The history of the grumpy elderly inmate Grampa from the Dog Man franchise.
History[]
Books[]
Past[]
Grampa was born to two simple-minded parents named Phil and Fritzi, being grumpy and miserable ever since birth.
As Grampa grew older, (likely in the 60s or 70s), he became obsessed with disco, even becoming a self-proclaimed champion at it. During this time, he would meet and fall in love with a calico cat named Grace, and they presumably started dating.
One night, while Grampa was walking through a suburban neighborhood, he stumbled across a landing UFO, which landed just on top of a large house. There, one of the UFO's legs opened, revealing an alien that looked like an eye with hair. The Eye Alien walked toward Grampa and revealed it was on a mission to find The Chosen One, a young girl who was destined to save the universe. It continued, saying she was likely going to need help on her quest and got her a diamond ring, calling it "The Ring of Destiny and Stuff".
Young Grampa discussing with the Eye Alien.
Grampa, wishing to have the ring, lies to the Eye Alien that he knew where the young girl lived, and told it that if it gave him the ring, he would give it to the Chosen One. The Eye Alien thanks him and gives him a note, telling him to give it to the Chosen One if he found her. Then, the Eye Alien leaves, and as it does, Grampa crumples up the note and tosses it away, while he used the ring to propose to Grace.
Grampa and Grace would eventually marry each other and have a child named Petey the Cat. For an unknown reason, however, Grampa was abusive towards Petey, and even more abusive to Grace. One day, Grampa (presumably) hurt Petey's tail, forcing him and Grace to leave to the hospital. While the two were at the hospital, Grampa sold the house and drove off, forcing Petey and Grace to live at the Happy Home Shelter.
These actions, along with the later passing of Grace, would motivate Petey into becoming a villain and joining Dr. Dilbert Dinkle.
Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls[]
Decades after abandoning Petey, Petey was pardoned from Cat Jail, and mentioned his dad to his son Li’l Petey. Then, while Petey was asleep, Li’l Petey went to Dog Man's house and asks his robot best friend 80-HD to go find his grandpa.
80-HD returning Grampa to Petey.
The next morning, 80-HD returns with Grampa, where he trespasses inside Petey's lab and starts destroying plates, where he said that it was Petey's fault because he put them up to high.
Later, Grampa measures the items in Petey's lab, and yells at Li’l Petey for making a mess with crayons while he was making a book for Flippy. As he sits down in a recliner, Petey comes with some seafood crackers. Grampa eats them up, and spits them out in disgust. As Petey walks away in anger, Li'l Petey tells Grampa that that was not nice, but Grampa says he doesn't care.
Later, Grampa walks in on his son and grandson working on a new invention called the Robo-Rat 2,000. Then, Grampa teases on Petey, until a news report comes on a television behind him, showing the Burgle Balls wrecking havoc and stealing from the stores inside the city. Petey and his son then leave to save the day, while Grampa leaves with a mischevious grin.
Grampa stealing all of Petey and Li'l Petey's belongings.
Afterward, Petey and Li’l Petey come back to the lab on the Robo-Rat 2,000, which had changed into the Ratterfly. On the way, they see Grampa in a moving truck. When they get back inside the lab, they notice that Grampa had stolen all of their possessions.
In Sarah Hatoff's News Blog at the end of the book, it says that Grampa was caught and was arrested and sent to Cat Jail.
Dog Man: Fetch-22[]
While in jail, Grampa had created sleep gas and put it in a balloon when Petey and Li’l Petey come to visit him.
In the visiting room, Grampa puts on a gas mask and pops the balloon, causing sleep gas to go everywhere, making Petey and Li’l Petey fall asleep.
Grampa escaping Cat Jail disguised as Petey.
When the gas cleared up, he had shaved his beard and drew his beard on Petey’s face. Then, he took off one of his whiskers and glued it on Petey. Then, he got a can of orange juice and took the lid off and glued it on the tip of Petey's tail. Then, he took off his glasses and gave them to Petey, making Petey look like him. He then took the wrapper of the orange juice can and sticked it on top of his tail, making him look like Petey, and he took Li’l Petey. He then told the warden that his 'dad' had fallen asleep, and soon he left Cat Jail, and put Li’l Petey in a garbage can.
Later, when Li'l Petey wakes up, he goes to Petey's lab, where Grampa is watching TV. There, the two have an argument about how Grampa is Petey, not him. Then, Grampa cooks Li’l Petey lunch, gives him much popcorn when Li'l Petey watches a movie, and more, which causes him to lose it.
