Dog Gone

Everyone knows the comic strip dog Snoopy,I would venture to say he is more well known than his owner Charlie Brown. Charles Schultz (the comic strip's creator) said,"Snoopy's whole personality is a little bittersweet. But he's a very strong character. He can win or lose,be a disaster,a hero,or anything,and yet it all works out. I like the fact that when he's in real trouble he can retreat into a fantasy and thereby escape." That quote made me think of "Don Quixote" or the more modern Walter Mitty and I wonder if Schultz developed Snoopy with either of those characters in mind? The original drawings of Snoopy were inspired by a dog from his childhood named Spike. Schultz was going to call the dog Sniffy (which Beagles do a lot of!) but that name was already used in a different comic strip. He changed it to Snoopy because that was what his late mother wanted to name their next dog. The actual name she wanted was "Snuppe" a term of affection in Norwegian.