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In Canis Corpore Transmuto note 

The Shaggy Dog is a 1959 Disney movie starring Fred MacMurray and Tommy Kirk, partly based on a Felix Salten novel called The Hound of Florence. It is notable for being Disney's first live-action comedy.

Life is hard for Wilby Daniels. His father doesn't seem to understand him and fails to appreciate his passions, his brother loves him but is obnoxious, his best friend often takes advantage of his generosity, and his mother doesn't seem to be able to do much about it. But that all changes when a beautiful French girl moves in with her family across the street and Wilby volunteers to go with her to the museum. Upon returning home, he discovers an old ring with a strange Latin inscription on it, and after reading said inscription multiple times, he is transformed into a dog! He seeks the advice of the kindhearted and superstitious museum manager, who unfortunately cannot help him and informs him that until he does an act of heroism, the transformation will come and go at unpredictable times (usually the worst possible times). It's bad enough that his father has a strong hatred for dogs and his brother wants to keep him as a pet, but Wilby makes the horrifying discovery that Francesca's father and butler are actually spies sent to steal a mysterious government secret for the Space Program located in the classified "Section 32" and that Francesca is in danger! Can Wilby and Moochie stop the spies and save Francesca, or will he (and his dad) both end up in the doghouse?

The movie was a huge hit at the time of its original release in 1959. It spawned a 1976 sequel (The Shaggy D.A. where a 40 year old Wilby played by Dean Jones runs for district attorney and his curse comes back), a 1987 TV midquel (The Return of the Shaggy Dog, set between the original film and The Shaggy D.A.) and a TV remake in 1994 (starring Scott Weinger as Wilby, Ed Begley Jr. as Wilby and Moochie's father and James Cromwell as the lead villain).

A very loose theatrical remake, featuring none of the original characters, was subsequently released in 2006. Starring Tim Allen as Deputy District Attorney Dave Douglas, it revolves around Dave representing the pharmaceutical corporation Grant and Strictland in court against Justin Forrester, a high school social studies teacher and activist, for supposedly firebombing one of their labs. Forrester claims this is a set-up, and that the corporation is in fact conducting illegal animal experimentation. Unbeknownst to Dave, Forrester is right — the corporation is holding Khyi Yang Po, a bearded collie they stole from a Tibetan monastery, who was born with a rare genetic mutation that makes him age one year for every seven (the opposite of normal), which they intend to replicate for humans. When Dave's daughter and her friend break into the lab and find the dog in the midst of his own escape attempt, they bring him home and rename him Shaggy. Dave, who doesn't like dogs, reacts poorly and is ultimately bitten by Shaggy, transferring the dog's mutation to him and causing him to begin acting like a dog himself, ultimately giving him the ability to change into an exact copy of Shaggy. In his dog form, Dave overhears his wife, son Josh and daughter Carly talking at different times and discovers how badly his workaholic lifestyle has alienated them all as a result; between this and his learning what Grant and Strictland is really up to, he swears to make things right with his family and works both to do so and to expose the corporation's crimes.

Not to be confused with a "Shaggy Dog" Story.


The original 1959 film contains examples of:

