Courage the Cowardly Dog is an American cartoon series created by John R. Dilworth. It began in 1999, narrowly making it a 90s cartoon with four seasons, containing horror, comedy, and scientific fantasy genres. It revolves around a dog who is said to be cowardly because he’s afraid of everything, but throughout the series, he does all kinds of courageous acts to save his people. The definition of bravery is to act or fight back despite fear, not the absence of fear, and Courage the Cowardly Dog represents that word in every episode.
For those who have never watched the show, there will be spoilers throughout this post. However, they will not reveal too much about the entire show. Thankfully, Courage the Cowardly Dog is a character-driven story, so each episode is different and has their unique premise but the same concept.
Man’s Best Friend
Dogs are mostly known to be loyal companions and carry a gift that deserves to be appreciated and loved. All good dogs deserve love and happiness, yet bad owners and their upbringings abuse their dogs to follow their instincts to defend themselves. The reason dogs are usually so sweet, loyal, and unconditionally loving is because their dog minds are different from ours, their love for their owners and humans goes beyond basic instincts.
Research on dog psychology began in the 19th century, with the popular Pavlovian experiment involving dogs, food, and bells, but they have been used for protection since ancient times. Courage the Cowardly Dog doesn’t completely behave or fight like real dogs, he’s an animated cartoon dog. Often walking on his hind legs, speaking coherent English, and using technology for help. However, he is a mix of every great title given to canines; man’s (or in this case Muriel’s) best friend, loyal companion, and protector. He can move as humans can, has helped around the house, made money, and even drove an airplane home once.
Courage the Cowardly Dog
The premise of the character-driven show is Courage the Cowardly Dog being afraid, skittish, and worried, to the audience, he has every right to be, with each episode having new creepy creatures or enemies. His home includes a house on a poor farm with no crops or much of anything besides a creaky windmill, with his family being the kind and friendly Muriel and her husband Eustace, who is mean to Courage. In every episode, Courage works hard to save them from whatever danger they meet. Usually a strange new character, or a strange new place.
How Dogs Perceive Strangers
Considering how each episode shows Courage the Cowardly Dog is deeply skeptical and afraid of a new encounter, many speculated that the show is based on how dogs perceive these things in reality. In real life, a protective dog will growl, jump, and attempt to bite when they see someone unfamiliar enter their home. As the title suggests, Courage first reacts with fear and caution, because, unlike other dogs, he doesn’t jump to attacking and defending. He can sense when a horrific-looking creature in the show is a threat or needs help.
Some traumatized dogs tend to act aggressively to anything new or become extremely scared and hide away in fear of what may happen. Seeing as Courage is a small dog, this explains his behavior since strangers are intimidating to them. They can’t fight back due to their small stature, especially humans as they change their appearances over time. Whether it’s wearing strange clothing, or covering are faces with a hat or mask, it is no wonder small dogs bark and growl.
The Quilt Club
A good example of Courage being wary of a stranger and becoming protective is during the Season 3 episode titled, “The Quilt Club”. The episode begins with Courage already feeling timid as he and Muriel enter this quilt shop, they had never visited before, and the owners of the shop already terrify him. Muriel assumes the owners to be friendly, and they use their club advertisement to lure her into working herself into a weakened state to satisfy them. Courage saves her and the sisters’ other victims by reminding Muriel of her family.
This is similar to how some animals just know when someone is a bad person. Since they can’t speak in a language humans can understand, some are forced to watch as their owners become a shell of themselves to the person hurting them. Most dogs can only bark or bite the stranger to drive them away and protect their owner, but thankfully, Courage can do more.
So in Louvre Are We Two
Courage is also emotionally intelligent like other dogs as shown in Season 3, episode, “So in Louvre Are We Two”, where the family goes to a museum and gets locked in. The paintings come to life in a way and switch places with Muriel and Eustice. As Courage chases down the living artworks to bring them back to their places where his family is, he learns how they want to live or have a change of pace, specifically, the Mona Lisa. So instead of fighting or forcing them to cooperate, Courage finds a friendlier solution.
Final Thoughts
There is no better characterization of the word ‘Bravery’ than Courage the Cowardly Dog, who despite his worries and fears, goes above and beyond to save his family. The reason the story is character-driven is because it focuses on Courage becoming more experienced in defending his home, getting smarter, having more allies, and enduring a lot. He is one of the best boys who began his journey with a tragic story of losing his family and refusing to let anything happen to his new one. Every creepy being he meets, every new and unfamiliar place he is taken to, his first thought is protecting his family.
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