From a short history of Snoopy:
Snoopy was inspired by Schulz’s childhood dog Spike, who first made his syndicated appearance in a drawing that Ripley’s Believe it or Not accepted for publication when Schulz was only 14. Snoopy’s name came—years before he existed—from Schulz’s mother’s request, as she lay dying from cervical cancer when Schulz was 21, that if they ever got another dog they should call him Snuppi, a Norwegian term of endearment.
I have to add that Schulz clearly modeled Snoopy on an actual beagle. My own oldest one, Dusty, is pure Snoopy: aloof, condescending, self-involved, intermittently social, and every now and again so sweet you forget all the rest. Also: chill. I remember once going to Ptown with her in a plane and her crate got transported ahead of me, so she was at Ptown airport for an hour before I got there. I was completely angst-ridden, already feeling bad about putting Dusty in a crate in an airplane. But when I got there, she was just hanging out with the airport workers, all but having a Martini, and greeted me with indifference. But then there's the moment I come back from a trip, and she explodes with energy and love and baying that pierces the apartment like a siren. She's fourteen now. I can't imagine life without her ornery sweetness.
(Street art via World Of Wonder)
The Dish 