No Cartoon dog had a better friend!

The cartoonist who created Scooby Doo has died at the age of 81 in Los Angeles.

Iwao Takamoto, worked in animation for over six decades and was the creative force behind the animation of the worlds most beloved if cowardly Great Dane.

In addition to his work on Scooby Doo, Takamoto directed the 1973 cartoon classic Charlotte's Web as well as assisted in the animation on a long list of the major cartoon characters of the last six decades.

Dogs it seemed were his specialty though, as he created Astro for the Jetsons and a wandering mutt called Muttley who appeared in a number of Hanna Barberra cartoons.

Making him the cartoon dog's best friend, something that Scooby would say Rats Right to we suspect.