  • Accidental Incantation: Wilby Daniels finds a ring with an inscription ("in canis corpore transmuto") and reads it aloud several times, turning it into a little song. It turns him into a dog.
  • Animated Credits Opening: The opening credits have stop motion animation.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Moochy for Wilby. Exaggerated when Wilby becomes a dog; Moochy doesn't want him to change back because he finally has a dog. He even tries to put a dog collar on him!
  • Betty and Veronica: Allison, the girl next door that grew up with both Wilby and Buzz, and the sophisticated and French Francesca. The two girls actually act more civil towards one another than the Trope Namers do.
  • Big Bad: Dr. Valasky.
  • Bittersweet Ending: In quite a few aspects. Wilby manages to stop the spies and rescue Francesca, resulting in the spell being broken, but unfortunately, it's the dog Chiffon who gets all the attention and credit. Then there's the fact that Francesca is taken back to France after her adoptive father is arrested, but she gives Wilby's brother Moochie the dog as thanks and Wilson has finally warmed up to dogs. And finally, Wilby and Buzz make up and agree to both share Allison... but she has found another boyfriend.
  • Bound and Gagged: When Francesca's father and butler discover Wilby eavesdropping on their plans to steal section 32, they bound and gag him to keep him from ratting them out before fleeing the country.
  • Bumbling Dad: Also doubles as Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Wilson isn't academically challenged by any means nor a bad person deep down, but often falls short of being a good parent to his boys. At the beginning of the film, after Wilby's mishap with the missile interceptors, he makes Wilby get rid of all his science experiments and his pet animals, and tells him to get off the roof he's fixing before the falls off... and ruins the ''flowerbeds'', but he also doesn't like his son taking a girl to the dance (having never dated until he was 20). Not to mention he's rather harsh towards his other son Moochie's fondness towards dogs, to say nothing of his feeling of betrayal when Moochie is forced to tell the police that he knows nothing about his father's stories about Wilby turning into a dog to avoid being questioned further and be delayed from rescuing his brother. He gets better in the end.
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • Wilby, and sometimes his dad.
    • Poor Officer Hanson. He finds dog!Wilby doing all sorts of undoglike things (like using a call box) and ends up doubting his sanity. Then, when he finally realizes he isn't hallucinating, his boss and co-workers start doubting his sanity!
  • Captain Obvious:
    Mercer: [after a police car drives by with dog!Wilby driving] That wasn't Hanson!
  • Car Chase: The climax of the film, with the spies, with a kidnapped Francesca in tow, trying to make for the harbor to flee the country in possession of Section 32, while Wilby (in dog form) pursues in Buzz's swiped hot rod. He in turn is followed by Officers Hanson and Kelly. They pull over Wilby, but he resists and takes off their police car to resume the chase, leaving Hanson and Kelly to follow in the hot rod! Meanwhile, when the two officers report to their superiors at the precinct that their car had been stolen by a shaggy dog, the disbelieving police then sends out other cops to pursue and apprehend them, only for the chief to question the sanity of the entire police force and join the chase himself when they, too, report seeing a dog driving a police car where Hanson and Kelly should be! All the while, Buzz and Moochie coerce a dazed Wilson into following after everyone else, both for their own reasons: Moochie to stop the spies and save his brother and Buzz to get his car back.
  • Crossover: Officers Hanson and Kelly would appear again in The Absent-Minded Professor (which incidentally also features Fred MacMurray and Tommy Kirk (albeit in different roles), as well as a voice performance by Paul Frees)).
  • Crying Wolf: A variant; the chief of police understandably doesn't believe Hanson when he says a car has been stolen by a large shaggy dog.
  • Delayed "Oh, Crap!": Frieda says Wilby's working on an "issil interceptor". Wilson says she must mean a "missile interceptor". He starts talking about the trouble Wilby gets them into, then realizes that his son has built a missile interceptor.
  • Decoy Protagonist: The opening narration and first five minutes of the film make it appear as though Wilson is the film's protagonist. But it's actually his son Wilby who has that honor, while Wilson is more of the tritagonist.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: Either one. After her adoptive father's arrest for espionage, Francesca goes back to France. As for Allison, she denounces Wilby and Buzz as mere children when she gets a new boyfriend.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Launching a missile interceptor in the basement might have been a bad idea, Wilby.
  • Double Take: As Wilby begins turning into a sheepdog for the first time, he passes by a mirror before pausing and noticing his hair turning white.
