He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968)

Like It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown and It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, I first saw this as part of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show on Disney Channel back in the mid-90's and, despite seeing it only that one time, I vividly remembered both the title and plot when I picked up that Peanuts 1960's DVD set many years later. I particularly remembered Snoopy being a total dickhead to the Peanuts gang, his being sent somewhere for discipline, only for him to instead loiter around Peppermint Patty's house, his refusing to come back with Charlie Brown because of the leash he attempted to put on him, and his ultimately coming back home and immediately getting into a fight with Lucy. I can also remember liking it back then and, watching it now, I must say that I think it's one of the most entertaining and nicely-paced of the first six Peanuts specials produced in the 60's. It's also one of the most visually pleasing, with some of the best animation you'd see in the franchise, nice colorization, lovely backgrounds and environments, and nice instances of stylization, which was becoming something to be expected from the specials at that time. On the bad side, though, I think they went a little overboard with Snoopy's prank-pulling and scheming. While he's often been depicted as a mischievous troublemaker, they make him borderline unlikable here, which is not something you should ever be able to say about Snoopy.

Snoopy is completely out of control. Though he's always had an irascible streak about him, he's really been driving the neighborhood kids crazy lately: scaring them, pranking them, and in some instances, just plain assaulting them. Reaching their breaking point, the kids tell Charlie Brown, himself a victim of Snoopy's antics, that they've had enough and, as Snoopy's owner, he needs to do something about his behavior. Thus, Charlie Brown writes a letter to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, telling them he intends to send Snoopy back for some more disciplining and obedience training, much to Snoopy's horror. He then calls Peppermint Patty and asks her to let Snoopy stay at her house overnight during his trip to the farm. After packing a suitcase, Snoopy heads out and, just as they planned, stops at Peppermint Patty's house for the night. However, instead of heading on the next day, Snoopy makes himself at home and does nothing but lounge around and have Peppermint Patty continually bring him refreshments. A week goes by, when Charlie Brown gets a call from the puppy farm, telling him that Snoopy never showed up. On a hunch, he calls up Peppermint Patty and learns how Snoopy has been treating her home like his own private resort. He heads over there with a leash, gets Snoopy, and attempts to bring home, telling him that, because of this little stunt, he's now going to be on a leash whenever he leaves the yard. Not liking that one bit, Snoopy manages to escape Charlie Brown and, after fantasizing about being an escaped prisoner on the run in a poor, war-torn European village, makes his way back to Peppermint Patty's. This time, however, she refuses to let him take advantage of her and forces him to do chores as long as he stays there. Now, he has to decide whether he wants to go back home to Charlie Brown and be disciplined or remain with Peppermint Patty and be forced to work his fingers to the bone.

Looking at the six Peanuts specials of the 60's, I think you can see a progression in the artistry behind them. The first two are fairly simple in terms of animation, design, and presentation, but then, starting with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Bill Melendez and his studio become bolder and more creative, adding instances of really good animation and more stylized visuals. That can certainly be said of the World War I Flying Ace sequence from The Great Pumpkin (animation from which is reused here) and moments in You're in Love, Charlie Brown, which got experimental with certain visuals and audio cues. Things progress further here, with very good animation throughout, more detailed backgrounds and environments, and more stylized moments that get into Snoopy's fantasizing and his thought processes. And by the time you get to the next special, and the final of the decade, It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown, you have some of the most fluid animation ever seen in a Peanuts cartoon, including one scene that Charles Schulz himself felt was the very best, and visuals that are all the more detailed and nice to look at. This curve would sort of taper off when the 70's began but, for a brief moment, there was some interesting experimentation going on with these cartoons.

Because Snoopy's his dog, Charlie Brown (voiced by Peter Robbins) bears the brunt of the other kids' frustration with his antics and is ordered to do something about it. Thus, he decides to send Snoopy back to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm where he first got him for a refresher course in obedience and has him stay overnight at Peppermint Patty's house during the two day trek there. During the week he's gone, Charlie Brown, as well as the other kids, note how quiet it is without Snoopy around, and he also hopes they're not too hard on him at the puppy farm. Little does he know that Snoopy managed to scheme his way into a mini vacation, until the farm calls to inform him that he never showed up. Figuring he might still be at Peppermint Patty's, he calls and finds out that he's not only there but has her waiting on him hand and foot. Determined to straighten Snoopy out, Charlie Brown goes over there with a leash and leads back home on it. But when he tells him that, from now on, he's going to be on it whenever he leaves the yard, Snoopy escapes and eventually makes his way back over to Peppermint Patty's. Later, with Linus and even Lucy missing him, Charlie Brown, again, heads over there and tries to get Snoopy to come home with him. But, while he's initially willing in order to escape the chores she has him doing, Charlie Brown makes the mistake of trying to put him on a leash again, leading to his tearing the leash apart and making him leave. Once he's back with the others, Charlie Brown gets admonished by Lucy for what happened with the leash and they all wish for him to come home. Eventually, he does, much to Charlie Brown's joy, as well as the others', even though not much has changed.

