Fu Dog[3][4] is the tritagonist and a main character on the Disney animated television series American Dragon: Jake Long. He is a Chinese Shar Pei and a magical animal guardian to Jake and his grandfather Lao Shi. He is voiced by John DiMaggio.
About Fu Dog
Background History/Info
Fu Dog as he appears in Season One
Fu Dog as he appears in Season Two
Fu Dog is an fat animal guardian for Jake and Lao Shi. Residing with Lao regularly, he frequently assists him with his training in Jake, with providing information on various magical creatures and items, and also creating various magical potions for their use. Like many magical creatures, Fu is able to walk upright, and has no trouble using his front paws as hands, despite the apparent absence of opposable thumbs. Despite his age, he frequently keeps up-to-date with current trends and events that will occasionally put him at odds with Lao Shi.
Being over 600 years old, there's been a lot to Fu Dog's overall past. The most prolific of Fu Dog's past was shown in one episode[5], where it was revealed that he had been feuding with a feline named Yan Yan for hundreds of years, all for the possession of a "lucky coin" (which Fu claims was his dad's, and his dad's dad's, and his dad's dad's dad's). They've fought in many different periods of history, each time the coin ending up in the hands (or in this case, paws) of the other. In a comical twist, it's also seen that Fu's various encounters with Yan Yan have caused various structural damages on modern landmarks (breaking the Sphinx's nose off, tilting the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and sinking the Titanic. Their feud continues to the present day.
More recent parts of Fu Dog's history were shown in another episode[6], where it was revealed that he was a womanizing thief who was frequently stealing jewelry and other valuables from ladies within popular nightclubs in Hong Kong during the 1970s era. One instance of these crimes was what caused him to meet up with the Chinese Dragon, Lao Shi. He soon joined up with him after proving his worth (helping Lao win a dance contest to obtain information on the whereabouts of the Dark Dragon) and became his animal guardian and partner. His partnership with Lao has lasted to the present day.
Even though he is a Shar Pei he speaks Brooklyn English. Sometimes he forgets he's a dog and speaks, making people freak out. However, in other situations, it is seen a part of an ongoing show, such as when he helps Jake get the demons into the box vault[7], or when Haley has to explain that he is barking in Chinese[5]. He also has trouble speaking to other dogs, resulting in him saying, "My pants taste like salami." He denotes that he is rusty.
Fu may be a Chinese dog, but he has been everywhere and he likes all kinds of food, except vegetables when he was supposed to be on a diet. In fact, Haley convinces him to be her dog in the class "Show-and-Tell" by promising him sloppy joes (with 3:1 meat-to-bean ratio[5]).
Fu once lost his animal guardian license and while he waits to renew it, he is replaced as Jake's animal guardian by a talking monkey named Bananas B[5]. Jake starts to enjoy having Bananas B around more than Fu and starts to ignore him even forgetting to come and help him take his Animal Guardian test. Fu loses his license for a year, but after Jake gets kidnapped by Chang when Bananas B turns on him, Fu rushes to his rescue after learning what happened from Spud and Trixie. Fu arrives just in time and drives off Chang and Bananas B with one of his potions and releases Jake saying that whether or not he's Jake's animal guardian Jake's his best buddy and he's not sure what he'd do if anything ever happened to him touching Jake with his loyalty. Later thanks to Jake, he regains his Animal Guardian license and becomes Jake's Animal Guardian again.
Fu reveals himself as a talking dog to Jonathan Long after the truth about Jake's family is revealed to him and answers Jonathan's questions as they rush to help Jake[8]. He fights in the final battle with the Dark Dragon, drives off Bananas B (something he clearly enjoys doing), and fights the Shade Demons.
Personality
Fu is extremely loyal to Jake and cares a great deal about him. When he lost his Animal Guardian license and was replaced by a helper monkey[5], he still was concerned about Jake's well-being and after Spud and Trixie tell him that Jake's in trouble and needs his help, he saves Jake from being killed by Chang by using one of his potions to drive her and Bananas B off, admitting that Jake's his best friend and he wasn't sure what he'd do if something happened to him. He has been shown to be a womanizer at times as demonstrated[9], but learns his lesson in the end, kind of.
