One episode PETS

[BeavLover]

Does anyone besides myself find it strange that Beaver and Wally never had a pet that was in more than one episode? If I'm wrong, please fill me in on one.

Here are some that I can remember, but never saw again:

- Captain Jack, the alligator (my favorite), who the boys gave to the alligator farm

- A puppy to help the boys to get over the sorrow of losing their alligator was seen for only a minute (Ward in later episodes only mentions that the boys had a dog that they couldn't take care of.)

- Stanley, the monkey, who later lived at the zoo

- Herbie, the toad, that Beaver gave to Wally's girl as a "sentinental" present

- Peter Gunn, the white rat, that Beaver sold to Mr. Rutherford because Mrs. Rutherford had become attached to it.

- Miss Canfield and Miss Landers, Beaver's two pigeons, who were eaten by a cat.

- Pepe, the Burro, who was given to a circus to pull carts for little boys and girls

- Sgt. Burke, the parrot, who Beaver lied about owning, so Ward rented him for a day.

- A mouse that Beaver got from a druggist after finding him under the drugstore. June (through Ward) made Beaver get rid of it by turning it loose in Metzger's Field.

- Poncho, the Chihuahua, that Beaver got from Whitey, but actually belonged and was returned to it's rightful owner.

- Bootsie, the cat, that Beaver took in, but again, had an owner who wanted him.

- Henri(etta), the rabbit, that Ward helped the boys catch in the garden. Not knowing it was an expecting mother, they ended up with about six rabbits. Never heard of them again.

- Fish, that were given to Beaver as a consolation prize by the pet store owner. (I'm not sure if those same fish lasted, but fish, or the fish bowl are mentioned in a couple of other episodes)

- Nick, the horse the boys were given for helping with the circus. That was their gratuity received instead of money.

If anyone knows of more, please let me know.

I had the same dog from age 5 to 18, how boring! :sleep2:

[bandito]

I also find it strange about the pets. Didn't the writers think anyone wouldn't notice the strange disapearence of the animals?

[BrandonS]

Probably the producers thought having a continuing pets was limiting for the scripts. The pet would always have to be in the script whether relevant or not, and the writers couldn't as easily write episodes about Beaver getting or wanting a pet. The episode in which everyone was supposed to bring his pet in to school, and petless Beaver lied and said he had a talking parrot couldn't have existed if he had a dog.

[*InThisMoment*]

it would of been great if they would of had a pet dog! :lol:

[Mijada]

I've noticed that too. Gosh I never realized that there were so many pets though. I remember Beaver having a whole bunch of frogs and one was named Smiley but they weren't really pets though. He was just collecting them so he could sell them and buy a canoe.
I too wonder why the boys would sometimes mention a goldfish bowl that we never see. They should have had it sitting on their dresser or something where it was visible.

[tdr]

It's hard not to believe that, with 39 new episodes a year, having one or more pets on a regular basis would have made a difficult job even harder. If they had had a dog, for example, they would probably have had to acquire several dogs that look alike, using the one for the particular scene which does the trick best, or the one which is the most lively, aggressive, or whatever the need is. So with that they would have had to keep a trainer/owner under a contract and maintain a bond for the animals.

Although viewers may tend to like pets as part of the family they watch, there is a lot of trouble and expense involved in keeping them. Personally I think it was for the best that the Cleavers did not have a pet continuously, as the focus of the show was always the boys, one or both of them. The same pet seen continuously would have detracted from the focus, slowed production, added expense, and taken away most of the plots where the one-episode pets were featured.

[bandito]

Originally posted by TheFonzIsCool
it would of been great if they would of had a pet dog! :lol: What do you think the dogs name would be? How about Mr Willet. :lol:

[bandito]

Or Cornelius Rayburn :lol:

[BeavLover]

First of all, thanks Mijada for remember the frog, Smiley, for me. I remembered that episode and didn't include it, because I thought that Beaver and Wally collected frogs to sell, but I forgot how Beaver had become more attached to that certain one, Smiley. So we can list him as a pet, too.

