How Charles M Schulz created Charlie Brown and Snoopy (2024)

Snoopy shows up in the third strip, by which point the count of total appearances is Patty: 3, Charlie Brown: 2, Shermy: 1, and Snoopy: 1.

He appears again in strip 5, but it takes until his third appearance (in strip 8) before he can be identified as Charlie Brown's dog. He remains somewhat ambiguous:

strip 8: Charlie Brown is reading at home, accompanied by Snoopy.

strip 11: Shermy is eating (presumably at home?), accompanied by Snoopy.

strip 12: Shermy takes Snoopy for a walk, holding him on a leash.

1950-10-21: Shermy, Patty, and Snoopy are walking together when they encounter Charlie Brown.

1950-10-25: Patty is speaking on the phone (at home?); Snoopy is present.

1950-11-07: Charlie Brown delivers a lecture to Snoopy beginning "You don't seem to realize that I'm the boss in this house!"; he is interrupted by a call from his mother.

1950-11-13: Patty receives Charlie Brown at her home; Snoopy is already present.

1950-11-25: Charlie Brown says goodbye to Snoopy before going to bed; Snoopy is shown to be able to hear him as he says "I'll see you in the morning" from his bedroom.

1950-12-05: Patty is walking Snoopy on a leash when they run into Charlie Brown.

1950-12-13: Snoopy is playing on the footboard of Charlie Brown's bed while he tries to go to sleep.

1951-01-23: Charlie Brown is writing in his diary while Snoopy watches.

1951-02-02: Charlie Brown yells at Snoopy to stop following him; Patty intervenes to point out that Snoopy "lives in that direction", which you'd expect Charlie Brown to know if they lived together.

(1951-02-07: Violet is introduced.)

1951-04-27: Shermy is building a birdhouse; Charlie Brown assumes it's supposed to be a doghouse for Snoopy.

1951-05-22: An unknown character calls Snoopy to suppertime.

(1951-05-30: Schroeder is introduced.)

1951-08-27: Schroeder (who is a baby) eats from Snoopy's dog dish; Snoopy gets revenge by climbing into Schroeder's high chair and eating from his tray. Snoopy's dish (which is labeled "SNOOPY") is next to the high chair, implying that Snoopy lives with Schroeder.

1951-09-04: Charlie Brown is assigned (by someone speaking over the phone) to mow the grass around Snoopy's doghouse.

1951-09-12: Charlie Brown has a large portrait of Snoopy hanging in his room.

(1951-11-14: Violet holds a football for Charlie Brown to kick. At the last minute, afraid he'll kick her hand, she flinches away and he goes flying into the air.)

(1951-11-26: Schroeder says his first word, "Beethoven".)

1951-12-15: Charlie Brown repairs the roof on Snoopy's doghouse.

Snoopy is frequently shown in association with Charlie Brown, welcoming him home or hearing him unwrap a candy bar, but an explicit statement of ownership doesn't come up.

Cast your fate to the Wind and Alma-Ville are still some favorites.

I also consider his arrangement of the peanuts music into a cohesive whole to be pretty masterful - its out of print now, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Charlie_Brown_Suite_%26_Ot...