  • The Dragon: Stefano the butler.
  • Dramatic Drop: Stefano drops the tray he's holding when he thinks the dog has opened a locked door by removing said door from its hinges.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Wilby is the one who saves the day and stops the spies, but his dad gets the credit, and he doesn't even get to be in the background when the paper is taking his dad's picture.
  • Epic Fail: Most of Wilby's antics. For example, he creates and launches a missile interceptor... in the basement.
  • Everyone Looks Sexier if French: Buzz and Wilby certainly think so.
  • Fusion Dance: The Borgia Ring works this way — by reciting its incantation, an existing dog in the area fuses with the person who initially recited it, causing them to take the dog's form.
  • George Lucas Altered Version: The "Wild and Wooly Edition" DVD holds both the widescreen black and white version, and a 4:3note  colorized version.
  • Girl Next Door: Allison, as played by Annette Funicello. She's a very pretty girl whom both boys are interested in dating, only to be forgotten when Francesca moves into town.
  • Jerkass: Buzz Miller, to some extent. He always asks Wilby for money to pay for his dates with girls, and always fails to pay him back, and when the new girl Francesca moves in, he makes it clear he doesn't want Wilby around, wanting to woe her in himself.
  • Mailman vs. Dog: Wilson Daniels is a postal carrier who is always being barked at by dogs and resents them in turn. His wife speculates that dogs dislike mail carriers because they notice how they repeatedly bring bad news to the house.
  • Oh, Crap!: The three main characters each have one.
    • Moochie, when he see Wilby start to change into a dog again at the dance.
    • Wilby, when he sees he's turned back into a human while still in the room with Francesca's father and butler making plans to steal section 32.
    • Wilson gets one combined with that of betrayal when Moochie is forced to tell the police that he knows nothing about his father's stories about Wilby turning into a dog to avoid being questioned further and be delayed from rescuing his brother.
  • Photo Op with the Dog: Wilson is subjected to one with the literal dog (to his dismay) and his son Moochie at the end after being praised as the hero of the story.
  • A Rare Sentence: The scene where Officer Hanson reports Wilby (in dog form) for stealing Buzz's car is full of them. Shortly after this, the police of chief gets one, too.
    Police Chief: Would you have them send my car around, please? [Beat] That is unless it's been stolen by a purple kangaroo wearing a checkered vest!
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Downplayed, but Allison pointedly tells her new boyfriend that Buzz and Wilby are "just children" when he asks who they are, upon seeing them right as their agreeing that they've been unfair to her by ogling after Francesca.
  • Skewed Priorities: Wilson tells his boys to come off the roof before they fall off, not because they might hurt themselves but because they'll ruin the flowerbeds.
  • Spinning Paper: After the spies are arrested, the next scene a brief montage of newspapers spinning up to the camera, with headlines all blaring about the spy ring, which was broken by a shaggy dog.
  • Suggested by...: Both this film and its sequel are "suggested by" The Hound of Florence by Felix Salten (yes, the same guy who wrote Bambi), as noted in the opening credits of both films.
  • Tempting Fate: Wilson tells Wilby not to fall off the roof or he'll ruin the flowerbeds. Wilby says he won't. Three guesses on what happens next.
  • Two-Timer Date: Zig-Zagged. Wilby's friend Buzz asks his usual girlfriend Alice on a date, and later without thinking, asks Francesca, the new girl who just moved in. So Buzz comes up with a creative solution: He will tell each girl that Wilby is nervous and has never had a date before, so to make him feel better, they will each dance with Wilby every other dance, and that way both girls will think they're with Buzz and everybody will be happy. Wilby fails to see how it will make him happy, but agrees since it's better than going with Moochie. Instead of going horribly wrong, as you'd probably expect, Buzz's plan works perfectly and Wilby is overjoyed to be dancing with Francesca... unfortunately, in the middle of the dance he starts turning into a dog again!
  • Unexpectedly Real Magic: Wilby Daniels finds a ring with a Latin inscription in it: "In Canis corpore transmuto." He likes the sound of it and sings it to himself several times while holding the ring. Then he turns into a dog.
  • The Unreveal: It's never specifically revealed what exactly the mysterious Section 32 contained that the spies were after, other than it was for the space program. But based on the police officers' shocked expressions upon hearing that Wilson knows of it, it probably was something of vital importance.
  • Wicked Stepfather: Well, wicked adoptive father, but either way, Dr. Valasky is not Francesca's biological father.
  • You Have to Believe Me!: Wilson's attempts to tell the police what is happening cause them to think he's either insane or a spy himself.


