YMMV / Dug Days

• Awesome Moments:
  • Dug stops a fire from spreading, and gets a "Hero Dog" medal for his efforts.
  • Russell manages to reverse engineer Muntz's translator collars and creates his own, smaller versions that can be remotely secured onto any animal he chooses.
• Fanfic Fuel: The series mentions that, along with being a Childhood Friend Romance, Carl and Ellie went to high school together and attended the Founders Day fair every year.
• Heartwarming Moments: Overall clear that Dug and Carl are living their best life together.
  • Dug calling Carl "Poppa". Anyone who's ever raised a dog will understand.
    • Especially since he's used to calling Muntz and initially Carl "Master", which says a lot about how Muntz treated his dogs.
  • In the opening scene of the first episode, Carl walks down the stairs after Dug. Contrast that with his Establishing Character Moment in Up when he used a stairlift, and you see how far Carl has come.
  • Dug's enthusiasm for taking care of the puppies in "Puppies".
  • Carl calling Dug brave and reassuring him he is more than just a pet.
  • In "Science", both the squirrel and bird make valid points for why they should have Russell's sandwich. Dug realizes the struggles they have to go through to find food, and concedes that both creatures need it more than him.
  • Also in "Science", it's implied that Russell lives next door to Carl and Dug, meaning he and his mom moved out of that apartment and are able to hang out with Carl and Dug a lot.
• Just Here for Godzilla: While Dug himself being the focus was already going to bring in viewers, the series became must-see for many more viewers due to the passing of Ed Asner mere days before the release date, making this series the final time they'd hear Asner in the role that introduced him to a whole new generation of fans back in 2009. (This would later turn out to be the second-to-last time, as Carl's Date, originally meant to be part of Dug Days as a special, would later be released separately in theaters).
• Moe: The puppies in the "Puppies" short are ridiculously adorable. Seeing them interact with Dug further increases their “awww” factor.
• Special Effects Failure: While the repurposing of unused archival dialogue for Russell (due to his voice actor ageing out of the role) is overall effective and convincing, it is rather obvious that some of his lines, such as "thank you, Mr. Muntz", were originally recorded for a completely different context than how they're used here.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: The calm music, the bright color palette, the innocence of Dug and his antics, Carl's patience with his pet, and the overall peaceful tone of the series slides it firmly into this.
• Tear Jerker: Dug admitting that his pack used to leave him outside for long periods, leaving him to forage for food.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: While Squirrel and Bird have a good point that Dug doesn't need the sandwich as much as they do since they live in the wild, their harsh tone to Dug, who was put down by Muntz's pack in a similar way, may qualify them as this to some viewers.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The original film was already one of Pixar’s best-looking films and still looks terrific. Twelve years of advancements in CGI regarding lighting, color, and animation have done wonders for Carl, Dug, and Russell.

---