SUMMARY: Bill Plympton’s unlucky dog character tries to woo a female dog in the park.
WHY IT’S HERE: The fourth film in Bill Plympton’s dog series, ‘Horn Dog’ shifts the focus from the dog’s desire to please human beings to his carnal desires for a beautiful female dog. Despite the protestations of her owner, the dog tries to win her heart with chocolates, jewellery and romantic music. He is initially thwarted by his own overactive imagination (as in the original short ‘Guard Dog’), although given his track record the things he fears are entirely possible. But it is when he pulls out his violin that the short takes a darker turn, resulting in the dog not walking away sadly with tail between his legs as usual, but rather running for his life. Although the title suggests this might be one of Plympton’s more sexually explicit cartoons, ‘Horn Dog’ does not go in that direction, opting instead for something grislier altogether.
