What breed of dog is Cleo?
I know Clifford is either a Great Dane or a St. Bernard, but what is Cleo?
sharepoodle
shareThat's what I figured (purple std poodle with show dress), but I haven't seen anything official or even quasi-official on it.
Thank you.
Yes, Cleo=Miniature Poodle.
Mac is a Whippet, and I believe that T-Bone is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier/Bulldog cross.
Clifford is neither a Great Dane nor a St. Bernard, though. He just looks like an enormous red mutt--like a general Labrador/hound/something else mix, or whatever (maybe part Redbone Coonhound, lol! Or Irish Setter. Or anything that could be red. x-)
ETA:
...I thought about it further...
T-Bone, Cleo, and Mac are pretty easy to identify. But the BIG question remains...
What is Clifford?
...A big red dog. ;p
Seriously, though, he's a mutt...so, possible component breeds...
American English Coonhound
American Foxhound
English Foxhound
Harrier
Rhodesian Ridgeback
Redbone Coonhound
Plott
Treeing Walker Coonhound
Pointer
Labrador Retriever
Vizsla
Anatolian Shepherd
Greater Swiss Mountain Dog
Chinook
Other "always-red" breeds such as the Pharaoh hound, Irish Terrier, Irish Setter, etc., could have played a genetic role as well in contributing and/or enhancing his color. Unlikely, though.
Hmmm. Redbone/English Foxhound/Lab? I mean, that works. Might be my best guess. I love identifying dogs, including all of the animated ones I possibly can. I like to have it set in my head what everypuppy is, so I figured it was high time I came up with a reasonable explanation for ol' Cliffy. Honestly, as a kid, I didn't really consider him too much because he was just sort of a singular specimen unto himself--"the big red dog," a genetic fluke who has little or nothing in common with the rest of his family.
"Clifford's Family" is one of my FAVORITE books (along with "Clifford's Pals" and the birthday story in which most of them turned up.) As always, I loved imagining up additional traits and adventures for the family and friend dogs. Buuut, Clifford's family is bizarre. A mom who's (mostly a) Golden Retriever, a dad who's a big shaggy blue terrier mix, and three siblings--the little guide-dog sister resembles the mom, the firehouse dog brother looks like some combination of Lab/Pinscher/Dalmatian/Shepherd/Malinois/Catahoula/possible leggy terrier or something similar, and the big farm-girl sister (my favorite!!) appears to be part Kuvasz. O_o How these offspring were evidently born to those parents is a mystery Bridwell never explained, and although it mystified me even when I was a very little dog fanatic, I cheerfully suspended by disbelief because the illustrations and characters are just so lovely.