<P> The books will be adapted into an animated TV series . There is also a' Hank movie' in production . </P> <P> Teaching programs are available for the series via Maverick Books and a story entitled The Case of the Dancing Cowboy was serialized in 2002, in several American newspapers . </P> <P> Hank: Hank is the main character and narrator of each story in the Hank the Cowdog adventures . Hank is the only character to appear in every single story in the series . Hank claims to be a "purebred top - of - the - line blue - ribbon cowdog" but is in fact most likely a mutt . He styles himself as the "Head of Ranch Security" and conducts security sweeps and nightly patrols . However his real task is to serve as the assistant to Slim and Loper in herding cattle . Hank has a superiority complex which causes him to have an inflated sense of his own intelligence, strength, courage and attractiveness . As a result of this, Hank frequently finds himself in sticky situations, usually of his own creation . Much of the humor of the series comes from Hank as narrator shamelessly attempting to make himself seem more competent with hindsight than he really was, but the reader is rarely fooled . Despite his flaws Hank is deeply loyal to his family and the ranch community and usually rises to the occasion at the moment of true crisis . The dog is based on an Australian Shepherd named Hank that was owned by a neighbor of Erickson's when he was managing a ranch in Oklahoma . The neighbor wanted to use the dog to help with the cattle but the dog was not trained and proved a hassle . </P> <P> Drover: Drover is a younger dog who lives on the ranch with Hank . Hank refers to him as his assistant, or as a "little mutt" when Hank is angry with him . Unlike Hank, Drover has no delusions of grandeur and enjoys spending most his time staying out of trouble and sleeping (16 hours a day according to Hank), often engaging in useless tasks he invents for himself . In The Case of the Car - Barkaholic Dog, for example, Hank observes that while he is helping the cowboys with the cattle herding, Drover spends the afternoon chewing on an old horn, buries it, and then promptly forgets where it is buried . He is also unashamedly timid, and frequently avoids "the call of duty" by pretending to have a bad leg . Drover has a great deal of curiosity and often asks Hank obscure questions such as "Why does the moon rise in the evening and set in the morning?" Hank rarely knows the answer to these questions, but this doesn't stop him from providing ones . Drover often appears to have more common sense than Hank, which allows him to avoid getting into many of the same catastrophes Hank creates for himself . Drover appears in every story in the series, with the exception of A1: The Homeless Pooch . </P>

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