To reiterate what I said in the introduction, while Snoopy (voiced by Bill Melendez) has always been something of a rascal who loves to push the other kids' buttons, especially Linus and Lucy, here, he's more mean-spirited, petty, selfish, and cruel than I think he's ever been. While the two pranks he opens the special with, scaring Linus by suddenly appearing in his swimming pool and blowing Lucy backwards until she falls into a pool with Patty, are pretty mild, he then proceeds to come up behind Schroeder while he's walking and kick him in the rear, freak out Patty and Violet by yelling, "Bang! Bang!", behind them, and then flat-out attacks Charlie Brown and Linus while they're talking, headbutting the former in the gut and kicking the other in the rear. Later, when he escapes the leash Charlie Brown has him on, he randomly attacks Linus again, throwing a rock into the wagon he's dragging behind him, then leaping and yelling at him, causing him to fall to the ground. In short, he's being a flat-out asshole, and it's small wonder why the other kids decide they've had enough of his crap and tell Charlie Brown to do something. Naturally, Snoopy is not thrilled with the idea of being sent back to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm for more obedience training and so, he takes advantage of his staying overnight at Peppermint Patty's house by lounging around there for a week and having her bring him refreshments at the snap of his fingers. But then, Charlie Brown finds out what he's been up to and attempts to bring him back home on a leash, only for Snoopy to run off when he's told he's not going to be allowed off it when he's out of the yard. Evading him and the others he imagines are after him, he finds his way back to Peppermint Patty, but this time, she gives him what he deserves by making him do seemingly endless chores. After only a little bit of this, he's about ready to throw off his apron and walk out, but when he remembers the leash, he decides to stay. He's so against being leashed that, while he's initially ecstatic when Charlie Brown comes to bring him home, his mood sours when he pulls it out. He proceeds to tear it to pieces and sends Charlie Brown away.

A major reason for Snoopy's antics is that his fantasies about being the World War I Flying Ace are in full swing here. After imagining another aerial dogfight with the Red Baron, he then pretends like he's in enemy territory, hiding from and then surprising anybody he comes across. In the same vein, when he's hanging around Peppermint Patty's house, he imagines he's on leave and is spending much of his time at a Paris cafe. And when he gets away from Charlie Brown

and the leash, he acts as though he's an escaped prisoner on the run, imagining that the rock he throws into Linus' wagon is a grenade and that he then takes shelter in a primitive village (in reality, it's Schroeder's house, and Snoopy acts as though he's in some sort of bar and his piano playing is the entertainment). He likely feels that being forced to do chores at Peppermint Patty's house is like being in prison, and when he gets frustrated with washing the dishes and starts breaking them, she basically

puts him in solitary confinement by forcing him to sleep in the garage. While stuck out there, he decides, leashes aside, he'd much rather be back home with Charlie Brown and howls mournfully. When Peppermint Patty comes out to see what's going on, Snoopy takes the opportunity to escape back home, going as far as to put on a fake mustache in order to fool his "pursuers." He's as happy to be back home as Charlie Brown is to have him back, but that doesn't mean he's not going to stop getting into mischief. After dragging Linus

by his blanket, then whirling him around and sending him flying, Snoopy kisses Lucy, enraging her and prompting her to try to fight him. Rather than fight back, he just keeps kissing and licking her until he wears her down and, like everyone else, she admits she's happy he's back. (While you might think I'd be irritated that Snoopy doesn't seem to have learned anything, I'd take this cartoonish tomfoolery over the really mean pranks he was pulling earlier.)

