Tuff Puppy

An American animated television series, created by The Fairly OddParents/Danny Phantom creator Butch Hartman.

A "dim-witted dog" named Dudley Puppy is recruited by T.U.F.F. (Turbo Undercover Fighting Force) to protect his hometown of Petropolis with the aid of his partner, Kitty Katswell, against D.O.O.M. (Diabolical Order Of Mayhem).

Tropes used in Tuff Puppy include:
  • AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: A running gag in the episode which introduces the Chameleon is Dudley (and eventually, the Chameleon himself) pronouncing his name as "Cham-e-LE-on."
  • Action Girl: Kitty Katswell.
  • Adorkable: Keswick could count.
  • Adult Child: Dudley and Kitty act more like pre-teen siblings rather than adult agents, one who lives in their own apartment.
    • Even more so with Dudley, he still lives with mom, and joins in with the kids when Snaptrap uses the "no hitting or killing near kids" rule to his advantage, doing kid related stuff along with crimes.
    • All the main characters seem to qualify when it comes to Quacky the Duck.
  • Affectionate Parody:
    • The series' theme song is based on the theme to the 1960s TV series Secret Agent.
    • The theme song to T.U.F.F. and D.O.O.M. in "Share-a-Lair" used The Brady Bunch's theme tune but tweaked the lyrics and graphics to fit.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: R.I.T.A. in "Toast of T.U.F.F."
  • Alliterative Name: Kitty Katswell.
  • All Your Powers Combined: Dudley is a combination of every breed of dog in existence, giving him the skills of each one (i.e. the nose of a bloodhound, speed of a greyhound, strength of a boxer, etc.) He must have quite a family tree.
    • He's also got a dash of billy goat, though Keswick isn't quite sure how to explain that.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Leather Teddy. He's a bear, get it?
  • Animal Gender Bender: The male Bird Brain has laid eggs for comedic effect.
  • Annoying Laugh: Verminious Snaptrap
  • Anvil on Head: Happens in "The Dog Who Cried Fish" and "Puppy Love".
    • Also in the ep "Mission: Really Big Mission"
  • Anti-Hero: Dudley Puppy (Type I).
  • Anti-Villain: Birdbrain's henchmen: The Owl and the Bat.
    • Slush, Snowflake's twin brother in "Chilly Dog".
  • Artificial Limb: The Chief has a bionic foot that makes him even cooler than he is already
  • Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: The Chameleon has a hard time focusing on his schemes over his stoma- OOH LADYBUG! *nom*
    • Dudley Puppy during the beginning of the episode "Watch Dog."
  • Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Dudley and Kitty have several of these moments.
  • Bad Bad Acting: From "Doom-Mates":

Kitty: Oh, no. My whiskers are still gone.
Dudley: Oh, no. Don't fall on the bomb detonator.
(Cue fall)

Keswick: Chief, I've analyzed the blueprint of the mall. The bad news is, there's absolutely no way to stop the mall from hurtling toward the sun.
Chief: Hmm. What's the good news?
Keswick: The food court's open till nine.

  • Bald Women: Kitty has lost her hair and fur several times to Gag Haircut situations. Fifi (the Chameleon in disguise) briefly had part of her head shaved by a vending machine haircut (in addition to her poodle fur).
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animals: Verminious Snaptrap, the Chameleon, Chief the flea, and several background characters.
  • Beard of Evil: Dudley *and* Kitty each wear one in order to resemble their evil twins: Dr. Rabies and Madame Katastrophe.
  • Big Bad: Snap Trap, though other recurring villains not related to him have their own episodes as well.
  • Black Sheep: "Diary of a Mad Cat" reveals Kitty has a criminal sister.
  • Blue Eyes: Dudley.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Kitty tries to warn that Snaptrap's having reformed is probably a scam, and the citizens of Petropolis should not trust his kindness.

Kitty: They could be poisoned, or bombs, or...or poisonous bombs!

  • Butterfly of Doom: Parodied. Dudley travels back in time two minutes in order to grab the last donut before Kitty gets it. This somehow causes Snaptrap to always have been the ruler of Petropolis and prevents the formation of T.U.F.F.
  • Calvin Ball: In "The Rat Pack", some of Dudley's clones play "Monkey In The Middle". Unfortunately, they don't know the rules.
  • Captain Obvious: In "Cruisin' for a Bruisin'", after Snaptrap has accidentally eaten some blue cheese and blown up to the size of a blimp:

Ollie: Come to think of it, aren't you allergic to cheese?
Snaptrap: Well, thank you, Captain Obvious.

