Western Animation / Little Dogs on the Prairie

"With a howdy-do and a good yahoo it's down the trail we go!" ^note "All right, wrap it up. I think we've made our point."

Gilroy: Welcome to Prairie Town everybody!
Hollister: Do not adjust your set.
Gilroy: You're in our territory now.
Hollister: And we're glad you're here!

—The dialogue before the opening theme song

Little Dogs on the Prairie is a Direct to Video traditionally animated Religious Edutainment series created by Tommy Nelson and Fancy Monkey Studios and animated by Startoons. Three videos were released in 2000, each consisting of two or three shorts.

The series takes place in Prairie Town, an Old West town inhabited by anthropomorphic prairie dogs^note as in the rodents, not actual dogs (Hollister, Gilroy, Patterson, the Sheriff, Darcy, Sport, and Scout) and one cat (Miss Kittey). Each short focuses on one or more of the characters learning a specific moral lesson with a music video for a song about said lesson shown afterwards. It should be noted that any mentions of God were limited to the theme song, the narration, and the music videos.

A soundtrack album, Take Me Home, Prairie Roads, plush toys, and two tie-in books, The Great Train Set Robbery and Yippee Ti-Yay, Happy Birthday!, were also released around the same time.

All three videos are available for digital download on the Fancy Monkey Studios website, with each one costing $14.95. The soundtrack album Take Me Home, Prairie Roads is also available for download, but is split into two parts with each part costing $3.95.

Videos

1. Pride, Prejudice, and Fudge
   • "Stanza By Me": Hollister hires a snake named Stanza to run the telegraph office in his general store but tries to keep the identity of his new employee a secret due to the other inhabitants of Prairie Town being prejudiced against snakes.
   • "Have Gum, Will Travel": Scout's talent for blowing large bubble gum bubbles leads to him joining the circus but the success goes to his head and he winds up learning a valuable lesson about being too prideful.
   • "Here Comes Da Grudge": Hollister mistakenly thinks that Gilroy is holding a grudge against him after coming home from a vacation and the two get into conflict with each other.
2. Lyin', Cheatin', and a Hot Lollipop
   • "Lying": After struggling to figure out what to get Sport for a birthday present, Patterson lies to him and the other kids about knowing famous cowboy Tom Trailmix. Then he has trouble keeping up the charade.
   • "Cheating": Miss Kittey becomes the school's substitute teacher and accuses Scout and Sport of cheating off of Darcy on spelling tests. The former two kids get Hollister, Gilroy, and Patterson to help them figure out the identity of the real cheater.
   • "Stealing": The residents of Prairie Town steal various things from each other while the Sheriff is out on his lunch break after Hollister mistakenly thinks that Darcy stole a lollipop from his general store.
3. A Lotta Love and A Little Off the Top
   • "A Flip, A Twirl, A Wave, and A Curl": A Whole Episode Flashback shows what happened when Miss Kittey started her career as the town barber and how everyone else had to learn not to be vain.
   • "For the Love of Sport": Sport gets a crush on Miss Kittey and winds up learning a valuable lesson about love.

Not to be confused with Little House on the Prairie despite the similar-sounding names.

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This series contains examples of:

