Over 30 years ago, before Patrick McDonnell created the beloved comic strip “Mutts,” he was working as a magazine illustrator — and kept drawing a little white dog with a circle around his eye.

“The art director told me I was drawing a Jack Russell terrier,” he said. “And that was before ‘Frasier’ and Jack Russells got really popular. So I had to go to the library and look up a Jack Russell and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, it is the dog I’m drawing.’ So I went out and got Earl.”

Earl proved to be the inspiration for the lovable main character in “ Mutts ,” which has appeared in over 700 newspapers in 20 countries around the world since its launch in 1994 — and has an estimated readership of over 80 million.

Back then, McDonnell was just trying to create a character that reflected his dog’s joie de vivre.

“Earl was everything I’d want a dog to be. He was so funny and so full of joy and I was just trying to capture his personality in my comic,” he recalled. “My cartoon dog became a real dog and then the real dog inspired the comic ‘Mutts.’”

Earl was McDonnell’s first dog. The artist grew up with cats, though he longed for a dog because he was an avid reader of “Peanuts” and loved Snoopy. As an adult, he became friends with “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz — whose nickname was Sparky — and asked his hero for advice on what to name his main character in “Mutts.”

“I was having trouble naming the characters and I wasn’t sure about Earl. And on a phone call, Sparky said, ‘Well, name him after your own dog, Earl.’ I thought he might know what he’s talking about, so I took his advice and I’m glad I did,” McDonnell said with a laugh. “I think Earl’s a nice name and I can’t help but see my own Earl in him, so it makes him extra special.”

A Growing Cast Of ‘Mutts’ Characters

Initially, Mutts was largely autobiographical. Earl was McDonnell’s real-life pet, and Earl’s nature-loving guardian, Ozzie, was a version of himself.

“Then one day in my sketchbook, I thought it’d be funny if a cat lived next door and I thought that would be good for maybe a week or two of jokes,” he said. “And just the way cats are, Mooch walked into the strip and took over.”

Earl’s best friend Mooch, the tuxedo cat who loves playing with a little pink sock, shares personality traits with several of McDonnell’s childhood cats. Meanwhile, the striped kitten character Shtinky Puddin’ is based on a kitty rescued by McDonnell’s wife, Karen O’Connell.

“My wife rescued a little kitten from a parking garage in Jersey City, and she came home and he was so filthy. We thought he had a black nose, but it was really a pink nose,” he recalled. “She asked me, ‘What should we name him?’ I said, ‘We should name him Shtinky,’ because he stunk. She said, ‘We can’t name him Shtink. We have to name him something sweet like Pudding.’ And then I said, ‘Well, let’s name him Shtinky Pudding.’ So that’s how Shtinky Puddin’ got his name.”

A Cherished ‘Mutts’ Storyline For Guard Dog

Longtime “Mutts” readers rejoiced a few years ago when Guard Dog — a dog chained in a yard — got a second chance when he was adopted by a neighbor girl and renamed Sparky (an intentional nod to McDonnell’s late friend, Charles Schulz).

“Maybe a year into the strip, I thought it might be fun if Earl and Mooch had a villain, some character that they had to deal with. So I started in my sketchbook drawing cliche versions of mean dogs, and I drew this big dog with teeth sticking out, and then I put a studded collar on him, and then I put a chain on him thinking, ‘Oh, he’s like a chained, nasty dog.’ And boy, once I put the chain on him, I realized he wasn’t a villain, he was a tragic character. He was never the villain. He was always just a tragic character. I promised the readers for almost 20 years that I would free him, and I finally did, but it took a long time. And boy, the response was really great.”

“Mutts” also shines a spotlight on the joys of adopting pets from animal shelters and celebrates the work of animal advocates for a week each May and November with “Shelter Stories.”

“I was a couple years into the strip and I kept on thinking how lucky Earl and Mooch were having their owners who loved them and thinking about all the cats and dogs didn’t have that,” he said. “So I started in my sketchbook doing little vignettes about dogs and cats and shelters. And then the Humane Society of the United States at that time wrote to me and said that November has Animal Shelter Appreciation Week and could I do something? I said, ‘Oh, that’s a perfect time to do a week of animals and shelters.’ I enjoyed doing it so much. Nothing makes me happier than finding out that I inspired somebody to get a new best friend at their local shelter.”

‘MUTTS: Sunday Funnies’ Launches

Last week, Abrams Books published two new collections of Sunday “Mutts” comic strips as well as a box set titled MUTTS: Sunday Funnies Box Set, Volumes 1 & 2: The Complete Sunday Comic Strips, 1994–98. Fans can order autographed copies through Mutts.com .

McDonnell called the new books a “definitive collection.”

“I couldn’t be happier and prouder of these books. I think they’re the best-looking books I’ve ever done,” he said. “I wrote introductions describing some of the pages and how they came to be. In these Sunday pages, there’s a thing called the throwaway panel because some newspapers don’t use it and it’s like the title panel. I based the title panels on famous paintings and illustrations and book covers, and for the first time in the back of the books, I have a guide to let people know what those images were based on, if you were ever curious about that. So that’s a nice aspect to the books.”

McDonnell is grateful that so many people have embraced “Mutts” and share his love of animals. His current pets, Nooch, a formerly feral cat he and his wife adopted after he found his way into their yard, and Rusty Jenkins, a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier mix they adopted a year and half ago from an animal shelter, provide constant reminders of the love and joy that pets can bring to our lives.

“I did a book with Eckhart Tolle called Guardians of Being. He calls them ‘guardians of being’ because our pets bring us back to the present moment. It’s hard not to be relaxed when you’re petting your dog or giving them a belly rub and you forget your troubles,” he said. “They really bring so much joy and presence into our lives. They’re the best.”