This movie, based on the book by G. B. Stern, opens with the Garrison family rushing out the door for an imminent delivery. But, it turns out Fran Garrison (Suzanne Pleshette) isn't the one about to give birth to a child: the couple is taking their dachshund to the vet to deliver puppies.

The next day, husband Mark (Dean Jones) returns to Dr. Pruitt's (Charlie Ruggles) clinic to bring home three more dachshunds than they brought -- that is until Dr. Pruitt puts the runt from his own Great Dane litter into Mark's hands. Now make that FIVE dogs arriving home!

Fran is so excited the dogs are now home that she scarcely lets Mark explain the facts behind the fourth puppy (Of course he didn't try too hard to set the record straight, either.), and it's not until the dogs begin to grow that she begins to realize the obvious. Though "Brutus" is delivered back to Dr. Pruitt with Mark left to sulk, Fran later presents the young great dane to Mark on his birthday.

Along the way, we see how much Fran adores the small family of Dachshunds, taking pictures of them and planning to enter one of them into a forthcoming dog show. But those little darlings certainly know how to cause mayhem, and let Brutus arrive in the nick of time to take all of the heat.

Movie Facts

In the Garrison's rush to get their expectant dachshund to the vet, a police officer escorts them to where he believes their destination to be: the county hospital. Do you recognize the hospital's entrance? It's actually an office building of the Disney studio (This wasn't the first time they had made use of this exterior....).

Music for The Ugly Dachshund was by George Bruns. Interesting: I recognized the first tune played by the band at the Garrison's garden party as an arrangement of what I'm sure was one of the songs from the Magic Skyway, Ford's exhibit at the 1964 World's Fair.

Look for actor Parley Baer at this same garden party. He made various appearances in Disney movies, but he may be better known as the (second) mayor of Mayberry on "The Andy Griffith Show." You'll also see Charles Lane as a judge at the dog show!

Movie Availability

The Ugly Dachshund is available as a Region 1 DVD. It contains a few bonus features: an interview with the actor, Mako; a video composite of various animated and live-action dogs appearing in Disney cartoons and show; and, the original theatrical trailer. Thankfully, the movie is appears in widescreen format.

Dean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his leading man roles is several Walt Disney movies between 1965 to 1977.

 Dean was born January 25, 1931 in Decatur, Alabama, the sone of Nolia Elizabeth and Andrew Guy Jones. Dean served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. After the war he worked at the Bird Cage Theater, at Knott's Berry Farm in California.

 

Stage

  After having appeard in a string of minor films an TV roles, Jones made his Broadway debut in the short-lived 1960 play There Was a Little Girl. He had stepped into a role in Boston with only one day notice. Later that year, he played Dave Manning in the Broadway comedy Under the Yum-Yum Tree, a role he would repeat in the 1963 movie version Starring Jack Lemmon. After achieving success in the film and TV, Dean was set to return to Broadway as a star of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's new musical Compay. But during out-of-town previews, Dean was uncomfortable with negative reaction to his character he received from the audience and asked to withdraw from the show. Director Harold Prince agreed to replace him with Larry Kert it Jones would open the show and record the cast album. Dean agreed and his performance is preserved on the original cast album. 

  In 1986, Dean Jones, by then having converted to Christianity, starred in Into the Light, a musical about scientists and the Shroud of Turin, which closed four days after it opened. He made one more Broadway appearance in 1993 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in a special two-way concert staging of Company featuring most of the original Broadway cast.

  Televison and Film

      Dean Jones starred in the NBC TV sitcom Ensign O'Toole in 1962, but is beat known for his work in a string of Disney s he made in the 1960s and 1970s, starting with the movie That Darn Cat! Dean Jones performance was so well-received that Disney continued to utilize him for such future movies as The Ugly Dachshund, Blackbeard's Ghost, Snowball Express and many more Disney movies. Deans sigature Disney role would be that of race car driver "Jim Douglas" in the highly successful Love Bug series. Jones appeard in two of the five feature films 9The Love Bug and Herbie Goes to Monte Corlo) and in a short-lived television series produced in 1982 and made-for-TV movie in 1997.

Films

Somebody Up There Likes Me   1956

Tea and Sympathy   1956

The Opposite Sex   1956

Ten Thousand Bedrooms   1957

Designing Woman   1957

Jailhouse Rock   1957

Imitation General   1958

Torpedo Run   1958

Never So Few   1959

Under the Yum Yum Tree   1963

Two on a Guillotine   1965

That Darn Cat   1965

The Ugly Dachshund  1966

Any Wednesday 1966

Blackbeard's Ghost 1968

The Love Bug   1969

The Million Doller Duck  1971

Snowball Express   1972

The Shaggy D.A.   1976

Once Upon Brothers Grimm   1977

Herbie Gones to Monte Carlo   1977

Born Again   1978

Othe Poeple's Money   1991

Clear and Present Danger   1994

The Visual Bible: Acts   1994

That Darn Cat   1997

The Love Bug   1997

Battman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero   1998 (voice)