Pluto is entering a dog show, but he gets more than he bargained for when he finds another cute dog in the 1939 Walt Disney Animation Studios short, “Society Dog Show.” Mickey has entered Pluto in the show, but Pluto attacks the judge who insults him and gets them kicked out. Mickey then tries to enter Pluto as a trick dog but the curtain catches fire leading to a stampede of people and dogs out of the theater. But, the dog Pluto is interested in is trapped and it’s up to Pluto to save the day.

I love it when Pluto gets his time to shine. A lot of the time, in these early shorts, Pluto ends up on the wrong end of pranks from Donald, Chip or Dale. But neither Donald, nor Chip, nor Dale is in this one. It’s just Mickey and Pluto being best buds and Mickey trying to show off how awesome Pluto is. While it doesn’t come about in the way that Mickey thought, Pluto still demonstrates how awesome he is and comes to the rescue of Fifi, the girl dog he has a crush on. I love dogs, so any short that lifts up Pluto is good with me.

This is the type of short I would like to see revisited more often as Disney keeps churning out series and shorts like “The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse.” Mickey and Pluto are great as a duo, and, too many times, they don’t get the opportunity to just be the awesome twosome they can be. Yes, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy are all amazing too, but sometimes it’s nice to see just Mickey and Pluto together. That was a staple of these early shorts and one I’d like to see return.

I really love getting the opportunity to go through these older shorts in chronological order (or at least as close to chronological order as Disney+ will allow). It’s amazing to see how the animation division started and how it is evolved over the years. I’m eager to see where it goes as we transition into shorts from the 1940s.

Rating: 3.5 stars

What did you think of “Society Dog Show?”

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

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