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Being a Dog Is a Full-Time Job: A Peanuts Collection
Being a Dog Is a Full-Time Job features a collection of Peanuts comic strips and is filled with the timeless humor for which the strip is known.
Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy . . . the whole Peanuts gang have become American icons, but they continue to live their touching, insightful, comical lives day-to-day in the funny pages. Everyone carries a favorite Peanuts All of these classic scenes and more are included this collection of Peanuts comics.
Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy . . . the whole Peanuts gang have become American icons, but they continue to live their touching, insightful, comical lives day-to-day in the funny pages. Everyone carries a favorite Peanuts All of these classic scenes and more are included this collection of Peanuts comics.
128 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
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47 people want to read
About the author
Charles M. Schulz
3,037 books1,633 followersCharles Monroe Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 13, 2025
Peanuts comic strips remind me of my second son, who carried around the pocket-sized collections as a very young reader (age 4). Who wouldn't want to relive those cool memories?
March 1, 2015
The most adorable comic dog in the world and a bunch of the cutest comic kids who help you relive the innocence of your childhood - what's not to like about the Peanuts collection ? Charles M. Schulz's masterpiece will continue to enthrall generations for a long time - there's just something so easy to relate to about this comic, even if you didn't grow up in America at that time - you will find comfort in the adventures of the Peanuts gang. In some ways this is more than a comic strip about children - it represents friendship, the trials of growing up, love, relationships, and more - all expressed beautifully with the antics of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Marcie, Woodstock, Schroeder, Snoopy - good old Charlie Brown's pet dog and others.
This wonderful compilation lays more emphasis on Snoopy, the most endearing and familiar Peanuts character. As a dog lover I enjoyed it particularly. Being a dog sure is a full-time job, more so if you're Charlie Brown's Snoopy dog since you're very special and have to live upto your reputation. For me, this is the perfect world to escape into at bedtime after enduring long days of my adult professional life and get my tired mind to relax. Nothing like relishing in Snoopy's witty retorts or smiling at Linus's blanket-toting image, just before my eyes shut for a sweeter night rest.
This wonderful compilation lays more emphasis on Snoopy, the most endearing and familiar Peanuts character. As a dog lover I enjoyed it particularly. Being a dog sure is a full-time job, more so if you're Charlie Brown's Snoopy dog since you're very special and have to live upto your reputation. For me, this is the perfect world to escape into at bedtime after enduring long days of my adult professional life and get my tired mind to relax. Nothing like relishing in Snoopy's witty retorts or smiling at Linus's blanket-toting image, just before my eyes shut for a sweeter night rest.
March 5, 2015
This book contains strips from later in the Peanuts run. It's still quite good, but not as good as the Peanuts stops from the 60's and 70's. The most interesting story was a summer camp story in which Charlie Brown and Marcy go to summer camp together. Peppermint Patty failed and had to stay behind to go to summer school. Marcy tortures Peppermint Patty by calling her and pretending that Charlie Brown is making romantic moves on her during the phone calls, which of course he isn't.
October 22, 2022
The Peanuts is just a classic and wholesome comic strip. I grew up in a generation where reading the comics in the newspaper didn’t seem as appealing as it did for the previous generation. I tended to check it out when my mom was reading the Sunday paper and would not find any of the comic stories amusing or relatable. Sometimes it felt like I was trying to pick up a story halfway through the season: you needed to read last week’s to get this week’s. I decided to grab this book out of my library and some few other Peanuts comics because, well… I love dogs. Who doesn’t love Snoopy? I found myself cracking up throughout this book. I understand it a lot more than I did as a kid. The dog humor is funnier once you’ve had a dog. The best part is that, for the most part, the comics aren’t dating themselves. All the things that are being said are still relatable. So yeah, I’m probably going to be on a Peanuts kick now and want to read 50 years worth of comics.
August 27, 2018
One thing about the Peanuts gang - the strips are timeless and almost hard to date. The trials and tribulations of Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Lucy and Linus, and Sally are the same through the decades. And Snoopy- well, he is always a mixture of WWI flying ace, 1920s/ 1950's college Joe Cool, and just plan Modern Dog who is always hungry.
But sometimes, there is something that is mentioned that suddenly snaps you back into the real world. In this book, it was a letter written to a parent, dated 1989, that reminded me that this collection of strips is from 30 years ago. (Later, there would be a strip about getting the autographs of certain baseball players to help date it as well).
But sometimes, there is something that is mentioned that suddenly snaps you back into the real world. In this book, it was a letter written to a parent, dated 1989, that reminded me that this collection of strips is from 30 years ago. (Later, there would be a strip about getting the autographs of certain baseball players to help date it as well).
May 27, 2024
I always love Peanuts
November 2, 2016
I heart Snoopy.
March 27, 2009
Join the Peanuts characters on tons of new adventures. We meet another one of Snoopy's brothers, Olaf, and Lucy enters him in an "ugly dog" contest. Peppermint Patty goes to summer school and she gets so mad that Marcie and Charlie Brown go to camp, she sneaks away to the camp. And, an "old friend" of Charlie Brown's calls and wants to meet him at the mall, could this girl have really been an "old friend"? Not even Charlie brown knows. There are many other strips as well, in fact a whole year's worth.
This book can connect to almost all comic strip collections. The Peanut strips are classics, these strips were made in 1989, and use many modern techniques of comic writing. The actual characters and plot lines don't really connect to much, other then themselves. Come to think of it, the Peanuts comics are very original, if they are like anything it's probably because it took something from the world renowned Peanuts.
I gave this book three stars because I wanted more from the book. It's cool that there are a bunch of unrelated comics but, I really do miss a plot line in these books. I would LOVE it if the author made a graphic novel instead of several strips. I had a lot of fun reading this but it wasn't reading with a purpose. I would recommend this book to someone who wants a really light, short read. Over all, the Peanuts are very good little strips.
This book can connect to almost all comic strip collections. The Peanut strips are classics, these strips were made in 1989, and use many modern techniques of comic writing. The actual characters and plot lines don't really connect to much, other then themselves. Come to think of it, the Peanuts comics are very original, if they are like anything it's probably because it took something from the world renowned Peanuts.
I gave this book three stars because I wanted more from the book. It's cool that there are a bunch of unrelated comics but, I really do miss a plot line in these books. I would LOVE it if the author made a graphic novel instead of several strips. I had a lot of fun reading this but it wasn't reading with a purpose. I would recommend this book to someone who wants a really light, short read. Over all, the Peanuts are very good little strips.
March 8, 2019
The only complaint I have about this is that I would have thought that all the cartoon strips would have Snoopy (or at least his siblings) in them, but this IS Peanuts and it is a fun read in any case, you can't really go wrong, a great pick me up.
January 19, 2017
When I get stressed out, I read Jane Austen. The Eight-Year-Old reads Peanuts, and this collection, judging by the look of our copy, is one of her favorites.
December 13, 2023
This book was fine. I have to say it didn't have many comics in it that I liked but that's okay. It was a decent read overall.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews