Ren Höek is one of the titular protagonists of the Ren & Stimpy TV series. He is a scrawny "asthma-hound" Chihuahua with cream fur, a floppy body, donkey-like ears, neon-pink eyes with dark red pupils, red (or sometimes light brown) eyelids, and a fairly long, rat-like, pink tail who often calls Stimpy an idiot ("eediot", to quote the character) and slaps him around, quite literally. Ren is vain, spiteful, hyperactive, abusive, and he has a short fuse (especially with Stimpy). His lifelong ambitious personality is to have huge pectoral muscles. Ren's name is the real name of Kricfalusi's building manager. He was born on Tuesday the 17th, which makes him especially unlucky.
Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Ren as "scrawny," "dyspeptic," and "violently psychotic." On some occasions Ren "lost his mind" in a "cumulative process," resulting in Ren becoming, in Goodman's words, a "screaming klaxon, neon-pink eyes dilating into twin novae inches above his jagged, monolithic teeth." Andy Meisler of The New York Times described Ren as "adventurous," "intelligent," and "emotionally brittle."
Ren was originally voiced by series creator John Kricfalusi for the first two seasons and was later voiced by Billy West in Season 3-5 after John K got fired in 1992. In the pilot, Pierre Decelles provided Ren's signature diabolical laughter, while West performed Ren's laugh in the series. John K returned to voice Ren in the short-lived Adult Party Cartoon.