Later, Sarah's poodle Zuzu came to Petey's lab and told Li’l Petey about the Fair Fairy and her army, who had captured all of Li'l Petey's friends. Hearing this, Grampa comes to the army and tries to join the Fair Fairy.
Grampa after having told the Fair Fairy what he overheard from Li'l Petey and Molly.
Later, Li’l Petey, Zuzu, and one of the female tadpoles in the Fair Fairy's army named Molly went to Dog Man's house and created an antidote to Supa Brain Dots. There, Li’l Petey blew up a balloon, while Zuzu went to the pond with the antidote. Li'l Petey then goes up to Grampa and tells him that an antidote to Supa Brain Dots was in the balloon, and when it pops, the tadpoles would lose their powers. He then tells Molly that she should hide in the pond so she doesn't lose her powers, to which Grampa overhears and tells the Fair Fairy about it, where she tells the tadpoles to go to the pond. There, Zuzu pours the antidote inside the pond, causing the tadpoles to lose their powers.
Then, the Fair Fairy and Grampa escape, where they accidentally get crushed by a falling cupcake sign (which Big Jim had mistaken for a cupcake). Then, two police officers notice and see that Grampa and the Fair Fairy had been captured. Then, 80-HD goes to Petey and takes off his disguise of Grampa's, and soon Grampa and the Fair Fairy are arrested and sent to Cat Jail and Old Lady Jail respectively.
Dog Man: Grime and Punishment[]
In Cat Jail, he had been at hard work on creating a new invention called the Motor Brain, which is a personality amplifier, which means that the wearer of the Motor Brain would become a beast with a personality of theirs. He then gets Big Jim, and tests it on him. It turns Big Jim into Snug, a very strong cuddly monster. After getting cuddled insanely, he accidentally falls into Big Jim’s secret escape room. Then, he asks Snug for his hat, and he puts it on, turning him into Crud, a strong eight-armed monster.
As Crud, he destroys the escape room and escapes through the escape chute and wreaks havoc in the town.
Cat Man handcuffing Crud to a fire hydrant.
Later, Sarah Hatoff has a news report on Crud, and then she asks him why he's acting so evil, and he responds by saying that he wants to have a friend. That's when the head of the police department, Chief, sends in Dog Man and disguises him as an evil cat headed man. Then, Dog Man (dressed up as Cat Man) acts as a friend for Crud. When Crud sees him, he tries to destroy a nearby bookshop with his new buddy, however gets his tail tied up to a fire hydrant and then gets handcuffed. Then, Crud gets angry and tries to get rid of Cat Man, and accidentally taking off his cat helmet, revealing Cat Man to be Dog Man. Then, Sarah helps in trying to defeat Crud, until the the mayor of the city comes and arrests Dog Man, Sarah, Zuzu, and Chief (due to Dog Man's terrible behavior at Chief's award ceremony), and Crud escapes.
Later, Crud comes into a gift shop next to the third largest lunch bag in the world. He sees a sign in front of the lunch bag, which says to not spray the bag with Living Spray, which was now available in the gift shop. Then, Crud steals a can of Living Spray from the gift shop and sprays it on the bag. This turns it into Munchy the Lunch Bag. Then, Munchy wreaks more havoc, like ripping off and eating parts of buildings. Then, he gets thirsty and takes a smokestack from a building and uses it as a straw to drink nuclear waste. Then, Munchy gets fire in his mouth, and goes to the pond to dry his mouth out. There, the tadpoles from the previous book, now baby frogs (besides Molly, who is still a tadpole), are taking a lesson from their newly adopted father, Flippy. Munchy then kidnaps Flippy, while the baby frogs hide away.
Later, Petey, Li’l Petey, and 80-HD come to Munchy, and then stop Munchy with love by drawing things on him that they and the baby frogs love. Then, Munchy runs away.
Crud about to throw the police car with everyone in it.
Then, Crud comes back and takes the police car with the arrested good guys inside it. He then throws it away, however Flippy and Molly catch it. Then, Petey comes to Crud and tells him that he's going to forgive him. Crud, in shock, takes off the Motor Brain and tells Petey that he doesn't have a reason to forgive him, however Petey and Li’l Petey just leave and go back to the lab. Then, Grampa walks away in anger.
As he's walking, he throws away the Motor Brain, which Big Jim, who had been out trying to look for Grampa, catches, and put on, turning him back into Snug. Then, Snug sees Grampa, and chases him back to Cat Jail.
Dog Man: Mothering Heights[]
Grampa talking to Big Jim before attempting to escape again.
