Pound Puppies (2010 TV series)

Pound Puppies is an animated series that first aired on October 10, 2010, on the Hub Network, making it the channel's debut original show. The series was developed by Wendy Klein Moss, Nancy Steingard, Paul Germain, and Joe Ansolabehere. It was produced by Hasbro Studios and is the second cartoon adaptation of the Pound Puppies property, after a 1986 series. The property originally belonged to Tonka, which Hasbro later acquired. The show also aired on YTV in Canada and on Boomerang in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia, and Australia. Its plot style and music drew inspiration from the 1960s TV series *Hogan's Heroes* and films like *Stalag 17* and *The Great Escape*. The first seven episodes were animated by 9 Story Entertainment, with DHX Media Vancouver handling animation from episode eight onward. A total of 65 episodes were produced. In July 2012, the series was one of four Hub original shows to receive the CINE Golden Eagle Award for production and storytelling quality. The following month, the Season 1 episode "I Never Barked for My Father" won the Humanitas Prize for children's television animation writing. Reruns currently air on Discovery Family.

The show follows a group of dogs—Lucky, Cookie, Niblet, Strudel, and Squirt—who operate from Shelter 17. They run a secret, high-tech underground facility beneath the pound, aided by squirrels recruited by Strudel, a very smart Dachshund. Their goal is to find homes for puppies and adult dogs that arrive at the pound, guided by the motto "A pup for every person, and a person for every pup." The facility is full of advanced equipment, mostly built by Strudel and the squirrels, and remains hidden from the oblivious human staff. Several episodes indicate that similar Pound Puppies units exist worldwide. A parallel organization, the Kennel Kittens, operates at the Happy Valley shelter, trying to place cats and kittens, though they often interfere with the Pound Puppies' missions. There is also an unofficial subgroup called the Super Secret Pup Club. A common plot involves the dogs overcoming challenges to match a dog with a loving owner. When a match is made, the Pound Puppies give the dog a doghouse-shaped tag and say, "Once a pound puppy, always a pound puppy."

The main characters include Lucky, a mongrel and the group's leader.