I'm sorry, I am physically incapable of seeing a Dog appreciation post without taking on the story of how Dog came to be on Columbo.
See the studio wanted Columbo to get a partner. To help with the ratings. Peter Falk didn't think Columbo needed a partner but the studio would not budge. So he suggested "What if his partner was a dog?" The studio agreed, as this was the time when K9 units were starting to become more prevalent in US law enforcement as part of the war on drugs, so they were thinking "Columbo gets a German Shepherd to help him sniff out clues! This will be great!" Meanwhile Peter Falk goes down to the LA pound and gets the most docile Basset hound he can find, dotes on him and brings him to the meeting. "Meet Columbo's new partner!" He says showing them the dog. "What's his name?" They ask. "Dog," He answers. The studio knows that they have met an unstoppable force. There will be no way around it. Columbo's new partner is an inaction star, a Basset Hound named Dog.
And people loved it.
Fun fact: Later on the same dog would be used as the station dog for Firehouse 51 on Emergency! a procedural show following the new and experimental Paramedic program that was instrumental in spreading the program to the rest of the United States.
