Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for September 23, 2010

Poor Big Shirley, she needs some love.

That Alice is a bolt of lightning.

Smart move, Alice. Get inside, Mom, before that beast pounces!

Faster than the Road Runner.

Throw things at the dog and then accuse it of being vicious, heh? Not a good plan in my view, but at least Alice has the speed of Loris here! Poor Big Shirley!

Is Big Shirley really bigger than the fence - even when lying down? What is she, Clifford’s sister?

He looks like a cute huge hairy pig.

I don’t think that fence is meant to keep Big Shirley in the yard! I have a feeling Big Shirley is a bleeep cat.

Hey, she has the exact same throwing motion as Gramma!

The roadrunner on my patio this week was just strolling along, so I froze and got a really good look at him. I think he was admiring his reflection in the glass doors. The only other time I saw one was a flash across the road. It does not appear that big Shirley has much quality of life - no way to keep a pet.

vldazzle–I had a roadrunner at the front door once and I live in Oklahoma! It stayed in the neighborhood for several days, and I could imitate it’s call. It didn’t come, but did look around for a friend.

In Alice’s mind, that bone is all that’s left of the last person who got too close. (Who knows, she may be right!)

“It does not appear that big Shirley has much quality of life - no way to keep a pet.”

Oh, I don’t know. Big Shirley strikes me as being rather sedentary by nature. She’s not chained or anything; it seems like she’s found a nice shady spot to lie down in, and she’s content.

Not all big dogs need lots of space. I’ve heard that German Shepherds, for instance, do very well in apartments, since they’ve been bred for kennels.

Alice doesn’t have to be faster than the dog, just faster than mom.

I’d say Big Shirley is a Chow.

Chows have notoriously un-doglike personalities. They can be intimidating.

Don’t know if they suffer puppies well and to Shirley, Alice is a puppy.

Panel 2 is how Alice sees her, methinks.

she just woke up puppy

Heh, Alice you are hilarious!

I LIKE Big Shirley.