Courage the Dog is the titular protagonist and the main character of the series. He lives in the middle of Nowhere with his owner Muriel Bagge and her husband Eustace Bagge. He is voiced by Marty Grabstein.
Personality
Despite his signature demeanor and reputation, Courage truly does live up to the meaning of his distinct name. Because of a kidnapping incident with his parents, he was abandoned as a puppy, found by the ever-kind Muriel, and began fearing everything abnormal. This fear is easily swallowed, however, when Muriel's safety is put into jeopardy or trouble falls upon him in general, most likely because the events of his most painful memory drives him to protect Muriel, in fear of losing another loved one.
Courage screaming
He is willing to risk his own life to protect her at all costs. Unfortunately, his irrationality sometimes causes others to doubt his intuition. Courage has been presented as an almost entirely selfless character, working to benefit others with usually little to no regard for his own well being, proving that he is, in fact, courageous.
Although his secondary owner, Eustace, is cruel to him, he is not offended by his harsh words and cruel tricks, especially compared to Muriel. This is most likely because he's learned to deal with the man's cruel jokes and short temper.
Courage doesn't particularly talk much. When distressed, he speaks in a gibberish esque "dog language" but when calm, Courage shows that he does in fact speak English (though few people pay attention to him when he actually does). He usually communicates his emotions through whines and howls as he presumably prefers.
When nothing bad is happening, Courage enjoys playing with toys (yo-yo), (marbles), and building things. (Sand castle)
Skills & Abilities
Courage has been seen doing things that are humorously improbable, such as screaming so loud that it can break the entire basement floor and form a deep chasm as seen in Ball of Revenge, shatter the sun as he did in The Magic Tree of Nowhere, or use various visual transformations in order to communicate, such as turning into a snake, a club and a dragon, as well as many other creatures and objects pertaining to the thing he tries to explain. However, this is only occasional and is assumed to be used for comedic effect.
Although he lives the typical life of an average dog (helping around the house\ farm and being his average self) he's shown he's pretty quick on his feet when trouble strikes and he's forced to solve the problem in some way.
Courage has shown he can speak English. He demonstrates this when he does things such as yelling Muriel's name in distress or saying his catchphrase "The things I do for love." Unfortunately, this skill falls apart when he's distressed and in turn when it is needed most as he speaks in his signature gibberish when he's trying to explain danger to his owners.
History
Courage as a puppy in Remembrance of Courage Past
A pink puppy was born to Henry and his kind wife in a large, gated property. He was raised through example, and was quick to learn a lesson. Though his parents had an aristocratic fascination in canine objects, his well being was always of the utmost concern. While successfully learning to catch a ball, he accidentally got his head stuck in between the bars of the fence and he was taken to the Pets of Tomorrow veterinarian office. Here, he was freed by a seemingly kind doctor, who gave him a lollipop and ushered him out of the room so he could "speak" to his parents alone. His tongue got stuck to the surface of the sucker, and then tore off, so the baby dog rushed back to be nurtured by his mother. When he returned, the three were gone, and screams pleading for assistance could be heard from the hallway. He abandoned his candy and rushed in to find the vet carrying his parents away in a net. They begged the doctor to not separate them from their son. He rushed after them into a room of caged dogs, and then into another room where he discovered his parents being forced into a rocket ship. He tried to help them before its launch, but failed, as his fear drove him to flee into a garbage chute which led to a back alley. From there he watched as his family was sent away into space, while waving a tearful goodbye to them. Crying alone, he was found by a young red-haired Scottish woman who offered to take him home. Later to be known as Muriel. She named him Courage. He's been living under her care ever since that day.
Trivia
- Courage spoke English quite often in the first season, but from the second season onward, his dialogue became increasingly limited to gibberish and screams, only speaking occasionally or when he really had something to say.
- Courage has many sounds that he's known for, such as his strange laugh at the end of some episodes.
- Courage is the only character (aside from Katz and Le Quack) who ever speaks directly to the audience. The frequency with which he does so (nearly every episode) makes this one of his trademark characteristics.
Quotes & catchphrases
- "I have a bad feeling about this."
- "I know I'm not gonna like this."
- "I just know something bad is going to happen."
- "...or my name is (random name)... and it's not."
- "I've got a bad feeling about this, or my name is 'Stinky Lou Lou'... and thank goodness it's not!"
- "The things I do for love."
- "What have you done with Muriel?"
- "Muriel! I'll save you!"
- "I just know something bad's gonna happen or my name is 'Evana'...and it's not!
Gallery
The full gallery for Courage can be found here.