  • Carnivore Confusion: A world of talking animals, including cows and birds, has steak, fried chicken, and other meat as food.
  • Catch Phrase:
    • Dudley: "Hi-gee-gee!"
    • Snaptrap: "It is I, Verminious Snaptrap!" and "I shall now plot my revenge!"
    • Just like Snaptrap, Chameleon also has "it is I, The Chameleon!"
  • Cats Are Superior: With Kitty Katswell, it should probably come as no surprise, as she is naturally the brains of the duo.
    • To be totally fair, the bar isn't exactly set too high...
    • Parodied in "The Curse of King Mutt"

Kitty [TO DUDLEY]: "Honestly, why can't you be more like a cat? Determined, and focused, and... (SPOTS A TOY MOUSE) MOUSE!" *KITTY PROCEEDS TO CHASE IT*.

  • Cartoon Creature: Word of God says, "[T.U.F.F.] always knows [Keswick] will have the answer, but they just don't know what kind of animal he is."
    • Case in point, the webbed feet may lead one to believe him a platypus, but then there's the lack of duck bill or beaver tail...and the fact that he has gills. And that he laid an egg.
    • Lampshaded earlier in the same episode:

Dudley: ...find a female dog or kangaroo or whatever it is you are.
Kitty: I thought he was a labradoodle.
Dudley: He can't be, he's got a pouch.
(Keswick stuffs an object down his pants)

Snaptrap: Ready to lose one of your nine lives?
Kitty: I'd rather use my ten claws! (brandishing her claws, of which there are clearly only eight)

    • Actually, that is an accurate fact about cats. They only have four 'fingers' on each paw, but also have a fifth claw further up their legs. So she would have ten claws and four fingers.
  • Four-Legged Insect: Chief the flea.
  • Freaky Friday Flip: The episode "Freaky Spy Day".
  • Freudian Excuse: In some, Verminious Snaptrap, considering he got what it could be Abusive Mother, based in all the hints on te show about her, and the hateness that Snaptrap has against her.
    • Also, the Chameleon, caused by being a social outcast.
  • Fun T-Shirt: In "Mall Rat", Dudley wears a blue variation of his shirt with "I ♥" and the graphic of a muffin.
  • Fun with Acronyms: T.U.F.F. (Turbo Undercover Fighting Force) and D.O.O.M. (Diabolical Order Of Mayhem).
  • Funny Animal: Dudley is a walking, talking secret agent, but still harbors affection for chewing his own butt and chew toys. Also, Kitty has little to no balance when her whiskers are cut, as the popular (but incorrect) myth states about real cats.
  • Fur Bikini: In "Hot Dog" Kitty makes herself one by shaving off all her fur except for one big patch in the shape of a one-piece.
  • Furry Confusion: In the very first episode we see Verminious Snaptrap, a large anthropomorphic rat, use a mystical Artifact of Doom known as the Kruger Rat to control the minds of all rats in the city. Feral rats.
    • In Snapdad, it reveals Snaptrap used to have a pet hamster.
    • We've also seen an anthro-cow as a TUFF agent, and normal cows drawn to Snaptrap's lair with a giant magnet.
    • Kitty used to leave dead mice at the Chief's door.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Keswick, by far. He's made a machine that makes donuts out of thin air and redesigned D.O.O.M.'s lair using soup cans and a shark tank.
  • Gag Haircut: Dudley gave himself one in "Hot Dog".
    • Kitty has lost her hair and fur several times in a few episodes. In "Hot Dog," she shaved off almost all of her fur (except her hair, tail, and torso) when Petropolis had turned into a hot desert. In "Big Dog on Campus," she (unknowingly) went undercover to Dudley's high school reunion as a girl who had lost all of her hair. Then half of her hair was blown off by a bomb in "Doom Mates." Also, her hair was burned off (though the rest of her was fine) in "Snappy Campers."
  • Gilligan Cut: Happens in "Kid Stuff" when Dudley comes up with a plan to beat Snaptrap with Quacky the Duck's help.

Dudley: I'm president of his fan club. He can't say no to me.
(Cut to Dudley bruised and bandaged)
Keswick: I can't believe he said no to you.

    • Also, in "Booby Trap":

Dudley: What's he gonna do? Put us in jail?
[cut to Dudley and Kitty in jail]
Dudley: Wow, he put us in jail.

Chief: My eyes!

Keswick: There can be only ONE Keswick!