TDR, I understand your points, also. Full time dogs in a show can cause many problems, but it seems just a little strange to me that not "one pet" made it into a second episode.

Can you think of one????

Maybe there was just too much good material and they wanted to end their topic after each episode. But I think they could of had Beaver's rabbits in more than one. Perhaps the first show ending where Henri has "her" litter, and in the following episode Beaver learns how and "how not" to take care of all his rabbits.

Or how about when Beaver gets Stanley, his monkey, this could of easily been a longer existence for this pet. In the episode inwhich he gets Stanley, they don't show any of Beaver's or Wally's friends seeing the monkey.

I would of loved to have a scene where the monkey shows up Eddie Haskell. How about Larry Mondello being in the room, and the monkey steals his apple? Larry complains to Beaver that he only has three. Or how about Beaver's friends all getting jealous and begging their parents for monkeys. Of course, this would probably lead the phone calls to the June and Ward complaining about them having a monkey. Then in a following episode, June and Ward don't know how to ask Beaver to get rid of Stanley, and Stanley's disappearance and illness is somewhat a blessing for Ward and June.


Another one might be about one episode where Beaver, Whitey and Larry join their pigeon club. I feel his pigeons could of lasted longer, too. In a following episode, Beaver could get the chicken pox and the tragic end to his pigeons could take place.

Believe me, I'm not upset with how each episode is written, I just think it's peculiar that they didn't ever expand on any certain pet for more than one episode.

[Mijada]

Like I said, They could have at least had a goldfish all the time. It would hardly be any trouble and they could have kept the bowl somewhere in their room so the viewers would know that they had a pet, but they wouldn't have to refer to it in every ep like they would a dog.

[BeavLover]

A thought just crossed my mind....:confused:

What were the Donaldsons thinking when they asked Wally and Beaver to watch their prize cat, Puff-Puff, over the weekend?

If they only knew the bad luck the boys had with pets!!!

Sure enough,...... they lost the cat!!!


How about the old lady, that Beaver thought was a witch, Mrs. Cooper? She wanted him to walk her dog everyday. Too bad Beav chickened out, because I'm sure the dog would of got away, too!

I love the scene where Ward has to climb the tree and get Beaver and Puff-Puff down in the middle of the night. :lol:

[tdr]

Originally posted by BeavLover
- Miss Canfield and Miss Landers, Beaver's two pigeons, who were eaten by a cat.

- Henri(etta), the rabbit, that Ward helped the boys catch in the garden. Not knowing it was an expecting mother, they ended up with about six rabbits. Never heard of them again.

...I just think it's peculiar that they didn't ever expand on any certain pet for more than one episode.

In the opening scene in "Pet Fair," Beaver doesn't want to go to school because the only ones who will not have pets to tell about that day are "all the creeps." Ward tells Beaver, "The reason you don't have a pet is because you didn't take care of your rabbit, and you didn't take care of your pigeons." That may be a reasonable explanation for what happend to 'Henry' the rabbit. But if Ward was referring to 'Miss Canfield' and 'Miss Landers' when he said Beaver did not take care of his pigeons, that seems unfair, since Beaver was "quarantined" with the chickenpox at that time. I suppose we should assume it was other pigeons that Beaver at least had a chance to take care of. However, on camera Beaver actually went to great lengths to take care of an animal when he had one and he could.

One pet left out of the original post in this thread is the hamster Ward bought for Beaver, after telling him he would not get a pet for Beaver before the pet fair.

[BeavLover]

Originally posted by tdr


One pet left out of the original post in this thread is the hamster Ward bought for Beaver, after telling him he would not get a pet for Beaver before the pet fair.

Thanks TDR! When I started reading your post, I remembered the hamster, and sure enough, at the end, you yourself brought it up.

THAT'S ANOTHER! :)