In The Little Mermaid, Prince Eric’s dog is named Max.
Max is Eric’s excitable pet sheepdog and one of the first characters to recognize Ariel as the mysterious girl who rescued the prince from a shipwreck. Although Max cannot speak, his reactions help communicate the connection between Ariel and Eric before Eric fully understands it himself.
The dog is voiced by veteran voice actor Frank Welker, who also supplied creature and animal sounds for many animated films. Max is easy to confuse with Eric’s steward Grimsby or Chef Louis, but neither is the prince’s pet. The name also differs from the sea characters surrounding Ariel, such as Flounder, Sebastian, and Scuttle.
The 1989 film was loosely adapted from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, but Prince Eric, his kingdom, and Max are Disney-created elements rather than direct counterparts from the original story.