When did the cartoonist Charles Schulz say this thing about dogs?

May 20, 2018 2:24 AM

It was something along the lines of "In the morning, when everyone in the neighborhood is leaving for work, I always wonder what the dogs will do all day."

I'm told it's from an interview or book, not a strip. I've watched his major TV interviews, read a book of his magazine interviews, tried a million Google and Google Books search terms, gone through at least the indexes of the biographies and anniversary books, and confirmed that it's not from a strip. The person who asked me to find the quote is an expert who knew Schulz personally, and would not have confused anything he said with (for example) that Carlin quote about what dogs do on their day off.

What I need now is that hivemind cultural memory whose scope no amount of research can equal. Do you remember him saying this? Where and when did he say it?

"Call the museum" would normally be a great answer, but, doctor, I am Pagliacci.

posted by anonymous to Media & Arts (1 answer total)

I did my own scouring of sources and this is the closest I could find -- not an exact match but perhaps captures the spirit of your quote?:

“I had observed that there were many neighborhood dogs that seemed almost smarter than the children who were their masters. The dogs seemed to tolerate the silly things the kids did; they seemed to be very wise. This was one of the initial themes of Snoopy that I have built upon in many ways. Snoopy refuses to be caught in the trap of doing ordinary things like chasing and retrieving sticks, and he refuses to take seriously his role as the devoted dog who greets his master when he returns home from school. In recent years, I have played up the gag that he doesn’t even remember his master’s name, but simply thinks of him as “that round-headed kid””

It's from page 150 of My Life with Charlie Brown (written by Charles Schultz himself). Also it made me smile.
posted by elephantsvanish at 9:24 PM on May 20, 2018