  • Left the Background Music On: In "Dog Daze", when Snaptrap was hypnotizing Dudley, eerie hypnotic music was playing in the background. In the end, it turned out to be being played by Larry, who Snaptrap told to knock it off as it was creeping him out.
  • Lego Genetics: Dudly is a combination of every breed of dog ever, and somehow a bit of goat. But the all-time winner is Keswick, who has gills, webbed feet, lays eggs, has a pouch, and who knows what else.
    • Partially justified with Dudley as a long enough blood line could mix every dog breed, the goat is something else.
  • Lethal Chef: Lunch Lady Bug. Except to Dudley who loves her food.
    • In "Mind Trap" Kitty bakes fish cookies that even she hates.
  • Limited Wardrobe
  • Line-of-Sight Name: In The Wrong Stuff, Dudley and Keswick try to hide their identity from Kitty by saying that their name is "Bob" and the name of a sign, such as "Men's Room" or "Don't Feed The Squirrels" or "Stay Off The Grass".
  • Literal Metaphor:
    • From "Puppy Love":

Kitty: We've just been a little disorganized since we lost our secretary.
Chief: The secretary quit?!
Keswick: No, we literally lost her. She took a ten-minute break, stuff piled up, and we never saw her again.

    • And later:

Dudley: Whoa! Your dress is smoking!
The Chameleon, disguised as Fifi: Thank you.
Dudley: No, I mean it's really smoking!