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal:
  • Gilroy wears a blue hat with a red stripe on it.
  • Hollister wears a green visor and a skinny red bowtie.
  • Patterson wears a white cowboy hat and a red bandana.
  • Darcy wears a green hair bow.
  • Sport wears a dark gray hat.
  • Scout wears a tan cowboy hat and blue bandana.
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: Scout gets this in "Have Gum, Will Travel" after becoming famous for blowing large bubble gum bubbles.
• Adults Are Useless:
  • Averted in "Cheating", as Hollister, Gilroy, and Patterson believe Scout and Sport when they say that they did not cheat on the spelling tests they took; the three adults then decide to take up the matter with Miss Kittey.
  • Zigzagged in "For the Love of Sport"; while Gilroy fails to keep the fact that Sport has a crush on Miss Kittey a secret (albeit not knowing said crush is on her), he does offer good advice on what to do about it by drawing on his own experience with having unrequited love for a girl named Millie.
• Ageless Birthday Episode: In "Lying", it's not revealed how old Sport is turning on his birthday. However, in the later episode "For the Love of Sport" he tells Miss Kittey that he is almost 5.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife:
  • A few of the prairie dogs have unusually colored fur such as the Sheriff (yellowish orange), Sport (yellow), Patterson (blue), and Darcy (pink).
  • The titular Stanza from "Stanza By Me" is a violet snake.
• Anachronism Stew: The show as a whole seems to take place in the Old West, but there are a few examples of this, Played for Laughs, of course:
  • In "Stanza By Me", Sport makes a phonograph record of Stanza's opera singing.
    • In the same episode, Patterson calls Stanza's opera 'rock n' roll'.
  • In "Cheating", Gilroy mentions that Miss Kittey has become the school's substitute teacher due to the previous teacher, Miss Richardson, retiring to become an astronaut. In that same short, a hair dryer is one of the things Patterson gets from the barbershop in place of free candy.
  • The prairie dog doctor that declares Prairie Town dead in "A Flip, A Twirl, A Wave, and A Curl" is seen wearing modern medical attire including scrubs and a surgical mask. He also has a set of defibrillator paddles on hand.
  • Darcy makes a very modern-looking red sports car out of balloons at the start of "Have Gum, Will Travel".
• As the Good Book Says...: The opening narration for each short starts with a Bible verse about the moral that one or more of the characters need(s) to learn.
• Balloonacy: Darcy's attempt to cheat in the sack race depicted in the music video for "Cheaters Never Really Win" is using a bunch of balloons to fly over her competitors. It almost works, but Miss Kittey shoots her down with a pea shooter.
• Birthday Episode:
  • The climax of "Lying" takes place at Sport's birthday party.
  • The tie in book, Yippee Ti-Yay, Happy Birthday!, takes place on Darcy's birthday.
• Black Comedy Burst: A surprising amount, given this is a religious show:
  • Patterson fakes his own death for Sport's birthdays, according to "Lying".
  • The tests seen in "Cheating" are known to kill, if the massive graveyards outside the school are any indication.
  • The owner of the traveling circus in "Have Gum, Will Travel" is more than willing to endanger his more boring performers by having them perform close to the circus's man-eating tiger.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Gilroy proves himself to be this regarding Sport having a crush in "For the Love of Sport" when Hollister points out signs saying "SPORT HAS A GIRLFRIEND"^note Yes, in all caps and with one word on each sign. It goes up another level with the reveal that Gilroy made merchandise with the phrase printed on it, such as shirts and yo-yos.
  Sport: That's the last time I tell Mr. Gilroy anything.
• Celebrity Lie: Patterson lies about knowing famous cowboy Tom Trailmix in "Lying" but it blows up in his face during Sport's birthday party. Sport is left devastated at having been lied to and he and the other citizens of Prairie Town prepare to leave the party. Fortunately, it turns out that Hollister arranged for the real Tom Trailmix to show up when the latter arrives, cheering up Sport and allowing the party to continue.
• Censorship by Spelling: Hollister does this with Darcy's name twice in a row in "Cheating" when telling Gilroy that he suspects that she was the one who cheated on the previous two spelling tests.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: The song "Cheaters Never Really Win" is all about this trope. The music video shows the main characters participating in a sack race, with most of them cheating in various ways (Darcy uses balloons to float over her competitors, Hollister spills marbles on the ground to cause Gilroy to slip and fall, Patterson keeps his sack over his legs but rides a bike at the same time, etc). All the cheating methods wind up backfiring, causing them to get piled up on top of each other just before the finish line. Sport is the only one who does not cheat and he winds up winning the race.
