Pluto, also called Pluto the Pup, is a cartoon character created in 1930 by Walt Disney Productions. He is a light brown (most recently yellow), medium-sized, short-haired dog. Unlike Goofy

Goofy

Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...

, Pluto is not anthropomorphic

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...

 beyond some characteristics such as facial expression. He is most often the companion of Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...

, although he first appeared as Minnie Mouse's

Minnie Mouse

Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an animated character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. The comic strip story "The Gleam" by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. Minnie has since been a recurring alias for her. Minnie is currently voiced by actress Russi...

 dog Rover in the film The Picnic (1930). Officially a mixed-breed dog

Mixed-breed dog

A mixed-breed dog, also known as a mutt or mongrel, is a dog whose ancestry is generally unknown and that has characteristics of two or more types of breeds. A mixed-breed may be a cross-breed dog, a random-bred dog, or a descendant of feral or pariah dog populations...

, Pluto was likely designed after a pair of Bloodhounds

Bloodhound

The Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...

 from the film The Chain Gang

The Chain Gang

The Chain Gang is a Mickey Mouse animated film produced in 1930 by Walt Disney for Columbia Pictures. It is one of a group of shorts of strikingly uneven quality produced by Disney immediately after Ub Iwerks left the studio. The cartoon was primarily drawn by Norm Ferguson, and featured a pair...

 (1930).

Pluto debuted in animated cartoons

Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...

 and appeared in 24 Mickey Mouse films before receiving his own series in 1937.