Katts and Dog

This was one of several excellent family-oriented Canadian productions from that time that were broadcast in the US and then disappeared. As other commentators have indicated, they were thoroughly enjoyable for all ages.

Imagine my shock when on visiting Montreal about ten years ago I turned on the hotel tv and, finding nothing better, checked out Katts and Dog. Which I had known exclusively as Rin Tin Tin, K-9 Cop. Now, you have to understand several things. First, Rin Tin Tin was a famous German shepherd dog character from a series in the late 50s. So it was perfectly logical for this dog to have that name. But the dog in Canada was Rudy, and I was amazed to discover that they had gone back over every single "Rudy" and dubbed in "Rinty" for the US audience. The dubbing was absolutely undetectable. But to this day I don't get the point.

Second thing you have to understand: They never made it clear where the show took place. It was intentionally an unspecified city in the Pacific northwest. The police uniforms looked plenty US to me but they must have been designed to look Canadian to the Canadians as well. (They did not have checkered caps.) Standard Canadian and standard US English, if there is such a thing, are scarcely distinguishable, so I guess they got by by not having the characters say "eh?" Because of PC or union considerations or both, there was a sequence of episodes in there where the female interest spoke with a French accent. In the context they made her French French, but obviously she was quebecoise.

Anyway, an excellent family show, and it is a shame that those of its ilk seem to be with us no more.

I would love to see Rinn Tin-Tin K9 Cop on DVD. I haven't seen this show in about 18 years. I had a huge crush on Andrew Bednarski. I wrote him fan letters and he would write me back. It was the highlight of my middle school years.

If I remember correctly, the show was about Hank Katts ( I never heard of the title being "Dog and Katts") and he was a cop in a K9 unit with Rinny the German Shepard who was smarter than everyone on the show. Rinny would save the day every time and could always tell Hank when Stevie was in a well or in trouble. I believe it took place in Canada. Hank was Stevie's uncle and had adopted him after Stevie's mother died.

It was a great show with lots of great family values and adventure. I'd love to catch an episode or two again to remember old times. We need more shows like that on TV today.

I have to say "Katts and Dog" was such an awesome show, and even though I was born in 1991, I really didn't see it until 1999 or 2000 when Showcase had rights to broadcast it. It is brought back so many memories of my childhood, and what Toronto really looked like while I was a little kid. Heck there was one episode which was filmed in my current high school, Leaside High School(even though the renamed it "Riverdale" for filming purposes) and it really brought it home for me. They had such good scripts and it brought out the reality of being a cop, and inspired me to go a get a German Shepherd Dog, and at one point made me want to become a cop, but now I don't think that it is a great idea. But it has such good values, and to believe it had better success in the States with 5 seasons and while good old "Due South" had 4 seasons. Heck with 5 seasons there should at least be a DVD out, and I wonder if Atlantique Productions is out of business which would be sad. But man this show is just well put together and had about the same actors that would be later used in Due South. The values such as drugs, losing a loved one, dealing with personal hardships, are just so nice to relate to.

Excellent show, wish there was a DVD. I hope Alliance takes over the distribution and copyright for this stuff.

In response to what jbuck_919 said:

'Katts & Dog' (or 'Rin Tin Tin K9 Cop') takes place in and around Toronto, Ontario.

As I recall, that was abundantly clear in the Canadian versions - due to the scenery and references to the Toronto Police Service, among other things.

I loved the show; it was one of my childhood favourites. If someone decided to air it, I would definitely watch it.

The plot and effects weren't quite as complex as my modern favourites (ie Third Watch), but they were excellent for its day.

~Mark

Katts and Dog is a Canadian production. Like almost all Canadian productions, it is co-produced with another country, in this case France. This is done to join costs to make a more attractive show, a show that will attract viewers from all over the world. The french character on the show was not to show the Quebec/Ontario relations (although it does a nice job).

The character was there to represent the production with France. The characters and the show itself are created in a neutral manner. The people in many countries can relate to the characters and the setting because there is no real connection to a particular city. Canadians can relate as Canadians, and the rest of the world can relate as well.