• Circus Episode: "Have Gum, Will Travel" focuses on Scout joining the circus as a result of his bubblegum bubble-blowing talent.
• Cool Old Guy: Hollister, Gilroy and Patterson ("75 years old and all I've got to show for it is my good looks!") are a trio of elderly (or at least middle-aged in Gilroy's case) prairie dogs whose petty rivalries and silly banter add a lot of humor to the proceedings.
• Credits Gag: "All animals used in this program are entirely fictitious. However, the part about seven prairie dogs and a hair stylist cat living in an old western town is completely factual. Only the names have been changed because their real names were rather common and dull."
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The opening theme song is mainly sung by Gilroy, Hollister, and Patterson.
• Downer Ending: "Stanza By Me" ends with Stanza leaving Prairie Town as a result of the other citizens boycotting Hollister's general store due to his (Stanza's) presence. Everyone else also realizes too late that Stanza was the one singing opera every night; after failing to find him, they listen to a phonograph recording of Stanza's singing that Sport made and regret having been unable to overcome their prejudice.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Sheriff, whose actual name is never revealed.
• Everyone Went to School Together: In "Cheating", it's revealed that Hollister, Gilroy, and Patterson were in elementary school together.
• Faking the Dead: Patterson reveals he had to fake his own death twice to get rid of an annoying handyman... who turns out to have been Gilroy. Bizarrely, Gilroy and Patterson are still interacting with each other, with neither putting two and two together until "Here Comes Da Grudge" when the former is overjoyed to discover that the very same Patterson he knows is the one who supposedly died. This prompts Patterson to try faking his death a third time, but Gilroy doesn't buy it, so he then claims to be his twin brother Schmatterson. It becomes a Running Gag for Patterson to consider faking his death to get out of difficult situations.
• Fourth Wall Greeting: Gilroy and Hollister welcome the viewers to Prairie Town before the opening theme song starts.
• Free-Range Children: Darcy, Sport, and Scout wander around town by themselves when they are not in school, but since Prairie Town is a Close-Knit Community, they are never in any danger.
• Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Miss Kittey is the only main character to fit this trope.
• Furry Reminder: Played for Laughs by this exchange in "A Flip, A Twirl, A Wave, and a Curl".
  Scout: Wait a second, I just realized something. I don't only have hair on my head. I've got hair all over my body!
  Every other prairie dog: So do I!
  (The prairie dogs run back into the barbershop to get the rest of their hair styled)
• Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: Not exactly clothes as most of the characters don't wear any, but in "Stealing" Gilroy steals Scout's bandanna when he takes it off to go swimming in the lake.
• Grumpy Old Man: Patterson. He's a 75-year-old prairie dog who is often in a bad mood. When he hears Stanza's opera singing, his reaction is to grumble "Lousy kids and their rock and roll!"
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: The Sheriff wears a vest, badge, and cowboy hat but nothing on the lower half of his body.
• Heartfelt Apology:
  • In "Have Gum, Will Travel", Scout makes one to Darcy and Sport for having been too prideful after having to learn a lesson in humility.
  • In "Lying", Patterson makes one to Sport for lying about knowing Tom Trailmix, explaining that he (Patterson) wanted to feel important since he doesn't have a toy factory or general store like Gilroy and Hollister respectively, but has now realized how hurtful lying can be. Sport forgives Patterson and invites him to join the other party goers in watching Tom Trailmix do rope tricks.
• Hidden Depths: The titular character of "Stanza By Me" is a mild-mannered snake who works as a telegraph operator, but secretly is a talented opera singer.
• Honesty Aesop: In "Lying", Patterson learns how hurtful lying is and that it's better to be truthful.
• Humble Pie: In "Have Gum, Will Travel", Scout, who has let his fame for blowing huge bubble gum bubbles go to his head, is beaten in a bubble blowing duel by another prairie dog named Bubble Blowing Bob and gets fired from the circus. He sadly returns home and apologizes to Darcy and Sport for having been too prideful.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: An example occurs in "For the Love of Sport". When Gilroy tells Sport the story of his unrequited love for a girl named Millie, the latter asks what he did when he found out she was married. Gilroy says there was nothing he could do as if he did confess his feelings it would be selfish, and love is never selfish.
