Doggie Poggie

Making this post as a public record kind of thing, to ensure the future of Bru & Boegie stays clear of complications. And maybe of interest to anyone else reading. 

In 2006, I participated in the Triggerfish/Disney Story Lab, an initiative to support South African storytellers in animation. I pitched ‘Bru & Boegie,’ which was accepted into the program. However, it became clear that the concept was not a fit for Disney. As a result, Triggerfish and Disney agreed to return the rights of Bru & Boegie to me. In its place, we developed ‘Dogshow with Cat’, featuring a talking humanoid bipedal dog (referred to as ‘Doggy Poggy’) and his roommate, Catlyn the talking humanoid bipedal cat.

A pilot episode, centered around a football theme, was written and animated under tight deadlines. The pilot was released on TV and online by Disney, where it amassed over one million views on YouTube before being taken down. That marked the end of the project.

Separately, I redeveloped ‘Dogshow with Cat’ into a band-themed concept. This version retained the bipedal dog and cat characters in a new setting. Despite pitching the concept at various animation festivals, it did not progress. In 2017, Disney returned the rights to Triggerfish, who subsequently returned the development rights to me.

To avoid confusion and ensure clear distinctions between Bru & Boegie and other intellectual properties, I have decided to remove the likeness and name of Doggy Poggy the talking humanoid dog from ‘Dogshow with Cat’ and replaced him with a brown humanoid Labrador named ‘Richard the Friendly Dog.’ Catlyn, the talking pink humanoid cat, remains unchanged.

‘Doggy Poggy’ the bipedal dog is not the same character as Bru & Boegie’s pet ‘Doggie Poggie’, nor the same character as ‘Dog is a DJ’ from the Goldfish project. They remain separate entities. They may be distantly-related, but genealogical records would need to be consulted.

As a side note, I’m not entirely sure if the name ‘Doggy Poggy’ (or ‘Doggie Poggie’) originated with my buddy James Wolfaardt or if it was a collaborative creation during our comic jam sessions. What I do know is that the name definitely came out of those comic jams—and in my opinion, it’s a great name.

In summary:

• Doggie Poggie is the pet of Bru & Boegie.
• Bru & Boegie is solely owned by me and not for sale, ever.
• ‘Dogshow with Cat,’ though not actively being worked on, replaces ‘Doggy Poggy’ with ‘Richard the Friendly Dog.’

The End.❤️