He is cultured, witty, erudite, and is well versed in opera, jazz and the finer points of John Coltrane. He speaks fluent French, is conversant in Tagalog, and can hold his own in Spanish. He has a marked preference for dry martinis (which he feels help lubricate his throat for singing in a barbershop quartet), and though he never finished college, he’s a member of MENSA.

He is Brian Griffin, an eight year old talking yellow (ish) Labrador Retriever who has lived with the animated television family, the Griffins, since he was picked up as a stray. In the series, “Family Guy,” it apparently strikes no one as odd that Brian can drive a car, walk upright, speak intelligently, and date women who fail to keep up with his intellect.

There does seem to have been some on-line debate about Brian’s breed, and while some maintain that he’s a Beagle, Family Guy purists think that the episode, ‘Road to the Multiverse,’ settled the matter as he was depicted as a purebred Labrador Retriever.