    • In "Snap Dad", Dudley's mother Peggy isn't too broken up over Snap Trap turning back to his evil ways, saying she saw the writing on the wall...because Snap Trap literally wrote it on the wall.
    • In "The Rat Pack", when the Chief said that the reviews for a musical were terrible, Snaptrap replied that the critics didn't know anything....because he had their minds erased.
  • Love Redeems: Invoked and subverted in "Snap Dad" when Snaptrap agrees to go straight because he's fallen in love with Dudley's mom, and was actually sincere about it, trying his best to perform a Heel Face Turn. He eventually breaks it off with her because of his inability to actually act good and the fact he still cares too much for his former D.O.O.M. teammates (except Larry) to turn on them.
  • Mad Scientist: Bird Brain. Keswick is a heroic version of this, as he often invents things for the sake of inventing them, including dangerous things like an acid spraying waffle maker, which even he questions why he created.
  • Magic Feather: Kitty gives Dudley a collar that is supposed to reduce fear. The collar is ordinary, however.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: Keswick corrects Snaptrap the first could of times he says his name incorrectly, but quickly gives up. Keswick does it with his own name at the end of the episode, as well as says Snaptrap's, with Snaptrap correcting him.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Keswick is a straight up parody of Jerry Lewis, while The Chameleon is clearly based on Peter Lorre.
  • No Indoor Voice: Dudley Puppy
  • Nobody Can Die: Usually played straight (it's a cartoon by Butch Hartman on Nickelodeon, for crying out loud), but rather surprisingly averted in the second episode. The Chameleon, seeking revenge on Kitty Katswell for capturing him, traps her in a small chamber with a bomb that can be detonated several times. He proceeds to blow her up 8 times, supposedly killing her repeatedly until she's only got one life left (since as a cat she has 9 to start with).
    • Although the Chameleon survives several explosions from the same bomb, so its lethality is questionable. It was certainly shown as Kitty just getting more frazzled with each blast, rather than dying.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: The Chameleon, despite having the ability to transform into anyone, he (usually) still uses his normal voice, occasionally using phrases related to his disguise. For example, when he infiltrated T.U.F.F. by disguising himself as "Fifi Oui-Oui", a gorgeous French Poodle, he said "French" phrases like "Notre Dame", "Eiffel Tower" and "Jacques Cousteau".
  • Off-Model: The animators can't seem to decide whether Kitty's nose is circular or triangular.
  • The One Who Wears Shoes: Kitty and Keswick.
  • Only Sane Man: Arguably Kitty is the only one with any sense.
    • Ollie would also be this for DOOM.
    • Bird Brain when you compare him to Verminious Snaptrap and the Chameleon.
  • Overly Long Tongue: The Chameleon, naturally.
  • Pantsless Males, Fully-Dressed Females: Played straight with Dudley and Kitty. All other males are fully clothed.
  • Panty Shot: Kitty's pink underwear in Snappy Campers: Here, Keswick said he had sewed Kitty and Dudley's name in their underwears. So, Dudley and Kitty pulled out their own underwear to confirm it.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: The Chameleon - not visually, because he can copy appearance perfectly, but in acting. He's an incredibly bad actor (except when he's not), and his idea of sounding convincingly anything is to litter his talking with random phrases related to the person he's impersonating (when he acts French he inserts French foods into his sentences for no reason, same with impersonating a general with military talk). Surprisingly, this never fails to fool anyone.
  • Parental Bonus: The Affectionate Parody of The Brady Bunch in the episode "Share-a-Lair".
  • Perky Female Minion: Zippy, Birdbrain's overly cheerful assistant.
  • Petting Zoo People: Much of the cast to some extent, with Kitty and a handsome tomcat from "Forget Me Mutt" being the closest examples.
  • Pluto Is Expendable: In "Lucky Duck", Chameleon threatened to blow up Pluto. Then at the end, he decided to blow up the sun.
  • Poke the Poodle: This was F.L.O.P.P's shtick, at least until they threatened to unravel space and time.
  • Puppy Dog Eyes: Dudley.
    • The Chameleon disguised as Dudley uses these to get back into Kitty's apartment after being thrown out in "Doom-Mates".
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Francisco the crocodile of D.O.O.M. and The Chameleon.
  • Retired Badass: The Chief was once T.U.F.F.'s top agent and an amazing fighter. In one episode, he comes out of retirement to help Dudley deal with the Chameleon. While things don't work out well at first, Dudley manages to give him a pep talk and he shows he's still got it by beating up the Chameleon.
  • Revenge: Chameleon's motivation almost always comes down to this in most of his appearances.
    • Quacky the Duck also wants this after his show is canceled.
  • Rodents of Unusual Size: Verminious Snaptrap.
  • Romance Novels: The Chief secretly reads these.
  • Running Gag: Snaptrap throwing Larry into the shark tank.
    • Chameleon trying to wear glasses.
    • Hell, there is at least one running gag per-episode! Some examples are Kitty putting people to sleep with her talk about proper health in 'Bored of Education' and Dudley ending every description of how bad the Stinkbug smells with "in Atlantic City!" in 'Law and Odor'.
  • Scrabble Babble: Snaptrap plays "Schmoodled". When challenged, he zaps the appointment. "There, I schmoodled Larry."
    • It became a Running Gag for the episode that whenever stuff blew up, they used "schmoodled"
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Chameleon started dating Dudley's mother Peggy in "Snap Dad", but instantly broke it off and ran for it when he found out she had kids (though it may have been who her son was).
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Kitty is affected by this after her uncle gives her a word-a-day calendar.
  • Serious Business: As seen in "Watch-Dog", getting the only chocolate donut in the breakroom is such for Dudley and Kitty.
  • Shape Shifter: The Chameleon, but only because of his suit.
  • Shout-Out: In "Mom-a-Geddon", Agent Nuts shoots his reflection in a mirror after shouting, "I know it was you, Fredo!"
    • In "Share a Lair", Keswick is working on a not-so-giant version of The Iron Giant
    • In "Dog Daze," Chief is wearing an apron that says "Top Chief." This apron's font is in the same style as the television show Top Chef, complete with a knife between the two words.
    • In the first Chameleon episode, at one point he turns into an anthropomorphic Model T Ford from Cars.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: "Vermie" and "Peggy-poo" in "Snap Dad." Dudley vomited at least once.
  • Smelly Skunk: One of D.O.O.M's members is a skunk, but so far no comment has been made of his smell.
    • The ep "Law and Odor"
  • Species Surname: Dudley.
    • Inverted and played straight with Kitty Katswell.
  • Speech-Impaired Animal: Birdbrain's henchmen, an owl who only says "Who?" and a blind bat that only says "Where?".
  • Speech Impediment: Keswick stutters, and Snaptrap has a lisp.
  • Spoiler Opening: The Episode Title Card will always have a picture of the episode's main bad guy. Usually it's the last picture. This can be a bad thing with several episodes, such as "The Wrong Stuff" and "Toast of T.U.F.F".
  • Spy Catsuit: Kitty's usual outfit. Bonus points since she's, y'know, a cat.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Maybe "schmoodled" is a real word.
    • Honestly, its one of the most used jokes in the show. The only real difference between the thought processes of T.U.F.F and D.O.O.M is that one thinks for good and the other thinks for evil.
  • Stupid Boss: Verminious Snaptrap
  • Suck E. Cheese's: Peet-za Possum's.
  • Sure, Let's Go with That: In "Snap Dad", Snaptrap starts dating Dudley's mother and says they met at the laundromat.

Dudley's Mom: No grown man should be walking around with ketchup on his shirt.
Snaptrap: Yes...that's what it was, ketchup. Lots and lots of ketchup.

Kitty: Just between us, my partner, Dudley, has a crush on you.
The Chameleon, disguised as Fifi: (grimaces) Well, that doesn't creep me out at all.