As per usual, Peppermint Patty (voiced by Gail DeFaria) believes Snoopy is Charlie Brown's friend, "the funny-looking kid with the big nose" who never speaks and is the shortstop on the baseball team (she adds that he's the only player on who knows what they're doing). She agrees to let him spend the night while en route to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, and she even feels sorry that he has to go "back to school." When he arrives, she gives him a nice room to stay in and also fixes him some food (cereal), but then, Snoopy begins hanging around day after day. At first, Peppermint Patty doesn't mind it, but when he continues to stay, doing nothing but enjoying himself in the summertime weather, making her wait on him, and eating her and her family out of house and home, she begins to wish he would go. She's relieved when Charlie Brown calls her and comes over to pick Snoopy up, but is surprised when he pulls out the leash. Much to her chagrin, Snoopy shows back up not too long afterward, but Peppermint Patty decides she's not having it and makes him do chores as long as he stays there. Suddenly, she decides it's not such a bad thing having him there, becoming like him in that she now lazes around while he does all the work. And when he rejects Charlie Brown's offer to bring him home because of the leash, Peppermint Patty takes the opportunity to send him off and orders Snoopy to get back to work. Later, he becomes indignant and starts smashing up the dishes while washing them, prompting her to punish him by making him sleep in the garage. This makes him depressed and he begins howling incessantly, and when Peppermint Patty comes out to the garage to check on him, Snoopy takes the opportunity to escape back home. (I didn't mention it in my review of You're in Love, Charlie Brown but I'll say it here: I've never been a fan of Gail DeFaria's performance as Peppermint Patty, as she's too low-key and her voice is very scratchy. It's not surprising they replaced her in the next special.)

The two kids who especially demand that Charlie Brown do something about Snoopy are Linus (voiced by Christopher Shea) and Lucy (voiced by Sally Dryer), as they're especially picked on. Snoopy not only scares Linus in the opening by popping up in his swimming pool while wearing a scuba mask and flippers but also flat out assaults him and Charlie Brown shortly afterward. He also forces Lucy to fall backwards into a pool with Patty by blowing at her like the Big Bad Wolf. But,

a week after Snoopy is sent away and he then eludes Charlie Brown's leash, both of them, Lucy included, decide that, as annoying as he can be, it's not the same without him around (even though Linus got caught up in the craziness of his flight from the leash). They encourage Charlie Brown to go back to Peppermint Patty's house and bring him home, only for him to come back empty-handed. Lucy admonishes him for bringing out the leash, saying he should've used a bone to distract him, then ambushed and tied him up, and dragged home, "To those who appreciate him." She then adds, "If that stupid dog doesn't come home pretty soon... I'm gonna stop missing him." Both she and Linus get their wish, as Snoopy does come home, and proceeds to take Linus on a wild ride by pulling him by his blanket and picks a fight with Lucy, although they're both just glad he's back.

Again, Schroeder (voiced by Glenn Mendelson) is one who gets straight up kicked in the rear by Snoopy while he's just walking around, minding his own business, and that's just before Snoopy scares Violet (voiced by Ann Altieri) and Patty (voiced by Lisa DeFaria) when they walk by his doghouse following his World War I Flying Ace fantasy. While Patty doesn't have anything to say about it, both Schroeder and Violet join Linus and Lucy in telling Charlie Brown that they're sick of

Snoopy's behavior. Like Linus, Schroeder has another encounter with Snoopy when he slips away from Charlie Brown, as he briefly takes refuge in his house and, standing by his piano as he plays, taps his foot, snaps his fingers, and then does a jig to the tune. However, the noise he makes distracts Schroeder, prompting him to stop playing, and Snoopy, in turn, stops his dance and slips out of the house with an embarrassed expression on his face. Violet and Patty, meanwhile, join the other kids in missing him, and when he returns and promptly

gets into a fight with Lucy, they shout about it, getting Charlie Brown's attention. They're joined here by the obscure character known simply as 5 (voiced by Matthew Liftin). Another obscure character, Roy, appears a couple of times at Peppermint Patty's house, where she tells him about Snoopy and how strange she thinks he is. Since I didn't recognize him, and he never speaks, I didn't know if Roy was meant to be her brother or what. Reading up on him, I've learned he was originally meant to be a friend of hers but was fazed out in favor of Marcie.

