While he and fellow Pixar Animation Studios filmmaker Pete Docter have been hailed for their genius in the co-writing and co-direction of the blockbuster Oscar-nominee "Up," Bob Peterson has no bone to pick for the praise he's been thrown for voicing Dug -- the lovable standout among the film's uproarious talking dog pack.

"Up" follows Carl Fredricksen (voice of Ed Asner), a lonesome, 78-year-old widower who hoists his house up with balloons and throws caution to the wind to fulfill his wife's dreams of a trip to South America. Accompanied by an accidental stowaway in Russell (Jordan Nagai), an enthusiastic Wilderness Explorer, Carl lands at his destination to discover the refuge of his boyhood aviation hero, Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), hordes of talking dogs (including the slap-happy mutt, Dug) and the adventure of a lifetime.

In a recent @ The Movies interview, Peterson said that he didn't have to look any further than his own back yard for inspiration for the character, and the way he talks through Muntz's talking dog collars.

"The delivery of the dialogue came out way I talk to my dogs, (mimicking Dug's slow drawl), 'I love my dog. Hey, dog,'" Peterson said. "I really didn't give it the character too many different reads. The nice thing was that I wrote the dialogue so it was knocking around in my head so I didn't have to read it cold."

In addition to the delivery of the lines, Peterson said, he and Docter set out to create dog characters that stood apart from other canines in "talking dog" movies. When all was said and done, the combination of expert opinions and the personal experiences of the crew members resulted in the fleshing out of Dug and his unique pound of co-stars.

"We weren't doing the traditional talking dog characters for the movie. These were ones that you could scratch behind the ears, and who would roll on the ground and do the things that dogs normally do, but also knew how to use language," Peterson said.

The great thing about Dug in "Up" is that his talking conveys the sorts of things that dogs are thinking about ("Squirrel!" is a one-word line that pops up often). His observations are simple, but what Dug lacks in intelligence -- which gets Carl and Russell into some precarious situations -- he more than makes up for in his unwavering loyalty.

"The undying love that dogs give us -- the unconditional love -- is exactly what Carl needed in the story," Peterson said. "He's given a new family, effectively, with a new grandson in Russell and a dog with Dug: and it was up to him to choose to connect with these new family members after his wife had passed on. What sort of better gauntlet was there to put in front of him than a dog who loves you immediately for who you are? I just love dogs, and I feel honored to portray them in their essence."

Turning Old Into Something New

Peterson, whose Pixar writing credits include the screenplay for "Finding Nemo" and additional story material for "Ratatouille," said that he and Docter came up with the initial idea for "Up" after Docter directed 2001's "Monsters Inc" (which featured Peterson as the voice of Roz). He said that he and Docter were alone in a room, kicking around ideas, when the idea of an elderly protagonist emerged.

"We talked about characters that had never been done, and truly an under-represented group of people in our society, and just movie characters in general, are old people. We knew there was something to that," Peterson said. "We knew that the movie would be truly original and the character of Carl would be original, but it also supported a lot of emotional things that old people do. Old people are great comic characters because they've truly earned the right to say exactly what they think. It's funny to even think that."

With an early sketch of Carl to guide them, Peterson said that the idea of "Up," well, ballooned from there.

"Pete had then drawn the picture of a curmudgeon selling the happiest balloons on Earth, and the juxtaposition of that led to the idea of sending him on an action-adventure," Peterson recalled. "That brought up a lot of exciting possibilities, like having a chase sequence with a guy who couldn't run very fast, but he had a cane, what would that be like? It was fertile ground."

"Then we asked why he would go on the journey," Peterson added. "All these different things started falling into place just from the initial idea of, 'Hey, wouldn't old people be the great center of a film?'"