Line #8 Headscratchers/TheFoxAndTheHound


1	!!Shouldn't she have taken him somewheres else?
2	* Why did Widow Tweed think Tod would be safer at the game preserve than at home with her? It was really a bad idea to drop him off there because 1: Tod was raised as a pet from cubhood, and he therefore had no survival skills. And 2: When she released him, she actually set him up to be hunted by Slade. Though granted, she did drop him off at a game preserve where hunting is forbidden. Maybe she didn't think Slade would be so determined that he would break the law, but it's kind of ironic considering he had already vowed to catch a fox that was somebody else's pet. It's a good thing Tod met Vixey, or he wouldn't have survived for very long.
3	** Widow Tweed realized that Amos had a point when he yelled, "You can't keep him locked up forever!" Eventually, Tod would get out again, and Amos would have no qualms at this point about shooting him dead, especially after what happened to Chief. She took him to the game preserve specifically because hunting was forbidden, and she believed Tod would be safer there. She had no idea Slade would go as far as to deliberately break the law just to get a shot at Tod.
4	!!Slade's judgement
5	* Why did Slade and Copper think Tod deliberately caused Chief to fall off the track and injure himself? They saw the train coming, and Slade was even yelling at Chief to jump.
6	** Slade has had it out for Tod ever since he was a kit and "went after his chickens," even though it was Chief that chased him into the chicken coop. Copper only blamed Tod because otherwise, the only person he could blame was himself for letting Tod go in the first place.
7	** For that matter, why would Copper decide he wants to kill his childhood friend because of Chief's accident? If Chief had been killed, it would be more understandable. But Chief only broke his leg, no permanent damage done. In Slade's case, it's more justified because he already disliked Tod ever since he saw him (supposedly) running after his chickens, and he tried to kill Tod even before Chief got injured. But Copper wants to kill a fox he used to be best friends with [[DisproportionateRetribution just because of Chief's injury]], when just a few minutes before, he went out of his way to protect him from Chief and Slade.
8	*** In the original story and the script, Chief does die. This was changed in adaption as it was thought to be too dark.
9	** It's likely that Amos' demeanor was influencing Copper.
10	!!Calling the Police.
11	* Why didn't Widow Tweed call the police on Slade?
12	** For what? About the only thing the police could get him for was destruction of property for shooting her milk jugs. And then she'd have to explain why there's buckshot holes in Slade's radiator. Any other time he was hunting Tod, it was because Tod was intruding on his property, and thus was fair game.
13	** He also hunted in a game preserve, which is considered poaching. ''That'' would have gotten him in trouble with the law, whether it was Tod he was after or not.
14	** At that point, maybe Tweed figured getting his foot caught in an animal trap was punishment enough.
15	** Law enforcement in the back country was sparse in the old days--and still is, in some places. There might have been a sheriff or a park ranger nearby, but they probably had more pressing things to do than go after Amos Slade for being a scofflaw.
16	!!Shouldn't Chief have a girlfriend?
17	* Instead of buying Copper, why didn't Amos simply buy a female Irish wolfhound so Chief could breed with it and produce biological offspring of his own.
18	** Amos is implied to [[HeManWomanHater not have a very fair view of women]], if him referring to Widow Tweed as a "dang-blasted female" after damaging his radiator is any indication.
19	** Or maybe he specifically wanted a coonhound. And what comes to female dogs; they weren't at that time well-liked in hunting simply because they would go into heat.
20	** Maybe Chief was fixed. Or rather, since Chief is a rather old dog nearing the end of his prime, Amos just thought Cheif wasn't gonna be in any condition to train a new hunting dog(s) if he waited until after the pregnancy, and growth of new puppies, which could take up to a year between the two phases.
21	** Although he'd never admit to anyone, Amos Slade does have a soft spot. He probably had a bucket list wish to raise a hound dog from infancy. You can see how Amos beams with pride at Copper while they are on the hunting trip.
22
23	!!Squeak's Magical Metamorphasis
24	* How did Squeaks metamorphosize into a butterfly so quickly? It was perhaps a week at most between when he was last seen as a caterpillar and the end of the movie? Also, how did he stay a caterpillar for so long? It seems he was a caterpillar for at least a year, but normally caterpillars metamorphosize into butterflies when they are only a few weeks old.
25	** This depend of the species of butterfly, with some having rather long larval stages.
26
27	* Why did Amos Slade keep Chief on a leash but let Copper go unrestrained? It's all well and good to teach your dog to stay near your house on its own accord while it's still young, but shouldn't Slade have been personally watching him during this learning period? There are wild animals all around their house! [[FridgeHorror A puppy Copper's size could get]] ''[[FridgeHorror eaten]]'' [[FridgeHorror if it wanders too far.]]
28	** In the time period this takes place in, especially in a rural home, this would have been normal animal care. Doesn't make it any better or more sensible, but it fits the mentality of the time.
29	*** Speaking of the time, I'm guessing based on the technology we see that this was set between the World Wars in rural Appalachia or the Ozark Mountains, probably during the 1930s. By then, the Tennessee Valley Authority was building hydroelectric dams in many places (we do see some very primitive looking electric lines). Anyway, yes, tying up a dog for misbehaving was conventional wisdom.
30	** Adding further to this, from what's implied, Chief did what Copper did, and that's why he's chained up. So, the reason he might have been allowed to wander around probably wasn't because he allowed to wander around in a sense, just that he had to learn to stay on the property (how Slade expected to accomplish this without actively training Copper is FridgeLogic in itself) or that he expected Chief to keep him out of trouble (again, also FridgeLogic).
31	* Is Slade going to be arrested for trespassing onto a game preserve? Hunting license or not, Slade was ''poaching'' all because of a petty vendetta.
32	** He was never caught, and Widow Tweed probably wouldn't turn him in even if he was willing to admit how he got hurt in the first place. All Tweed cared about was Slade trying to hunt Todd, and Slade had given that up by the end of the film.
33	* When Tod is getting to know Vixey, Dinky and Boomer suddenly show up out of nowhere to watch them.
34	* During the bear attack, Amos Slade struggles to reach for his gun since his foot is caught in one of his traps. The trap is clearly seen being held down by a post; it would probably take less effort to pull it out of the ground and go for the gun rather than try to pry the trap open.
35	** Panic, most likely. Amos probably wasn't thinking rationally, and even as a man with obvious survival experience, it's quite possible that in the chaos pulling the post out of the ground didn't occur to him.
36	** Also, taking the post out might waste time. Those posts are embedded deep in the ground, so the animal can't just run off with the trap. Slade would probably have to kick it several times with his good foot, jiggle it around, and then reposition himself into a kneeling position to pull it straight up out of the ground two-handed. All the while, the trap would be tearing up his leg. Removing the trap simply requires him to get in a kneeling position and using leverage and gravity to force both sides down until the trap locks back into place, then he could get the gun. Not that the type of ammunition Slade had would be at all effective on a bear, mind you, but he was hellbent on saving his dog's life. While he could potentially play dead and let the bear smack him around for 20 minutes, he would be extremely injured and unable to make it back to his car and Copper would almost certainly be dead. Playing dead isn't always effective against bears. Sometimes they will claw, bite, and smack around a "corpse" just for the hell of it. Especially black bears, which are much more vicious than brown bears. Slade almost certainly knew that, and was desperate.
37	* How exactly did the bear hitting the log cause him to fall? We only see him hit the branch Tod was holding onto, then suddenly the entire log falls. Was this an animation goof and the bear was supposed to break the log in half?

Context Headscratchers / TheFoxAndTheHound