Happy Year of the Dog!

In the Chinese zodiac, this is the Year of the Dog! Coincidentally (or perhaps not so much), Disney is about to release an appropriate classic animated feature to the Walt Disney Signature Collection line of Blu-Rays and DVDs: Lady and the Tramp. And once again, as in all home video releases of the film, the cover art is the same shot: that of Lady and Tramp having their iconic spaghetti dinner as their lips are about to meet...

Don't fix what's not broke, I guess.

Anyway, between the upcoming Blu-Ray release of the movie and this year being the Year of the Dog, I would like to show this program from the old Disneyland TV show called...

One of the earliest episodes of the show ever, airing in December of 1954, this program, as the name implies, takes a look at some of Disney's canine stars. It is divided into two parts. The first half is about the making of Lady and the Tramp, in production at the time (it would be released the following June). The second half is all about the life and times of Disney's first dog star, Mickey Mouse's pooch, Pluto (including his Oscar-winning short Lend a Paw). This piece of opening artwork shows as much:

Both segments of the program have been included separately as bonuses of DVD releases related to them. The Lady and the Tramp segment was included as a bonus on the 2006 DVD and 2012 Blu-Ray releases of the film, and the Pluto segment was likewise included as a bonus on the Walt Disney Treasures set "The Complete Pluto, Part One", released in 2004.

So, in honor of the upcoming rerelease of Lady and the Tramp, taking place in the Year of the Dog, here is the first part of the Disneyland episode, "A Story of Dogs":

You can look up later parts of the program on YouTube. Happy Year of the Dog!