High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Bodyguard is a 1944 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 15th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by Fred Quimby and animated by Kenneth Muse, Ray Patterson, Irven Spence and Pete Burness. The cartoon features Spike the bulldog in his second role, though this is the first time that we hear him speak. It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on July 22, 1944 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. The cartoon opens with Tom chasing Jerry. Jerry hides behind a potato mound in a garden when he hears Spike the bulldog call to him. Spike has been caught by a dog catcher and locked in the back of his truck, and Jerry is the only one who can help him escape from the truck before it drives away. Despite their differences (previously shown in Dog Trouble), Jerry shows Spike mercy and frees him by removing a piece of wood that latches the cage shut. Spike falls out of the truck just as it pulls away, and thanks Jerry by vowing to assist the mouse at any time at the sound of a whistle.