• Informed Ability: While it is mentioned that Gilroy owns a toy factory, his toy making skills aren't relevant to any story, the exception being "For the Love of Sport" as a yo-yo is one of the pieces of merchandise he makes to announce that Sport has a crush on someone.
  • The unfinished "Second Stanza" episode would've opened with Gilroy testing out a new kite he made.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In the music video for "Cheaters Never Really Win", Hollister spills marbles on the ground to cause Gilroy to slip and fall during the sack race. Immediately afterwards, he gets stuck in cement that Patterson poured on the ground.
• Last-Name Basis:
  • Gilroy, Hollister, and Patterson are only referred to by their surnames.
  • Averted by Miss Kittey, whose last name is "Kat".
• Latex Perfection: During the song at the end of "Lyin'", Tom Trailmix leaves Sport's birthday party and rides off into the sunset. As soon as he is out of view of everyone, he pulls off the mask he was wearing to reveal he's actually a criminal. His white horse does the same thing, changing into a black one.
• Left Hanging: Though a fourth video was planned that would include a segment about Stanza returning to Prairie Town, it never ended up being released. Because of that fans weren't able to see the townspeople make amends with Stanza and his storyline remains unresolved.
• Love Letter: In "For the Love of Sport", Sport writes some love letters to Miss Kittey (although when coming up with the first one, he keeps crumpling the letters into paper balls and tossing them aside before finally writing one that he's satisfied with).
• Maintain the Lie: Patterson struggles to do this with his story of knowing Tom Trailmix in "Lying" and ultimately fails.
• Mondegreen Gag: A rare Played for Drama example in "Here Comes Da Grudge". Hollister mistakenly thinks that Gilroy is holding a grudge against him after Scout gives him this news due to the fact that he (Scout) misheard "fudge" as "grudge".
• My God, What Have I Done?: The town collectively has this reaction in "Stanza By Me", upon learning the titular snake was actually the singer after their prejudice ended up causing him to leave.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • Old Bill Juan Coyote from "A Flip, A Twirl, A Wave, and A Curl" is a parody of Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars, with his voice actor doing an impression of Alec Guinness as the character.
  • Patterson sounds quite similar to Walter Brennan.
• Noodle Incident: In "Have Gum, Will Travel", Darcy and Sport explain how Scout has failed at everything he's tried. When he tried math, there were too many numbers, and when he tried painting, there were too many colors. When he tried painting by numbers, they had to check him into a special home.
  Scout: But I'm better now!
  Sport: Sure you are.
• Not So Above It All: In "A Flip, A Twirl, A Wave, and A Curl", even the Sheriff starts becoming vain after getting his hair styled by Miss Kittey.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: At Sport's birthday party, Patterson dresses up in a full cowboy outfit and puts a photograph on his face to pass himself off as Tom Trailmix in "Lying". One of the minor kid characters immediately sees through it though and Patterson's poor skills with a lasso result in him getting tied up and the photograph falling off of his face, revealing that he was lying and leaving Sport devastated.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The spiders in the music video for the song "Love Is".
• Police Are Useless: Averted by the Sheriff, who is shown to be competent at his job.
• Poor Communication Kills: The reason that Hollister and Gilroy get into conflict in "Here Comes Da Grudge".
• Precocious Crush: Sport, a little boy prairie dog, gets a crush on the adult Miss Kittey in "For the Love of Sport" and sends her secret admirer letters. When he does confess his feelings to her, she gently tells him that it just wouldn't work out due to the age difference but they can still be friends.
• Prejudice Aesop: "Stanza By Me" is about prejudice. Unlike most kids' shows, the short doesn't end happily.
• Pride Before a Fall: Scout nearly says the trope name word for word at the beginning of the song "Too Much Pride":
  The Bible it will tell you
  Pride comes before a fall
• Pronouncing My Name for You: Miss Kittey Kat pronounces her first name "kit-tay" as she says to Old Bill, her predecessor as town barber, in "A Flip, A Twirl, A Wave, and A Curl". Old Bill also tells her that his last name, Coyote, is pronounced "key-oaty".
