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Detey is the slash ship between Petey and Dog Man from the Dog Man fandom.
Canon[]

Petey is beyond flabbergasted upon finding out he's unwittingly created the greatest cop.
To start the Dog Man series off, the titular character and Petey are portrayed as bitter enemies, even before Officer Knight and Greg the dog - the two individuals who would later become Dog Man - were one. It was because of Petey's bomb in the first book that the officer and his dog had to undergo surgery which turned them into Dog Man.

Dog Man saves Petey.
In order to try defeating Dog Man, Petey chases the dog-headed officer with a robotic vacuum cleaner; citing it as something dogs hate. He would then chase Dog Man around the city with it, until Dog Man leaped into the ocean. Petey followed, but the vacuum cleaner's bag started to expand as it sucked up all the water. After it ripped, Petey is shown getting caught in the water as it flowed out, only for Dog Man to save him. Petey is grateful for this help, but he's quickly dissatisfied to have been handcuffed as well. After Petey turns himself invisible later in the book, Dog Man is tasked by the mayor to sniff him out; which succeeds, and then he makes Petey visible by slowly getting him wet with water from an inflatable pool.

Dog Man shows up to foil Petey's plan again.
In “Dog Man Unleashed”, little interaction occurs between the two up until Dog Man arrives on the scene as Petey was driving through the city in his treasure tank. Petey immediately attempts to use his love ray to make Dog Man fall in love with him, only to see that the officer has seemingly disappeared. He is then surprised to see Dog Man playing with the ball-shaped controller to the tank, scolding him for it and trying to get him to let go. However, he fails, and eventually falls off the vehicle, separating the two for majority of the book and leaving Dog Man to deal with Flat Petey.

Petey creates a Dog Man finger puppet to demonstrate his perspective of the officer.
In “Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties”, Petey comments on how he should've known Li'l Petey would be with Dog Man upon locating him at Dog Man's house. Upon hearing Li'l Petey talk incessantly about Dog Man, Petey was annoyed to the point of making a Dog Man finger puppet and a finger puppet of himself to show the “true story of Dog Man”.

Dog Man saves and apprehends Petey.
When Flippy the now bionic fish comes back to life and created an army of sentient buildings, Petey joins Dog Man to oppose the threat. And he realizes that he had no choice but to give Li'l Petey to Dog Man while he faced Flippy himself. Before Petey could fall to his death, Dog Man arrived with a hang glider to grab him by the arm. Petey is grateful to be saved by his adversary again, but he once again appears frustrated to see that Dog Man cuffed him so he could be taken back to custody.
In “Dog Man and Cat Kid” and the following books, interaction between Dog Man and Petey starts to become more rare. At the start of the book, Petey poses as a babysitter to get Dog Man to leave him alone with Li'l Petey. Dog Man falls for it, which allows Petey to try turning his clone into a villain just like him, until Dog Man eventually manages to find Li'l Petey in the midway point of the book.
In “Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas”, Dog Man and Petey indirectly become allies to defeat the F.L.E.A.S.. After Dog Man is made huge because of Petey's size ray, he happily licks Petey and Li'l Petey, which annoys the former.
In “Dog Man: Brawl or the Wild”, Petey expresses no interest in helping Dog Man again, but Li'l Petey convinces him to do so anyways. From this book onwards, the dynamic between Dog Man and Petey becomes more positive.

Dog Man hugs Petey.
However, in “Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls”, Dog Man seems to still have a grudge against Petey, as he pounces onto the cat when seeing him outside his house. But remembering that Li'l Petey wants him to give Petey a chance, Dog Man licks Petey's face, to which the cat angrily tells him to get off. Petey tries to take his son with him, but both Dog Man and 80-HD have trouble letting go. Petey refuses to let them live with him and Li'l Petey, reasoning that 80-HD and Dog Man are both boneheads. However, when finding the dog-headed cop and the robot outside his house, Petey reluctantly asks them if they wished to have Li'l Petey over for weekends, to which both Dog Man and 80-HD enthusiastically hug Petey, until he yells at them to leave. Dog Man and Petey work together later in the book to stop the “new” villain, Doctor Scum. And to end the book off, Petey brings his son Li'l Petey to Dog Man's house to spend the weekend as he promised.
In “Dog Man: Fetch 22”, Petey is annoyed when finding Dog Man and 80-HD trying to sneak to his place in Li'l Petey's bag, and he furiously reminds him of their deal. While walking with Li'l Petey, Petey comments that he finds Dog Man as the type of guy to “lose his head if it weren't sewn on”. No major interaction happens between them for the rest of the book due to Petey being stuck with Big Jim for three fourths of the story.
In “Dog Man: Grime and Punishment, Petey frustratedly tells Dog Man and 80-HD to stop licking and petting him when he arrives at their house. And when seeing Dog Man wearing a cat hat since Chief wasn't allowed to hire dogs after Dog Man's earlier incident, Petey gives him advice to not roll around in dead fish or stick his tongue out if he wishes to act like a cat.
When getting ran into by Dog Man in “Dog Man: Mothering Heights”, Petey irritatedly asks why something dangerous or obnoxious always happens when he's around Dog Man's house. After Petey's house is destroyed by the living sippy cups, Dog Man allows him to move in.
Fanon[]
Because of the primary focus on the comedic dynamic between Dog Man and Petey, Detey is the most popular ship of the Dog Man fandom. There are 55 fanfics of the ship on AO3, and there is a fair amount of fanart portraying the two as a couple on Twitter. Even the creator of Dog Man, Dav Pilkey, has been known to like posts containing Detey fanart.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Dog Man/Petey tag on AO3
- Dog Man & Petey tag on AO3
- TUMBLR
- Detey tag on Tumblr
- Dog Man x Petey tag on Tumblr
- Dogman x Petey tag on Tumblr
- Dog Man x Petey hashtag on Twitter
- TIKTOK
- Detey posts on TikTok
- Dog Man x Petey posts on TikTok
Variations[]
- Li'l Detey refers to the ship between Dog Man, Petey, and Li'l Petey