What type of dog is Disney’s Pluto?

Disney on Ice
Disney on Ice | Mauricio Santana/GettyImages

Have you ever wondered what dog breed Mickey’s pet, Pluto, is? Maybe it is just us, but we’ve always been curious to figure out exactly what Mickey and Minnie’s faithful companion actually is.

Considering he has been at their side for nearly 100 years, it makes sense that we would care about Pluto. We want to know all about him. And since he is not considered an anthropomorphic dog, unlike Goofy (who may not even be a dog), it actually makes sense that we are curious about his actual breed.

In order to figure out exactly what Pluto is, we have to look back to the origins of Mickey and his friends. And it turns out, this means going all the way back to his official debut in 1930. Back then, he didn’t have a name yet and he was in black-and-white.

What breed of dog is Pluto?

According to Dogster, in the modern day version of Pluto he is actually considered to be a mixed breed dog, although no breeds have been associated with this version of the beloved Disney dog. Essentially, he is a mutt. But that’s not actually how he started.

When the character was first introduced without a name in 1930, it was in a cartoon called The Chain Gang. In that cartoon, Mickey Mouse was actually an escaped convict. And the unnamed dog that would evolve into Pluto, was shown to be a Bloodhound. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that Bloodhound was trying to track down Mickey in the cartoon.

In the same year he was introduced, we got to see a bit of an evolution in the character. That’s because he was later shown to be Mickey’s pet that we know now as Pluto.

Over the years, Pluto evolved from being a Bloodhound into the character we see today. He went from being stocky to slim. And of course, he has the long black ears and the collar that is just too large for his neck. That is actually something that has remained since his introduction, the oversized collar.

Now, maybe it is just us, but we love the idea of Pluto being a mutt. And when we take a look at him, we almost think that he must have a little bit of Great Dane in him or maybe he’s got some Golden Retriever, or it could be a little bit of both. But whatever he is, he is the very best boy.