In Cat Jail, Grampa had created an evil scheme that needed a can of Living Spray and Cannery Grow. In order to get the ingredients, he goes back into the secret escape room and tries to open the escape chute, but gets punched by a mechanical hand when he presses the button. Big Jim, who was inside the escape room, tells Grampa that only he and his new robot he made (which is just a cardboard robot) can escape. However, Big Jim sadly can't figure out how to turn the robot on, and Grampa suggests to put a battery in it. While Big Jim went to get a battery, Grampa dismantled the robot and went inside it.
When Big Jim gets back, Grampa tells him that they need to go on a scavenger hunt for Living Spray and Cannery Grow. Them, they go out the escape chute.
When they go to a store, the store owner tells them that Living Spray was banned due to complaints and that the Cannery Grow factory was destroyed in Lord of the Fleas. After going to many stores, Big Jim tells Grampa he's ready to give up, but then, Sarah's news report on Petey comes up on a nearby television. It shows the inside of Petey's lab, where a bunch of cans of Living Spray and Cannery Grow are.
Once the two come to Petey's lab, Grampa accidentally slips on two sippy cups left on the floor by Li’l Petey and Molly, causing him to fall, which destroys the robot disguise. Then, Big Jim notices, and tries to stop Grampa after he took a can of Living Spray, but it ended up spraying the sippy cups. Then, they came to life, and Big Jim accidentally knocks down a can of Cannery Grow, and the newly sentient sippy cups spray themselves with it, causing them to grow in size and destroy Petey's lab. Then, the pink sippy cup swallows up Grampa and Big Jim.
Grampa and Big Jim walking back to Cat Jail.
Later, when Molly, inside a robot suit, destroyed the sippy cups, Grampa and Big Jim walk away back to Cat Jail.
Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder[]
While Grampa doesn't physically appear in the book, he is mentioned by Petey and his mom in flashbacks.
Dog Man: Big Jim Begins[]
One morning, Big Jim wakes up Grampa by singing "Wakey Wakey". After the song ends, Grampa complains that it was way too early to be waking up, to which Big Jim denies it and says "the early bird gets the hugs". Grampa yells at Big Jim further, telling him to get his paws off him and questions how he was so happy, despite the fact that he was incarcerated. He ends it off by saying Big Jim could never see things clearly in a metaphorical stance. However, Big Jim takes it literally, and takes out a pair of glasses, saying it gave him nostalgia to his past life. Big Jim then goes on to explain how in his childhood, he was raised by loving parents in a suburban neighborhood and one day, a UFO landed just on top of their house, (coincidentally the same UFO young Grampa came across). After Big Jim's father came out and told it to leave, it eventually did, though it "dropped" a note (which was actually the note the Eye Alien gave young Grampa). The note made Big Jim and his parents believe that the latter was The Chosen One, however, since they could not find the Ring of Destiny and Stuff, young Big Jim couldn't go out and save the universe.
Big Jim talking to Grampa after the latter was stomped on by the robotic foot.
After Big Jim told his story, Grampa told his story of meeting a UFO and taking the Ring of Destiny and Stuff and revealed he used the Ring to propose to Grace. After their conversation, Big Jim went out to make a superhero costume designed for Grampa, while Grampa sneaked out and attempted to escape once again. As he is about to hit the button, he remembers of the wooden glove that came out of the compartment on top of the button and used a nearby hammer and some nails to nail down the compartment. Grampa then presses the button, before learning about a hatch at the roof, making a robotic realistic foot to fall down on top of him. The noise stops Big Jim as he goes and checks out what happened. There, Big Jim reveals he had programmed the escape door to only open if one of pure heart pushed the button. Grampa lies and says that he did have a pure heart, however, Big Jim told him he wished to believe he had a pure heart and therefore was required to prove it by helping him stop crime as Commander Cupcake.
While Grampa originally refuses to do so, Big Jim somehow convinces him to do so, so Grampa reluctantly puts on a superhero costume with the alter-ego of "Sprinkles". Grampa yells at Big Jim to just open the door, though before doing so, he has Big Jim stand right below the robotic foot, while he stood before the door "where it was safe". As Big Jim opens the door, however, it slams right on top of Grampa, requiring Big Jim to take Grampa out of the ground in a very Looney Tunes exaggerated style. After doing so, Big Jim runs out of jail with Grampa, who almost immediately takes of the costume while yelling at Big Jim. Due to this, Big Jim yells out for Dog Man, who comes rushing out. After Big Jim and Dog Man hug, Big Jim tells Dog Man that Grampa was being mean to him, so Dog Man chases Grampa up to a stop sign. After a while, Grampa gives up and puts his costume back on, telling Dog Man he was a different cat all along: Sprinkles. Big Jim tells Dog Man his job was done and he could leave, which he does so. Afterwards, Grampa exclaims he didn't know that Big Jim was friends with Dog Man, to which Big Jim reveals they went way back, and starts to tell Grampa the story, to which Grampa shouts out "NO!"
