cat_edna/ real-life cat]], a feral adopted by the staff of San Francisco Fire Department Station 49.

* In ''Comicbook/GrooTheWanderer'', Groo's loyal canine companion, Rufferto, was based on Creator/SergioAragones' own dog, also named Rufferto. Whenever Aragonés makes cartoons about himself and his friends, Rufferto will always look like Groo's Rufferto.

* Champ from the ''VideoGame/{{Postal}}'' series was named for the now-deceased[[note]] He succumbed to cancer in 2011[[/note]] dog of lead designer Vince Pesi. Not only was the 2015 ExpansionPack for ''Postal 2'', ''Paradise Lost'', dedicated to the memory of the real life pet, but the plot involved searching for the in-game Champ in the ruins of Paradise.

* Both of the cats in Webcomic/TwoLumps are based on the author's (now deceased) pets.

* Music/TheBeatles' "Martha My Dear" is about Paul [=McCartney=]'s dog.

* In ''The Hettie Bagshaw Mysteries'' by Mandy Morton, feline detectives Hettie and Tilly are named after Morton's own cats. Taking it further, Hettie's favourite writer is Polly Hodge, author of ''An Unsuitable Job For a Cat'', who is named after Creator/PDJames's cat.

* In a lot of movies containing an animal character, they wil often be credited as themselves.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice: Invasion'', Wally and Artemis have adopted a sleepy white pit bull. According to the producers and Stephanie Lemelin, Artemis' voice actor, he's explicitly modeled after her own sleepy white pit bull, Brucely. When asked what the dog's name was, Creator/GregWeisman answered "I want to say Brucely."

* Mog, in ''Mog the Forgetful Cat'' and sequels, was based on Judith Kerr's own cat Mog.

** The protagonist of Furgul is based on the writer's own lurcher named Feargul. He adopted Feargul and wondered why his dog was so covered with scars. The fictional Furgul from the story gets CoveredWithScars through various fights and escapes with death.

* ''Literature/TailchasersSong'' is partially InMemoriam to an orange tom Creator/TadWilliams' had named Fever. Fever died of cancer a few years before the book was published. Tailchaser, the protagonist of the book, is also an orange tomcat.

* A dog named Missile returns (though it's not the same Missile) in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' as a full-on main character, this time with additional Pomeranianness.

* The police dog in the first ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' game is named after the creator's Pomeranian, Missile. He doesn't do anything useful in that game, but he does eat all of Larry's hot dogs. Though Missile's taste for those hot dogs [[ChekhovsSkill actually makes him useful]] for finding an important clue in the last case of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations''.

[[quoteright:324:[[Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtpongo_3533.jpg]]]]

[[folder:Comics]]

* Charles Schulz based [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy]] on his childhood dog, Spike. Later, we meet Snoopy's brother, who is named Spike, as well as another brother Andy, based on a dog Schulz owned later in life.
* The cat, Horse, in ''ComicStrip/FootrotFlats'' was based on a real cat who hung around the author's farm.
* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Hobbes was inspired by one of Bill Watterson's cats. He explains in the ''10th Anniversary Book'':
-->Hobbes was very much inspired by one of our cats, a gray tabby named Sprite. Sprite not only provided the long body and facial characteristics for Hobbes, she was also the model for his personality. She was good-natured, intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic in a sneaking-up-and-pouncing sort of way.

[[folder: Fan Fic]]
* The OriginalCharacter Sadie in ''FanFic/AngelOfTheBat'' and its sequel is named after the writer's beagle, who passed away at the same time as the character's introduction. The story contains some nods to this, most prevelant being that the character wears a dog tag necklace.

[[folder:Film]]
* The character Franchise/IndianaJones is named after creator Creator/GeorgeLucas's dog Indiana, who was also the inspiration for [[Franchise/StarWars Chewbacca]]. There is also an in-universe example that reflects the RealLife situation: in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', it is shown that [[WeNamedTheMonkeyJack the character chose the nickname "Indiana" after his family's dog]].
** This was taken even further in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'': Willie was the name of Creator/StevenSpielberg's dog, and Short Round the one of the co-writers.
* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Dumbo}}'', it is implied that [[DisappearedDad Dumbo's father]] is Jumbo, a famous elephant that appeared first at the London Zoo then at the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Dumbo was supposed to be named Jumbo Junior, but ended up being known by a mocking nickname instead.
* Of the {{justified|Trope}} due to the animal playing the character variety, the dog Jed played the eponymous creature in ''Film/TheThing1982''. He's also been in a couple other films. Interestingly, the dog is never named onscreen (only in the credits), but fans of the movie have taken to referring to the dog with this name.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''

[[folder:Live Action Television]]

** Not to mention Music/JonathanCoulton's soul-crushing "Space Doggity".
* The composer of the song "Hampster Dance" actually got the song name from her dead hamster. [[Disney/RobinHood Guess where]] she got the lyrics from!

* The police dog in the first ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' game is named after the creator's Pomeranian, Missile. He doesn't do anything useful in that game, but he does eat all of Larry's hot dogs. Though Missile's taste for those hot dogs [[ChekhovsSkill actually makes him useful]] for finding an important clue in the last case of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations''.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Kirby, Cole's basset hound in ''Webcomic/PvP'', is named after (and modeled on) Scott Kurtz's own basset hound Kirby.
* Guineas, one of Grace's siblings in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', is based on a friend's guinea pig, due to a lack of ideas.
* Both of the cats in Webcomic/TwoLumps are based on the author's (now deceased) pets.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'', Maggie Willis's hamsters Snkrs and Anakin appear as Galasso's minions, and then, when the drawbacks to hamster minions become apparent, as Amber's pets.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* On ''Roleplay/HonorableHogwarts'', the character of [[GranolaGirl Lucy Frost]] is named after her creator's cat. As in, the cat's full name... the guy behind the character is actually named Frost in RealLife, so Frost is also the cat's surname.

* In the FurryBasketballAssociation, Ryan Rottshep is based on one of the contributer's dogs.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Lion from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', a magical pink lion, is named after a cat that lived around a cabin Creator/RebeccaSugar and Ian Jones-Quartey stayed in during the series early planning stages.
* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice: Invasion'', Wally and Artemis have adopted a sleepy white pit bull. According to the producers and Stephanie Lemelin, Artemis' voice actor, he's explicitly modeled after her own sleepy white pit bull, Brucely. When asked what the dog's name was, Creator/GregWeisman answered "I want to say Brucely."

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The word "jumbo" as a synonym for "really big" is a reference to the elephant Jumbo that was mentioned above.
* Creator/JohnWayne's nickname "Duke" comes from a dog he used to own, even back before he became famous.
* Bindy Sue Irwin, daughter of the late Creator/SteveIrwin, is named after a crocodile he worked with frequently and his favorite dog.