Recess: School's Out Inspired Dog Names

Given their history of characters, it’s almost a bit surprising that Recess, a Disney series and movie about kids, doesn’t more prominently feature dogs, who often share a similar plight to being restrained from doing what they want by “responsible adults”. In fact, they only really feature one regular domestic animal in the entirety of their 127-episode and 4-movie run, and that singular episode centers around a cat. However, there is a famous Disney dog that shares its name with a character from the show: Butch - and he even carries a similar type of disposition and is held by other characters in a similar regard. 

In the Recess world, Butch is the teller of scary stories and the regular bringer of bad news, often acting as the vehicle of dark omens on the playground. But over 50 years earlier, in 1940, Disney rolled out another hard-to-love character, Butch the Bulldog. 

Although he plays a regular antagonist, Butch has some serious historical significance. He first appeared in the Disney animated short “Bone Trouble”, playing opposite of the timelessly lovable Pluto, who aims to steal Butch’s bone. The short itself marked the official launch of the Pluto series of cartoons, which turned out to be massively successful for Disney over the decades. 

But Pluto wasn’t the only one Butch played antagonist to either. Throughout his history, he has played the baddie in numerous historic cartoons, including being the spoiler to Figaro, Geppetto’s cat in Pinocchio as well as Minnie Mouse’s cat in several different shorts. Throughout his existence, Butch has seen a rare reprieve from his role as a villain, being the adversary to both Mickey and Minnie, as well as Donald Duck, Morty and Ferdie the Fieldmice, Hunky, Fifi, and even Ronnie the Saint Bernard Puppy. And beyond bones, he ends up competing for items, territory and space, and even the affection of Dinah the Dachshund. 

Unsurprisingly, much of Butch’s background stems from his owner, Pete, the primary antagonist in the world of Mickey Mouse, whom many don’t know actually preceded the world’s most popular mouse by three years, first appearing in 1925 in the cartoon short “Alice Solves the Puzzle”. The two share a large number of similarities outside of Pete’s anthropomorphic and English-speaking self, as they were both tenured and regular enemies of some of the era’s most popular characters. They both have intimidating figures, an endless mean streak and loads of self-interest, making them the perfect trouble-making pair.