What dog breed is Snoopy from the Peanuts comic strip?

Snoopy, the beloved dog from Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, is a beagle.

Snoopy first appeared on October 4, 1950, two days after the debut of Peanuts. His early design was inspired partly by Spike, one of Schulz’s childhood dogs. Although Snoopy is a dog, Schulz gave him an unusually rich inner life: he imagines himself as a World War I flying ace, a novelist, an attorney, and the smooth-talking persona Joe Cool.

The character’s breed is sometimes overlooked because Snoopy’s highly anthropomorphic behavior makes him unlike a typical real-world dog. His long ears, compact build, and tricolor coloring are consistent with a beagle, a small scent hound historically bred to track rabbits and other game.

Snoopy is Charlie Brown’s pet, although the strip’s early continuity was not always consistent about his ownership. His best-known companion is Woodstock, and his doghouse—not a conventional indoor kennel—is one of the strip’s signature settings. In popular culture, he is often called the world’s most famous beagle.