[1] He is a male Great Dane and lifelong companion of amateur detective Shaggy Rogers, with whom he shares many personality traits.

He features a mix of both canine and human behaviors (reminiscent of other talking animals in Hanna-Barbera's series), and is treated by his friends more or less as an equal.

Silverman stated that he came up with the name from the syllables "doo-be-doo-be-doo" in Frank Sinatra's hit song "Strangers in the Night".

[8] Taking notes from a Hanna-Barbera colleague who was also a breeder of Great Danes, production designer Iwao Takamoto designed the Scooby-Doo character with a sloping chin, spots, a long tail, a sloped back, and bow legs – all traits in direct opposition to those of a prize-winning purebred Great Dane.

[9] In defining the personality of the dog, Ruby and Spears looked for inspiration to the characters played by Bob Hope in his horror-comedies – a coward who shows traits of bravery when his friends are in danger.

In most incarnations of the series, Scooby is regarded as a unique Great Dane dog who is able to speak in broken English, and usually puts the letter "R" in front of words and noises made.

Other incarnations, such as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, present him as a speech-impaired dog in the larger fictional universe as nobody in Coolsville seems bothered by his speaking ability.

Mystery Incorporated), Scooby is able to speak in complete sentences and has more dialogue, though partially retaining his speech impediment.

This contradicts the animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, where they know each other from almost infancy, though the films may be seen as having a different continuity altogether than the cartoon products.

According to Fred in Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, the thought of having a dog with an Adam's apple was a little strange, but they got used to it, so when he started talking, it wasn't a big deal.

Scooby is brown from head to toe with several distinctive black spots on his upper body and does not seem to have a melanistic mask.

He has a black nose and wears an off-yellow, diamond-shaped-tagged blue collar with an "SD" (his initials) and has four toes on each foot.

Unlike other dogs, Scooby only has one pad on each of his paws, a trait that was added to make it easier to draw in the Scooby-Doo Annuals.

Creator Iwao Takamoto later explained that before he designed the character, he first spoke to a Great Dane breeder, who described to him the desirable characteristics of a pedigree dog.

Casey Kasem, the original voice actor for Shaggy Rogers, said that Scooby is "the star of the show—the Shaquille O'Neal of the show."