Mister Muffykins: Difference between revisions

{{quote| "If God had intended for dogs to be fashion accessories, they would have been made with handles."|''from this Trope's [[YKTTW]]'' }}

The thing is, as theorized by no less than [[The Far Side|Gary Larson]], it might not be the ''dogs'' that people have a problem with so much. It may actually be the rather specific kind of person who tends to have little yappy dogs named Mr.[[Mister Muffykins]] (or something equally ludicrous). In fiction, [[Idle Rich]] old ladies in particular tend to have a small pack of little fluffy creatures. In older fiction, said dogs will have foul little hearts and minds deep within their fluffy little bodies.

Newer versions of this Tropetrope may have their roots in a very odd phenomenon. Increasingly, it seems as if some people (generally older and either childless or suffering severe empty-nest syndrome) are confusing lap dogs with furry little children. A very different kind of [[Pinocchio Syndrome]] seems to be in effect here; think of how lonely (or delusional) Geppetto had to have been to treat a cat, a goldfish, and an ''inanimate hunk of wood'' as his children.

In any case, [[Truth in Television|we now live in a world where]], if you wanted to do so, you could get your terrier's nails painted as she gets fitted for a thousand-dollar collar. Never mind the fact that dogs are very obviously (you'd think) not little hairy people and have markedly different wants and needs. Your terrier would be just as happy -- and probably ''more'' happy -- with an inexpensive comfortable fabric collar and an afternoon playing with you in the park.

So an increasingly common subversion has been to show the dog as a sympathetic character; a victim of too much misguided attention with a master who is [[And Call Him George|delusional]] if not [[Humans Are BastardsJerkass|outright hateful]]. While the trope is older than this, one has to wonder how many of these are influenced by [[Paris Hilton]]'s dog.

For the record, most people in reality who have small dogs are more sensible. Tiny '"purse'" dogs are a matter of convenience, especially in an urban environment. A smaller dog needs much less space to be happy, and they also tend to live longer than larger breeds.

Expect this character to be [[Cute but Cacophonic]], whether friendly or not. Can potentially be a [[Canine Companion]]. Compare [[Right-Hand-Cat]]. Contrast (naturally) [[Big Friendly Dog]]. And please don't [[Eat the Dog]]... [[Pragmatic Villainy|as there's barely enough meat here for an]] ''[[Pragmatic Villainy|hors d'oeuvre]].''

** She got some closure in a subversion, as when we next see Madame Muchmoney [[Took a Level Inin Badass|she's become muscular]] [[Character Development|and much less snobbish]] because she's ''been trekking through the wildness after her dear Snubbull the entire time.'' Snubbull evolves to Granbull and the two decide to be a "proper" pokemon/trainer team.

* Iggy from ''[[Jo JoJoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]'' is a Boston Terrier who makes an ass of himself on several occasions, though he's more foul-smelling than loud. Still, he gets better, and finally {{spoiler|makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save Polnareff}}.

== [[ComicsComic Books]] ==

* In the ''[[Tintin]]'' album ''The Secret of the Unicorn'', Tintin waits for an extended period of time to use a phone box. After what is implied to be at least a half hour, an old woman with a small dog exits, saying "We can go now Fifi, it has stopped raining." She gets an ''extremely'' dirty look from him.

{{quote| "Weren't there two of those?"}}

* ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]]'': The key witness to the robbery is an old lady with three small Yorkies, who end up getting killed off one by one each time Ken -- the animal lover -- tries to assassinate the old lady.

* From the second movie on, Sharpay from the ''[[High School Musical]]'' series has a dog named "Boi," who is played by the Kenny Ortega's real life dog, Manly.

* Natalie (Sarah Jessica Parker) in ''[[Mars Attacks!]]'' has a yapping Chihuahua that she carries everywhere. {{spoiler|In [[Crosses the Line Twice|an horrible yet hilarious]] turn of events, when they're captured by the martians, both are beheaded and the dog's head is sewn on Natalie's body, and viceversavice versa. }}

** It's implied that Big Fido, the mad poodle that led the anti-human "Dog's Guild" in ''[[Discworld/Men At Arms|Men at Arms]]'' was one of these before he went insane. ''[[Discworld/Making Money|Making Money]]'' features a slightly more likable example in Topsy Lavish's dog Mr. Fusspot.

** And in ''[[Discworld/The Truth|The Truth]]'', Gaspode attempts to disguise himself as one of these, with mixed results:

{{quote| "All in all, the effect was not of a poodle, but of malformed poodlosity. That is to say, everything about it suggested "poodle" except for the whole thing itself, which suggested walking away."}}

** [[Discworld|Lord Vetinari]] once had an elderly terrier named Wuffles, perhaps his own version of the [[Right-Hand-Cat]]. [[Cute but Cacophonic|It wasn't terribly obnoxious though]], having a thin wheezing bark.

** Also notable for being the only character to fight Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip (in ''[[The Truth]]'') head on and come away unscathed. No wonder Vetinari keeps him around, he's nearly as badass as his owner.

* The version of the Lady encountered by [[Repairman Jack]] in ''Gateways'' has a chihuahua named Irving (pronounced Oyving). He's a classic cute, handbag-riding [[Mister Muffykins]] {{spoiler|and secret [[Killer Rabbit]]}}.

* [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[Literature/The Four Loves|The Four Loves]]'' talks about having pets and the possibility of giving them this treatment, and how the animal could never tell the truth about its ruined life even if it could realize the extent of the damage.

{{quote| 163. Not allowed to try and make a dire version of any dog of the toy breeds.}}

* At the start of ''[[Dead Rising]]'', the [[Too Dumb to Live]] hysterical old lady tears down a barricade to keep zombies out when she sees her [[Mister Muffykins]] outside. She doesn't realize that the [[Mister Muffykins]] was being ignored by the undead because ''it was one of them''.

** Dachshunds, which were bred to hunt ''badgers'', can be startlingly aggressive for something with such a cute, odd little shape. Badgers, although fluffy and pudgy-looking, are ''vicious little motherfuckers who will stop at nothing to protect their burrow''. Fun fact: "dachs" is German for "badger". They were sent into the badger's burrow to flush it out so the hunter could shoot it when it appeared, usually after realizing that this dog means fucking ''business''. Modern show dachshunds are often bred into bizarre parodies of the original, efficient form--forform—for instance, at least one male dachshund has had the problem of having legs so short, his penis kept bumping into stairs every time he climbed a staircase.

** Papillons, despite the fact that they look like this trope embodied--andembodied—and the fact that their name literally means "butterfly"--are—are actually one of the smartest dog breeds, and athletic enough to be world-class competitors in dog agility.

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