Fu Dog also has bad manners, which are easily seen because he likes to eat very much, causing him to burp often. His opening line when he answers his cell phone is: "Talk to the Fu."
Talents, Interests, Abilities, and Skills
Potion Making: Fu Dog's most prominent skill is his adept techniques in potion-making. His various creations have served to help Jake in various different aspects of his duties. Some of Fu Dog's featured products include:
- Transformation Potion (Unlocks a Dragon's shapeshifting abilities[10]
- Power-Draining Potion[11]
- Mind-Erase Potion[12]
- Fu's "Bag o' Gags" (Various magical prank items)[13]
- Dragon Spell (Enchantment that grants dragon powers)[14]
- Instant Sunshine[14]
- Portal Spell[15]
- Positive/Negative Chi Amplifier[16]
- Magical Snare[17]
- Magical Air Capsules[18]
- Solar Sand[18]
- Freezing Potion[19]
He also has a rather extensive (though sometimes limited) knowledge of magical items and creatures, as well as some advanced technology (such as helping to design a teleportation interceptor[20]).
Decelerated Aging/Semi-Immortality: It is unknown if Fu Dog can survive from aging, but it seems he ages slowly as he stated he's 600 years old.
Fu Dog also knows Hand-to-Hand Combat when Fighting Villains[5].
Weapons
As Fu Dog is, well, a dog, he does not possess weapons of any sort. However, he has been seen fighting using his fists.
Episode Appearances
Season One
- Old School Training (first appearance)
- Dragon Breath
- The Talented Mr. Long
- The Legend of Dragon Tooth
- Act 4, Scene 15
- Adventures in Troll Sitting
- Fu Dog Takes a Walk
- Professor Rotwood's Thesis
- The Egg
- The Heist
- Dragon Summit
- Body Guard Duty
- Shapeshifter
- The Ski Trip
- The Long Weekend
- Morpholomew (Lilo & Stitch cameo)
- Eye of the Beholder
- Jake Takes the Cake
- Hong Kong Nights
- Halloween Bash
- Fu and Tell
- Flight of the Unicorn
- Keeping Shop
- Ring Around the Dragon
- The Hunted
Season Two
- Bring It On
- Half Baked
- The Academy
- The Doppelganger Gang
- Something Fishy This Way Comes
- Breakout
- Family Business
- Hero of the Hourglass
- Dreamscape
- A Befuddled Mind
- Fool's Gold
- Feeding Frenzy
- Haley Gone Wild
- Supernatural Tuesday
- The Rotwood Files
- Hairy Christmas
- Switcheroo
- The Love Cruise
- Year of the Jake
- Homecoming
- Young at Heart
- Siren Says
- Shaggy Frog
- Nobody's Fu
- Magic Enemy #1
- A Ghost Story
- Bite Father, Bite Son
- Game On
- Furious Jealousy
- Being Human
- The Hong Kong Longs (final appearance)
Gallery
Trivia
- In the Season One intro, Fu plays the guitar in Jake's imaginary band.
- Fu's granny is 1392 years old.
- The character Monroe in the animated series The Life and Times of Juniper Lee resembles Fu Dog.
- Both are a few centuries old, can speak English perfectly, and are magical guardians.
- Coincidentally, John DiMaggio, would later voice Jake the Dog on Cartoon Network's Adventure Time and Niblet on The Hub's Pound Puppies.
References
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0224007/
- ↑ http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/characters/American-Dragon/Fu-Dog/
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0070639/?ref_=tt_cl_t1
- ↑ http://www.jeffgoode.com/tv/americandragon/characters/fu.htm
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Fu and Tell Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "fu" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "fu" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "fu" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Hong Kong Nights
- ↑ Year of the Jake
- ↑ The Hong Kong Longs
- ↑ Eye of the Beholder
- ↑ Shapeshifter
- ↑ Dragon Breath
- ↑ Professor Rotwood's Thesis
- ↑ Dragon Summit
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Keeping Shop
- ↑ Half Baked
- ↑ The Doppelganger Gang
- ↑ Dreamscape
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Feeding Frenzy Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "feed" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Nobody's Fu
- ↑ The Academy