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The Sheriff fills this role at least twice.
  • He gets both sides of the story regarding Hollister and Gilroy's conflict in "Here Comes Da Grudge" before calling them out for their poor communication leading to needless anger on both sides.
  • The Sheriff also listens to everyone's story as to why they decided to steal (or attempt to do so in Patterson's case) in "Stealing" before calling them out and ordering those who committed the thefts to return the stolen items to their rightful owners.
• Red Herring: At first, the viewer is made to believe that Darcy might have been the one cheating on the spelling tests in "Cheating" but it turns out that this is not the case.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Averted by Stanza the snake in "Stanza By Me" hence why Hollister decides to allow him to run the general store's telegraph office.
• Resigned in Disgrace: Miss Kittey quits being a substitute teacher at the end of "Cheating" after revealing that she cheated on her substitute teacher's exam and everyone else realizes that no one cheated on the spelling tests and confronts her with that knowledge.
• Running Gag:
  • In "Stealing", a character who decides to commit theft declaring "I've been waiting for this day for a long time!"
  • In "For the Love of Sport", Sport falling/walking into an open manhole when saying that he is Miss Kittey's favorite (or a variation thereof).
• Self-Deprecation: Patterson makes a few comments of this nature when mentioned by the narrator at the beginning of "Lying".
  Oh sure, pick on the old prairie dog who has nothing. No general store. No fancy toy factory.
• Shout-Out: "A Flip, A Curl, A Wave, and A Twirl" has 3 of them to Star Wars.
  • The barber prior to Miss Kittey is named Old Bill Juan Coyote, which sounds very similar to Obi Wan Kenobi.
  • Miss Kittey also begs Old Bill for help in the same way Leia does in her message to Obi Wan in A New Hope after the townsfolk stop going out and about due to staring at themselves in the mirror to admire their hair.
  • In response to the above, Old Bill tells Miss Kittey to use some force...to open the storage shed he got stuck in while packing up his golf clubs.
• Spelling Song: In the tie in book, Yippee Ti-Yay, Happy Birthday!, a song called "D-A-R-C-Y, the Birthday Prairie Dog" is sung to Darcy at her birthday party.
• Telegraph Gag STOP: Hollister does this when reading a reply to his job offer in "Stanza By Me".
• Theme Tune Roll Call: The main characters are listed in the second verse of the opening theme song.
  Gilroy: Well, if you'd like a Western beat, there's some prairie dogs you should meet. Hollister owns a general store.
  Hollister: Gilroy, he makes toys and more.
  Gilroy: Patterson and the Sheriff are there.
  Patterson: Miss Kittey will style your hair!
  Gilroy: Darcy, Sport
  Patterson: And don't forget Scout!
  Gilroy: These three round this rowdy bunch out.
• True Beauty Is on the Inside: The song "Style Where It Really Counts" is all about how good looks are not as important as being a good person.
• Twist Ending: The song at the end of the "Lyin'" segment has the odd twist that the real Tom Trailmix hired by Hollister to perform at Sport's birthday party was actually a criminal wearing a mask. However, unlike Patterson this phony managed to deceive everyone (except the Sheriff, who arrests him as he tries to make a getaway).
• Two Guys and a Girl: Scout, Sport, and Darcy.
• Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: In "For the Love of Sport" it's revealed that Gilroy had secret romantic feelings for a girl named Millie who ended up marrying another prairie dog. The final scene shows him leaving a flower on her grave and declaring that he still loves her and always will.
• Vague Age: Downplayed. While it's revealed in "Lying" that Patterson is 75 years old, the exact ages of the other main characters are not revealed with the viewer only knowing that Sport, Scout, and Darcy are children while the others are adults.
• Voiceover Letter: In "Stanza By Me", most of Stanza's farewell note to Hollister is read this way.
• Wham Shot: The very end of "For the Love of Sport" shows Gilroy visiting the grave of Millie, the girl he had unrequited love for, and leaving a flower on it.
• What the Hell, Hero?: The Sheriff calls most of the other characters out for committing theft (or attempted theft in Patterson's case) in the final act of "Stealing" upon finding out that it all started when Hollister mistakenly thought that Darcy stole a lollipop from his general store (and didn't realize that the money he found on the counter was what she used to pay for it).
  I declare. Can't I leave you people alone for one hour? Don't you realize that stealing is wrong no matter what the reason?

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