The Shaggy D.A. contains examples of:

  • Cute Clumsy Creature: At one point the title character (in his dog form) hides under a table at a charity dinner, causing a panic.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: In the climax, sitting district attorney John Slade figures out that by reciting the incantation on the Borgia Ring, he can trigger Wilby's transformation into a sheepdog, and does so to keep Wilby from being able to run against him for the D.A.'s job. However, chanting the incantation several times (as he does in the scene) transfers the curse to him... and turns him into a bulldog.
  • Sequel Non-Entity: Moochie Daniels, despite being a major character in the first film (and the subsequent interquel film) is completely absent from this one.


The Return of the Shaggy Dog contains examples of:

  • Interquel: The film is set between The Shaggy Dog (1959) and The Shaggy D.A., with Wilby preparing to marry his girlfriend Betty.


The 1994 remake contains examples of:

  • Bunny Ears Picture Prank: When Wilby is trying to film a video of him showing off his invention, his younger brother, Moochie, attempts to give him bunny ears.


The 2006 remake contains examples of:

  • All Animals Are Dogs: Thanks to genetic engineering, a variety of animals in the lab develop dog-like behavior.
  • Animorphism: After being bitten by Khyi Yang Po (AKA Shaggy), Dave gains the ability to transform into an exact copy of him, though it takes him a while to get control of changing back and forth.
  • Composite Character: The remake is almost completely different from the original and its sequels, but some characters share traits with them.
    • Dave Douglas, the main character, is kind of a mix of Wilby as a kid, (a brilliant but somewhat inconsiderate person who turns into a sheepdog and stops a conspiracy), Wilby as an adult (both are efficient distract attorneys) and Wilby's father Wilson (both are well-intended but inept fathers who have strong hatreds for dogs much to the dismay of their kids, but eventually love them at the end).
    • Kozak, the main antagonist, shares some similarities with Francesca's stepfather Dr. Valasky (both travel to a foreign country to steal something valuable to exploit for themselves) and also John Slade from The Shaggy D.A. (as a corrupt politician who attempts to dispose of the protagonist in his dog form to prevent him from thwarting his plans).
    • Carly and Josh also share some traits with Wilby (both are talented kids, but their fathers fail to appreciate their good qualities).
    • Rebecca shares some traits with Frieda, being a Deadpan Snarker annoyed by her dysfunctional husband's poor parenting choices.
  • Cool Big Sis: Carly is this to Josh, especially compared to Wilby and Moochie's relationship from the original.
  • Couldn't Find a Pen: When Dave (in dog form) is trying to convince his children that he's still their dad, he tries to spell "I AM DAD" with Scrabble letters. However, he cannot find a second "D".
  • Creator In-Joke: When jumping off a high place, Tim Allen's character shouts "To infinity... and beyond!"
  • Didn't Think This Through: Attempting to prove her father's client has been experimenting on animals and her teacher is innocent, Carly breaks into Kozak's lab and free the dog that eventually bites her father. At first, she's ecstatic that she's found a dog that Kozak experimented and proving he's a criminal... before realizing she has no proof where the dog came from.
  • Dogs Are Dumb: Averted. Shaggy is pretty smart for a canine, and by the end of the film has even learned how to surf.
  • Fountain of Youth: Kozak's plan is to obtain the DNA of the dog Shaggy, which he can use to create an immortality serum and make humans have eternal youth.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: During his closing arguments to make Kozak go out of control, Dave claims this is Kozak's real motivation, taunting him with the notion of working "in Dr. Strictland's shadow" and citing him being "in second place". He bases these claims on Kozak's anger at Dr. Strictland for always taking the credit for their projects (as he says when he's injecting Strictland with the serum that paralyzes him, which Dave witnessed).
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: Larry and Gwen start to freak out after Kozak turns on their boss Lance Strictland and violently incapacitates the man (injecting him with a serum that will paralyze him for months). When they protest, Kozak promises them a cut and Larry and Gwen accept it out of fear.
  • In Name Only: Aside from a human turning into a sheepdog at random times, all it has in common with the original is that Dave (a father) hates dogs (like Wilby's father, Wilson in the original) and a conspiracy is afoot. It actually has more in common with the sequel The Shaggy D.A..
