The Caretaker's Dog, known also by the official name of "Bones", is one of the Haunted Mansion's few living residents. Despite this, some adaptations depict him and the Caretaker as ghosts.
Description[]
Background[]
The Caretaker's dog is very skinny and has brownish-red fur. It is the loyal pet of the Haunted Mansion's caretaker and stays by his side when he goes on duty.
Appearances[]
It appears with its master the Caretaker at the gates of the graveyard shaking in fear with him at the sight of the undead. In Walt Disney World, its presence can be felt earlier on as its paw-prints are visible near an emergency exit for the attraction's emergency exit. Said emergency exit includes a dog-door as further reference to the dog.
For Haunted Mansion Holiday, it is replaced by Zero.
Other Appearances[]
2003 film[]
The dog appears in the 2003 film along with the Caretaker as ghostly versions of themselves and are seen populating the Mansion's graveyard along with other ghosts. However, in this adaptation, the dog is shown to be healthy in shape rather than skinny and its breed is depicted as a Labrador Retriever.
Ghost Gallery[]
In the cast-member created Ghost Gallery storyline, the dog is named Bony. Bony was one of five pups alongside it's siblings Rover, Queenie, Sport, and Sport who live in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom. Bony was the runt of the litter who was nursed as a pup by his owner Dick O'Dell (the Caretaker).
Bony's father was Loki, the undead dog found in the graveyard who apparently was the child of Master Gracey's Hellhound. Hellhound’s ancestry could be traced back to the dog of a U.S. Cavalry blacksmith stationed at Fort Sam Clemens (in reference to a dog found on Tom Sawyer's Island). Prior to that, the lineage has been followed as far as the jailer’s dog in a Caribbean village sacked by pirates (an obvious allusion to the prison dog from Pirates of the Caribbean).
SLG Comics[]
In Night of the Caretaker's Dog, Boney gets on the bad side of various graveyard residents for digging up the bones from their graves. Following him, they realize that he's been taking the bones to his puppies that live near the grave of his deceased mate "Mrs. Dog" and the graveyard ghosts let him be recognizing that it's at least for a good cause.
Muppets Haunted Mansion[]
The Caretaker's Dog is depicted as a Muppet, using a dog puppet first built for 1986's The Tale of the Bunny Picnic as the Farmer's Dog. On set, Dave Goelz would give the dog the name Yates.[1]
The Haunted Mansion: Storm & Shade[]
The Caretaker's dog, going by the name Bones, follows Audrey home after her first visit. Believing her to be a stray that wandered into the Mansion and became trapped in the Graveyard existing in its pocket dimension, Audrey's more then happy to take her in. Eventually Audrey discovers that Bones is an actual ghost dog and as much as she enjoyed haunting another home, loyalty to the Caretaker was still important to her.
Trivia[]
- At meet n' greets with the caretaker, it was revealed that the dog's name is "Bones".
- A ghost dog which shares the same mold appears by the mummy's tomb in the graveyard.
- In Phantom Manor, Bones is replaced by an undead dog who appears alongside the Phantom. In unused skins, this dog was referred to as "Goliath" and was intended to have a tombstone in the Boot Hill cemetery area.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ To Introduce Our Guest Star #12: Alice Dinnean (00:21:21)