  • Sweet Polly Oliver: The episode "Chilly Dog," when Dudley dresses up as a girl to go with Kitty's boy. Boys fall in love with Dudley as a girl. Subverted in that they never actually figure out that Dudley is a male dog.
  • Talking Animal
  • The Power of Friendship: Dudley was able to convince Kyle R (really Kill-R) not to destroy T.U.F.F thanks to this.
  • Time Skip: Played for Laughs in "Doom and Gloom" where D.O.O.M. gets arrested and released 5 years later.
  • Title Drop: In the episode "Toast of Tuff", Keswick referred to R.I.T.A as such.
    • The end of the very first episode has Kitty refer to Dudley as this.
  • Toilet Humour: Dudley is a dog after all.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Dudley. He doesn't even know what a toaster does.
    • Forget toaster. He's doesn't even know how a light switch works.
    • Snaptrap is also a mild example, particularly in "Mission: Really Big Mission" where his get rich quick scheme for the episode will also destroy the entire planet. Even The Chameleon calls him out on his embarrassing case of Didn't Think This Through.
  • Top-Heavy Guy: Dudley.
  • Tricking the Shapeshifter: Dudley does this to the Chameleon by pretending to believe the Chameleon can't pose as a realistic mouse. Chameleon proves him wrong, but unfortunately, the elephant agent was in front of him.
  • Tron Lines: The Chameleon's suit has these.
  • True Companions: The ending of "Toast of T.U.F.F." showed this between the main protagonists. And it was ADORABLE.
    • Keswick pretty much confirms this in "Snapnapped", calling T.U.F.F his family.
    • "Snap Dad" hints that D.O.O.M. might be a very dysfunctional version of this (or, alternatively, only one from Snaptrap's point-of-view). Snaptrap even said that Francisco and Ollie were like family to him (though he had no problem blasting Larry).
  • The Unfavorite: Kitty's mother wishes she was more like her sister, even though said sister is a criminal.
  • Verbal Backpedaling: In "Puppy Love", right in front of The Chief and T.U.F.F.'s two best agents, no less:

The Chameleon, disguised as Fifi: I look forward to destroying you, I mean working with you!

  • Verbal Tic: Keswick stutters a lot.
  • Villains Out Shopping: When they were being interviewed by a cameraman, they tried to take down the Chameleon, thinking he's doing evil, when he is really shopping.
  • Villain Team-Up: In "The Curse of King Mutt", Snaptrap, Chameleon, and Bird Brain work together to steal King Mutt's jewel-encrusted bone. Naturally, given their personalities, Hilarity Ensues.
  • The Walls Are Closing In: In "Snapnapped", complete with Spikes of Doom. The ironic part is that it wasn't in a bad guy's trap, but happened in their own HQ!
  • Welcome Episode: Unlike many of Hartman's works where the show's pilot takes place after the events of the Expository Theme Tune, the first episode of T.U.F.F Puppy explains how Dudley became a secret agent.
  • Who's on First?: Bird Brain's two henchmen, an owl that only says "Hoo" & a blind bat that only says "Where", tend to cause this much to the booby's annoyance.
    • Now he has two more henchmen: a female sheep (or ewe) and a Duck named Skip.
  • Wire Dilemma: 'Quacky Duck', the Show Within a Show, aparently had an episode where he taught kids how to disarm a nuclear missile!

Cut the red wire, not the brown
Or you'll blow up the whole darn town
Cut the blue, make your mama proud
Or you'll end up in a mushroom cloud

  • World of Funny Animals
  • World of Ham: Name pretty much any evil character on this show (Snaptrap, Chameleon, Bird Brain) and they'll fall under Large Ham. Dudley himself also qualifies.
    • Kitty even shows large ham tendencies in episodes like "Super Duper Crime Busters".
  • Would Hit a Girl: Dudley doesn't have any problem hitting Kitty, even kicking her in the very same episode, also being seen giving her slaps, bites and, what could be, punches. She doesn't hesitate to do the same to him, though.
    • The Chameleon, hurting Kitty too.
    • Doom Agents
    • The Sharing Moose, being seen hitting Kitty on the head with a metal pipe, and even smiling while doing that
  • X Meets Y: It's Get Smart with Funny Animals, with a main character who's reminiscent of the early Jim Carrey.
  • Yeah! Shot: Almost every episode ends with one of these, possibly definitely parodically.
  • You Dirty Rat: Verminous Snaptrap
  • Younger Than They Look: Bird Brain, according to "A Doomed Christmas" is 23, though that doesn't stop everyone else from thinking otherwise.
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