As Big Jim tells the story that he had hired the Junior Detective Club, (which included a young Greg the Dog, the head of Dog Man), to help him find the Ring of Destiny, the two go up a tall skyscraper. While Big Jim says the story, Grampa continuously interrupts, saying that Big Jim wasn't the Chosen One or the story was fake, which were both true. After Big Jim finishes with his story, a large gust of wind goes by them.
Big Jim checks what it was using his "supa binoculars" (which were really two toilet paper tubes taped together) and finds out that it was another spaceship, which was disguising itself as a circus tent. Big Jim exclaims that they should leave and ties both his and Grampa's capes together, before jumping, creating a parachute of the two capes. Grampa exclaims he was shocked that the both of them were alive and spreads his arms out in joy, which knocked down a nearby lamppost and dropping the lamp straight onto his head.
Just then, it started raining, with Grampa complaining about it, while Big Jim exclaims he was happy. Grampa then breaks down next to Big Jim, wondering how he could've been so happy despite being wet, cold, and incarcerated for years. However, Big Jim tells Grampa that jails aren't made up of concrete and steel, but rather also in our minds in the negative thoughts we think, forgetting about the freedom that is also in our minds. Grampa exclaims it was easy for him to say that, considering he had never suffered. This leads Big Jim to reminisce about the day where his parents died in a car crash and how a little girl (who was the real Chosen One) calmed him in the hospital.
Big Jim is then interrupted by an incoming Molly and Li'l Petey. Big Jim asks the kids why they were up so late, to which they reveal about a "Hero Party" and that every hero in the city was invited. She also reveals that there would be free cake, which makes Grampa want to go. However, Big Jim prevented Grampa from doing so, saying that only they should eat cupcakes.
Big Jim and Grampa learning that everyone had fallen asleep at the party.
Grampa complains that they missed out on free cake and how he hated being a superhero and quit, forcing Big Jim to call Dog Man back. However, Dog Man doesn't come back, leaving Big Jim and a reluctant Grampa to check in on what happened. The two learn that all of the invited guests were sleeping. However, just then, Dog Man wakes up, finds the two cats, and starts running at them. Big Jim asks Dog Man what had happened and has him reveal it in his thoughts.
Dog Man reveals that at the party, Dog Man was about to eat the chocolate cake before his boss Chief prevented him from doing so, saying that chocolate was bad for dogs as he started eating Dog Man's slice. Chief then fell asleep alongside everyone else at the party, confusing Dog Man and making him believe everyone was supposed to be asleep now, so he slept until Big Jim woke him up.
Big Jim revealing only the three of them could save the planet.
After Dog Man revealed everything, Big Jim exclaimed that whomever made the cake spiked it with sleeping potion and that only the three of them could defeat the villains and save the planet.
Just then, two aliens named Captain Cuddles and Doctor Dimples come in, discussing how all the heroes in the city were victims to their Sleepycake. As they came to check, the two find out about Big Jim, Grampa, and Dog Man and realized they didn't eat their Sleepycake. However, after Doctor Dimples scanned them using a scanner, he revealed the three weren't a threat and the two of them were able to conquer the planet. They evilly laugh as they leave into their spaceship and begin their attack on the planet.
After the aliens revealed themselves, Dog Man went to the sleeping 80-HD and went inside him, putting on his superhero costume as he went to leave the tent, with Big Jim and a reluctant Grampa following.
Big Jim, Grampa, and Dog Man flying into the spaceship.
As the three use Dog Man's "Bone-copter" to fly through the city, they learn that the spaceship was zapping everything in sight and turning the zapped objects extremely cute, even zapping Sarah and her cameraman. The three heroes continue flying to the spaceship, where they see a small thermal exhaust port and fly through it, landing in the spaceship heroically. However, Doctor Dimples sees this and warns everybody to grab a "silly sword" and defend the ship. Grampa sarcastically says he was scared, before the Space Cuties continously hit him with it.
