Cartoon Dogs (Part 1)

America loves dogs in films and on television. We also seem to love dogs in the pages of the Sunday funnies and in animation. To list all of the cartoon dogs that have made some kind of impact on American pop culture could fill an entire book. Here, however, is a small who’s who list of dogs that have been popular in cartoons over the years.

1924 – Sandy

Fans of Harold Gray’s comic strip Little Orphan Annie fondly remember Annie’s dog Sandy. Although Sandy never had much to say except the occasional panel-ending “ARF!” she was loved nonetheless and often was able to help Annie out of tough scrapes when fighting Nazis or investigating haunted houses.

1950 – Snoopy

Easily the most recognizable cartoon dog in American history, Snoopy – the real star of Charles Schultz’s Peanuts – is an American icon. Snoopy stole the show in every Peanuts strip he appeared in. He fought the Red Baron from the top of his dog house, was the proud owner of original paintings by both Vincent Van Gogh and an Andrew Wyeth (the Van Gogh was sadly destroyed by fire), never quite finished his novel but typed the opening line “it was a dark and stormy night” countless times, and had a twin brother named Spike who lived in the desert outside Needles, California. Not bad for a Beagle.

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