Love That Pup

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Love That Pup
series = Tom and Jerry


caption =
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Ed Barge
Ray Patterson
Irven Spence
Kenneth Muse
voice_actor = Daws Butler
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = Fred Quimby
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = flagicon|US October 1, 1949
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7' 55"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0041605
preceded_by = "The Cat and the Mermouse"
followed_by = "Jerry's Diary"

"Love That Pup" is a 1949 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 44th "Tom and Jerry" short released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by Fred Quimby, scored by Scott Bradley, and animated by Ed Barge, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence and Kenneth Muse.

Plot

Spike is sleeping beside his son Tyke when Tyke suddenly wakes up from a bad dream. Spike then comforts his son back to sleep again. No sooner does Tyke doze off then Tom and Jerry enter the scene. Tom runs through a door and into some spades, rakes and hoes, as Jerry hides among the two dogs. To find Jerry, Tom picks Tyke up to look underneath the little bulldog. Spike sees Tom manhandling his son, runs on screen up to Tom and yells out "Hey, you! That's my boy you got in your hand!"

Tom holds up his right hand and sees nothing, then holds up his left hand, and drops Tyke in fear. Tom smiles nervously, attempting to run off, but Spike grabs Tom by the whiskers and issues him an ultimatum: "Listen, pussycat; if I catch you bothering my boy again, I'll tear you apart. Now beat it!"

Jerry emerges from behind Tyke and walks off casually until Tom comes running back. Jerry takes cover by diving into a sleeping Spike's mouth, unbeknownst to Tom. Tom then places his hand carefully in Spike's mouth while the dog is sleeping. He puts his hands on the bottom of Spike's jaw and slams the bulldog's jaws shut with Tom's hand still in Spike's mouth. Spike wakes up as Tom struggles to get his hand out of his mouth, pulling Spike's teeth out in the process. Tom smiles innocently again, and uses Spike's teeth as castanets while doing a Flamenco dance out of the scene.

A few moments later, Tom spies Jerry sleeping next to Tyke. Hiding behind Tyke's kennel, he reaches out for Jerry. Jerry quietly moves Tyke's tail into Tom's grip, so that Tom ends up grabbing Tyke. After running off with the little pup, Tom realizes his mistake. He turns around to see a sleeping Spike feeling for Tyke. Tom rushes back into Tyke's place, taking on the role of Tyke. Jerry then lifts up Tyke's kennel and slams it on Tom's tail. Tom yells out in pain, and Spike picks him up and pats him on the back. He comforts Tom by saying, "There, there, son. Ain't no cat gonna hurt you...no sir," not realizing that he is actually holding Tom. Just then, Tyke walks back onto the scene and whimpers. Spike looks at Tom suspiciously, realizing that he is not his son at all.

Tom finally realizes that in order to get Jerry, Spike must be removed from the picture. He does this by dangling a large piece of steak from a clothesline. A sleeping Spike senses the delectable piece of meat, and sleepwalks after the steak. Jerry is privy to what Tom is tryint to accomplish. All of Jerry's efforts to wake up the mesmerized dog fail, and Tom successfully locks Spike in a garden shed.

Tom then catches Jerry, trapping him inside an upturned barrel and hammering a cork in its knot hole. However, without Tom noticing, Jerry escapes through the side of the barrel and puts Tyke under the barrel instead. Spike breaks down the shed wall and rushes up to Tom angrily, demanding "Where's my boy!?"

Tom responds that he does not know, but a livid Spike persists. "If he's under that barrel, I'll skin ya alive!"Tom confidently attempts to lift up the barrel, until he hears a whistle, and looks to his side to see Jerry lying on a nearby fence, waving to him. Tom does a double gulp, realizing he is in serious trouble. Undaunted, a steaming Spike demands that Tom lift the barrel. Shivering, Tom begins to lift the barrel, only to have Spike impatiently swipe it. Tyke is lying underneath it, wiggling hid tail at Daddy. Tom makes a quick exit, but Spike does a number on him.

In the final scene, Tom has literally been skinned alive, and he is wearing a barrel to cover his lack of fur. While standing outside the gate, he looks through the keyhole to see his fur being used as a snug rug by a sleeping Spike, Tyke and Jerry, who hangs a DO NOT DISTURB sign over Spike's ear.

Notes

*"Love That Pup" is notable for featuring the first appearance of Spike the bulldog's son Tyke (although the names of the two are not mentioned in this version at any time), as well as being the first cartoon to use the famous "Tom and Jerry" theme over the opening credits, which Scott Bradley named "Love That Pup" after the cartoon's title.
*The title is a play on the catchphrase "Love dat Man!" spoken by the "Beulah" character from "Fibber McGee and Molly".
*"Love That Pup" was reanimated in Cinemascope as "Tops with Pops".