Article written by BaltoSeppala

This also appears as a 'stickied' topic on the Balto 2 board of the Animation Source forum (though it's been augmented just a bit):

It has often been that, on various Balto fan forums, people seem to have a problem properly identifying the six of Balto and Jenna's puppies seen in Balto 2: Wolf Quest and Balto 3: Wings of Change.  This list, I hope, will help to resolve that problem for anyone who has any difficulty with it, and perhaps serve as a resource for fan fictions, videos, and what-not.

Here are each of the puppies, as identified by lines spoken in the cartoons, or the credits of the two movies:

 

ALEU
Little miss 'tude. The focus of Balto 2: Wolf Quest.  (It still confuses me how many younger fans still have this frustrating urge to misspell her name as "Alue".  >=Z  )
 

DINGO *
He's a darker shade of red than the other pups in most images of the litter, except for the unnamed red-faced pup (when he isn't, it's a coloration continuity error by the animators). He is also the one who talked, in Balto 2: Wolf Quest, about how he "can't wait to get a human, so I can chew on their socks!"
 

KODI (KODIAK)
The young go-getter, runt of the litter, who wants to be just like dad. And he's the focus of Balto 3: Wings of Change.  I do believe he is the last of the red-furred puppies to be adopted
(which means he's the one who tussles with Aleu, and grabs at her ear,
later in that scene...and that he's the one who's adopted by the young
Inuit boy...whom we can also assume is the son of Mr. Simpson, the
Inuit musher in Wings of Change).  He also does not get credited in Wolf Quest...only in Wings of Change.
 

SABA
Sweet Saba blue-eyes. lol The one who asks Balto, in Balto 2: Wolf Quest, "Papa, are you gonna get a human too?" She's basically a clone of Kodi in color and markings, except for the color of her eyes.
 

RED-FACED PUP
First of two unnamed pups in the credits of Balto 2: Wolf Quest, often assumed by fans to be a female (and often written that way in fan fictions)...she/he is the one who covers her/his ears whenever Aleu howls in Balto 2: Wolf Quest...especially in the whelping box when they are being given away, and then breathes a sigh of relief when Jenna convinces Aleu to stop. She/he has no official name. Her/his fur is also, like Dingo's, a little darker red than the other red-furred puppies.
 

RED BAR-NOSED PUP *
There's nothing much about this one...and the writers gave the poor little guy/girl practically nothing to be remembered for, except that red bar on top of his/her muzzle. Each of the others at least had a LITTLE something else to do or say. And he/she was given no official name in the credits of either movie. Fans often assume this one is a male, and write their versions of the character that way.  Sometimes, due to errors in continuity, the artists forgot to paint in the nose bar in a few scenes in the whelping box.
 

* Please note the following with regard to the frequent confusion which Balto fans seem to have over the question of Dingo...and whether or not he's the pup with the bar on his muzzle, or the dark red puppy.

As a way of settling this confusing issue once and for all...the one about which pup is actually Dingo, allow me to deconstruct the adoption scene (from early in Balto 2: Wolf Quest) for you all.

WHAT DO WE KNOW FOR CERTAIN?
 

There is some information we certainly cannot dispute as pertains to the canon of the Balto 2: Wolf Quest movie:

--that there are only three pups who are given names in this particular one: Aleu, Dingo, and Saba (as seen in the end credits of the movie)

--as is the norm in a movie or television production, characters are listed by name in order of appearance and/or spoken lines.  Because the other three pups are not named in this movie (and because, for the most part, whenever we see them, they are together in one place), we can logically deduce that they are listed by spoken lines (in order of who spoke first).  And indeed, Aleu, who is a major character, is listed first.  Then Dingo, THEN Saba.  It's just a convenient coincidence that they also happen to speak in alphabetical order.  lol

--we KNOW that, following Aleu's apologizing to Jenna for howling (in the adoption scene...the first time she speaks), the next puppy to speak is the darker red puppy...who is the one who says "I can't wait to get a human, so I can chew on their socks!"  This one:

The third pup to speak, of course, is the blue-eyed pup who asks Balto "Papa, are you gonna get a human too?"  This one:

Speaking order: Aleu, Dingo, Saba.  Resolved...the darker red puppy is Dingo, and the blue-eyed puppy is Saba.  PERIOD.  Issue partially resolved...but let's go into it even deeper in just a moment.

--We know that the artists and animators committed some sloppy slip-ups (continuity errors) in drawing, coloring and animation.  Resulting in confusing and often frustrating moments where all the pups (except Aleu) are exactly the same color, and then not, and the bar-nosed pup has no bar on his/her nose, and then does.  That's slip-shod work, and no one could deny that.

ADOPTION SEQUENCE
 

We know that the first pup to be adopted, by the young boy, is Dingo, because Jenna says "I know that human.  He'll be a good boy for Dingo!"  Now, if you'll notice one special thing about the pup which is picked up by the boy:
 

No bar on his nose.  Not at all.  Now, one could speculate that this could be just another continuity goof in drawing and animation.  After all, when the second human (a young girl) comes to adopt a pup, we see the following:

No evidence of the pup with the nose bar.  And there are five pups left (out of six).  That would seem to be a strong argument in favor of those who feverishly claim that the bar-nosed pup is, in fact, Dingo. 

However, look carefully at the whelping box after the girl walks off with the red-faced pup (the second pup to be adopted).  Something interesting happens:

*GASP!*  That bar-nosed pup is still there!  That couldn't be just a continuity error!  And you know what?  It's not.  Clearly, the continuity error was where the artists and animators forgot to add in the nose-bar on one of the three red pups in the previous image.  It's quite easy, as one thing, to forget to complete an artistic project.  It's quite another thing to take the time to specifically do it.  Resolved.  Dingo is NOT the bar-nosed pup.  PERIOD.

Incidentally, there has also been an argument about Saba not, in fact, being the blue-eyed pup who spoke to Balto just after Dingo speaks his line.  Three things stand out which refute that argument:

--in the end credits, as I already mentioned, Dingo is listed before Saba, which means he was the one credited with speaking before her.  And that darker red pup (with brown eyes) speaks before Saba.

--the blue-eyed pup who speaks to Balto is the last pup to speak.  And it calls Balto 'papa'...not 'dad' (as Kodi did in Balto 3: Wings of Change).  There is another female character who refers to Balto as 'papa' (and not 'dad', as it would seem the male pups do, as represented in the next sequel by Kodi, whereas NONE of the pups do in Balto 2: Wolf Quest)...and that is Aleu. 

--Kodi, whom it is sometimes said is that pup, is not credited in Balto 2: Wolf Quest.  In this movie, he's just another unnamed pup.  It's not until Balto 3: Wings of Change that he gets his name and identity.

Resolved...the blue-eyed pup who speaks last is Saba.  PERIOD.  (And as we know from Balto 3: Wings of Change, in Balto's flashback, Kodi, has BROWN eyes.  Which one is that in the adoption scene?  The last pup to actually be adopted...as I speculated above under the description of Kodi.  The one who is, late in the scene, tugging on Aleu's ear.)  

There is no arguing with canon, no matter who wants to say "well, so what?  It's called fandom...I'll continue believing what I want about which pup is which.  So THERE."  Deconstructing this scene, through logical, methodical research, has demonstrated conclusively which pup is which.  I don't see how, under these circumstances, it is so hard to determine which is which.  lol   But hey - that's me.  And after some careful research, I had no trouble making that determination.

Hope that all helps!  =D

--The Cap'n