  • Involuntary Shapeshifter: Initially, at least — the shapeshifting is triggered by Dave's heart rate, which is accelerated when he does dog stuff (like playing fetch).
  • Logo Joke: The Walt Disney Pictures logo turns into a doghouse.
  • The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: The film kind of reverses the main form of humor from the original film. Instead of people being shocked from seeing a dog act like a human, they get a shock from seeing a human act like a dog.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: While in his dog form, Dave learns that his son Josh hates football and has only been pretending to love it as much as his father, because he feels that Dave will stop respecting him otherwise, much to Dave's shock. Compounding it, Josh reveals to his friend that he has intentionally been flunking math so his father will make him quit football to focus on his studies and intends to flunk more classes if math does not suffice.
  • Net Gun: At the beginning of the film, Khyi Yang Po (AKA Shaggy) is captured with a net launcher so he can be brought to America.
  • Not Listening to Me, Are You?: Frequently throughout the movie with Rebecca towards Dave. At one point she manages to get him to finally pay attention by slamming a stack of books on his desk.
  • Partial Transformation: A side-effect of some of the animal experiments — two of the animals injected with Shaggy's DNA end up with a dog's head (in the frog's case) or tail (in the snake's case). When Dave bites Kozak and later taunts him, the DNA transfer causes Kozak to sprout a dog's tail, thus giving proof of the animal experiments.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: The mercenaries who capture Shaggy deliver him and then leave the story, having completed their job and not having any interest or investment in the rest of Kozak's plans.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Khyi Yang Po, or Shaggy — despite looking like an average sheepdog, he's really over three hundred years old. The scientists explain this as a mutation that reverses the standard canine aging rate — he ages one year for every seven.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Inverted. The snake is very docile and friendly.
  • Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: In contrast to Wilby, Dave's clothes don't transform with him. He ends up having to steal, borrow or have someone bring him clothes after each reversion to human as a result.
  • Side Effects Include...: Lance Strictland needs one of Dr. Kozak's serums to be able to walk and stay alive. Korak shows Strictland the genetically experimented snake in the laboratory, the snake rejuvenated thanks to the canine serum, but with side effects like having a dog's tail and canine behaviors. This makes Strictland angry, because he doesn't want to end up with the same side effects as the snake.
  • Snakes Are Sinister: Has a notable inversion in the snake, due to the dog serum, which made him go from a dying old snake to a strong young snake, but also growing a dog's tail and developing canine behaviors. The snake is very good, nice and friendly. He helps Dave out of his cage, when Dave asks him to find the keys.
  • The Starscream: Kozak to his boss, Lance Strictland — he injects Strictland with the serum that paralyzes him, and says that by the time it's worn off, he'll be CEO of the company.
  • Tipped Off by the Tail: Near the end of the film, Dave accuses Kozak of illegal animal experimentation in court. The court is initially dismissive of Dave despite Kozak's dog-like behavior. Ultimately, Dave's taunts and throwing a "stick" (actually the bailiff's baton) triggers Kozak's dog instincts, resulting in him sprouting a tail and incriminating him on the spot.
    Dave: [pointing at Kozak's tail] If that isn't proof of animal experimentation, I don't know what is!
  • Unconventional Courtroom Tactics: During the climax, Dave resorts to unorthodox methods to expose Kozak's crimes — he mocks the other man and growls at him like a dog (which causes Kozak's own canine instincts to kick in and for him to growl back). Portrayed realistically in that the judge is unwilling to put up with this and tries to have Dave removed... except at the last minute, Dave throws the baliff's baton and tells Kozak to fetch, triggering Kozak's own partial transformation and thus revealing that he's involved in illegal and unethical experimentation.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifter: After figuring out what causes his transformations (an accelerated heart rate to become a dog, and a slowed heart rate to become human again), Dave learns to take advantage of it and shift back and forth.
  • When You Coming Home, Dad?: Dave Douglas is a workaholic who's so focused on his job to the point where he doesn't understand his own kids and his wife's coworkers believe she's a single mother.


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