Just then, Big Jim shooting the frosting that was trapped in his gloves at all the Space Cuties, which didn't do anything for them. Dog Man wasn't any help either, as all he was doing was licking all the leftover frosting from the walls. Grampa states that the three of them were positively doomed, which Captain Cuddles overhears and agrees to before opening a trap door, which the three of them fell through.
The trap door leads them to a cubby titled "Space Jail" as Big Jim and Dog Man land on conveniently placed pillows while Grampa landed straight on the ground. Grampa attempts to speak something, however, Dog Man's Bone-copter and mask as well as a first-aid kit fell on top of his head. Big Jim asks what was wrong, to which Grampa exclaims that after the whole adventure, they were still trapped in a jail. Grampa asks how Big Jim was supposed to turn this into something good, which makes Big Jim remember that after his parents died, a woman named Mrs. Pierce adopted him and let him stay at the Happy Home Shelter. Afterwards, Big Jim states he knew exactly what they were supposed to do.
Grampa before defeating the Space Cuties.
Big Jim calls out for Doctor Dimples and says he had a gift for him and that it was the most valuable thing in the universe. After checking a lie detector, Doctor Dimples claimed it was true and went down to see what it was. Big Jim then reveals it was a hug, which frightens Doctor Dimples and makes him run away. However, Big Jim caught up to him and gave him a hug, causing the alien's head to spring out, revealing they were all robots the whole time. This gave Grampa an idea as he took Dog Man's Bone-copter and used it to fly out of the jail, where he would then go out and hug every single Space Cutie, including the pilot.
Big Jim and Dog Man singing "Wakey Wakey".
The spaceship starts falling down, right into the ocean, however, Grampa used the Bone-copter to escape with Big Jim and Dog Man. The three of them go all the way back to the tent with the sleeping heroes, where Big Jim and Dog Man wake them up by singing "Wakey Wakey". Afterwards, everyone cheers for Big Jim, annoying Grampa considering he was the one who defeated the Space Cuties. He also reveals that 80-HD hadn't woke up yet, to which Li'l Petey reveals that his solar battery was down and he was simply just out of power. They then roll him out to the sun, waking the robot up.
Big Jim and Grampa then walk back to Cat Jail discussing with each other. Grampa reveals that they couldn't have finished yet, as the buildings and Sarah and her cameraman were still cutified and they had never found the Ring of Destiny and Stuff. Big Jim then reveals that they were then going to have to have a sequel, as Grampa shouts out "NO!" as they walk back into Cat Jail.
Movie[]
Past[]
Likewise in the books, Petey's father had selfishly abandoned Petey and Grace when the former was young, taking all their belongings in a truck and driving away, never to be seen again. This event caused Petey to become the villainous cat he is now.
Present[]
Grampa having been sent back to Petey's Secret Lab.
Decades after Petey's father's abandonment, Petey would tell his clone/son, Li'l Petey, how he had become the villainous cat he is now. Because of it, Li'l Petey sends a robot named 80-Hexotron Droidformigon, or 80-HD for short, to find Petey's father in hope that he had redeemed himself since then.
The next morning, just before Petey was about to go out and try to destroy Dog Man using a giant tank, 80-HD returns with Petey's father, who has now gone under the alias of "Grampa" in Li'l Petey's eyes. Grampa then makes himself at home by causing everything within the lab to be destroyed, such as plates or forks.
Later, when Petey tries to go out and destroy Dog Man again, Grampa comes out, saying he had spilled all their milk. Then, Grampa talks about how much of a "loser" Petey was when he was a child.
When a news report made by Sarah Hatoff comes on, saying that Dog Man and Petey were currently stuck on a statue of a gyro, Grampa wakes up from his nap to tell her through the TV that it was actually a statue of a cheesesteak.
Grampa refusing to help save his son.
Later, after Flippy the Psychokinetic Bionic Fish almost kills Petey and Dog Man using some Beasty Buildings, Li'l Petey comes in and asks Grampa, who was measuring all of the items in the lab, if he could help them. Grampa refuses to, leaving Li'l Petey to use 80-HD to stop Flippy.
After a climatic battle with Flippy, Petey and Li'l Petey spot Grampa in a moving truck, cackling madly as he turns the corner and drives off. Petey and Li’l Petey get back to the lab, only to find that Grampa took all their stuff again. Li'l Petey's comics turned out to be left behind, showing Grampa didn't care for Li'l Petey or his comics, depressing Li'l Petey even further.
Unlike in For Whom the Ball Rolls, where it is confirmed Grampa was arrested, his final fate in the film is left ambiguous, though it’s safe to say that he most likely got away and left OhKay City for good.