Though it reuses the well-animated and colorful World War I Flying Ace sequence from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, this special has more than enough instances of great animation all its own, like when Snoopy acts like the Big Bad Wolf and blows Lucy backwards into Patty's swimming pool, him running around and getting into mischief, dancing around to Schroeder's piano playing, getting angry at Charlie Brown over the leash, and later getting irked about having to wash dishes. However, the best animation comes at the

end, when Snoopy angers Lucy and she takes a number of swings at him, which he easily dodges and then counters by kissing and licking her on the face. The animation there is remarkably fluid, coming off as downright stretchy and bouncy, and I like to think of it as a prelude to the very well animated arm-wrestling seen between Snoopy and Lucy in It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown the following year. The special is also very appealing visually, as, even though it premiered on Valentine's Day in 1968, it's set in the summer and

and takes full advantage of it, with bright green grass and blue skies, either with subtle but noticeable cirrus clouds here and there or with no clouds and a bright, yellow sun. And while, at first, the backgrounds and settings are, as usual, fairly simple, once Snoopy makes his way over to Peppermint Patty's house, it becomes much more detailed and like an actual neighborhood. You see more houses in the background, fences, stone walls, fuller trees and more detailed bushes, roads

and sidewalks, and even telephone poles, including what looks like the remains of one that was removed. The inside of Peppermint Patty's house is vividly pink and purple, with bright reds in the bedroom given to Snoopy, oranges and yellows in the kitchen, and whites in the laundry room. You also see that she has a nice deck and umbrella and a swimming pool outside (she actually has a concrete swimming pool, like at a resort, the type of pool I always wanted as a kid, rather than those old blow-up or plastic ones).

As Snoopy spends much of the special fantasizing about being the World War I Flying Ace, you actually see much of what he imagines, like the cafe he pretends to be at while lounging around Peppermint Patty's house, the rundown European village he imagines he takes shelter in while "on the run," and the bar he sees Schroeder's house as. In the latter part of the special, they do some stuff with the nighttime scenes that are very similar to what you saw in The Great Pumpkin. When Peppermint Patty forces Snoopy to sleep in the

garage, they play a bit with light and shadow, showing Snoopy pace back and forth in slight darkness and casting a shadow, signifying just how hard he's fallen by this point. And during the sequence afterward, where he manages to escape, the nighttime exteriors of the neighborhood are very nice to look at, with the background full of dark houses, dark-blue sky with masses of clouds, pinpoint stars, and, in some shots, a big, bright moon. Those images especially remind me of The

Great Pumpkin, specifically the sequence where Snoopy imagines he's been shot down and is sneaking through the countryside. And near the end of the special, when he returns home, you see a little bit of the inside of Snoopy's doghouse, which is very rare and something the Schulz family makes a regulation against for those who wish to create any new Peanuts content.

There are a handful of instances of comic strip-like visuals in the special, such as the title coming up when the kids shout it at Charlie Brown and the classic trope of Charlie Brown writing and the words appearing above his head. In addition, after Charlie Brown has put Snoopy on the leash, he has dark fantasies about it. When he's initially tired of having to do work at Peppermint Patty's house and contemplates quitting, he remembers the leash and imagines Charlie Brown holding it, then turning into a devil with a pitchfork and yanking his neck

with it. He has a similar one when he becomes depressed in the garage, crying and wishing he could go back home, regardless of the leash. That leads into his depressed howling, which you see made into literal, waving streams of onomatopoeic words that travel out of the garage and towards the house, getting Peppermint Patty's attention.

The special opens with Linus enjoying a swim in his pool, when he's startled by the sight of something looking up at him from right under the water. He yells and jumps out, but it turns out to be Snoopy, who walks out wearing a scuba mask, a snorkel, and flippers. Watching him leave, Linus seethes about how much Snoopy drives him crazy. Snoopy then comes across Lucy, who's standing around, reading the Three Little Pigs, when she gets to the part where the Big Bad Wolf blows one

of the pigs' houses down. She comments, "That's ridiculous. No animal could huff and puff that hard," and Snoopy decides to prove her wrong by huffing and puffing at her until she tumbles backwards into Patty's pool. Like her brother, Lucy grumbles about how Snoopy is driving everyone nuts. After that is when he kicks Schroeder in the rear while he's walking and runs off, prompting him to growl about him as he sits on the sidewalk. Snoopy runs back to his doghouse, which is when we get the recycled World War I Flying Ace scene

from The Great Pumpkin, and after he pretends to have been shot down by the Red Baron, he causes more trouble, startling Patty and Violet when they walk by and then running and flat out assaulting Charlie Brown and Linus. After that, he runs and runs, only to stop when he sees all of the kids standing in front of his doghouse, glaring at him. He calmly removes his flight helmet, goggles, and scarf, walks over to his house, and climbs up on its roof, like always. With that, the kids demand that Charlie Brown do something about Snoopy, because, "He's your dog, Charlie Brown!"

Charlie Brown writes to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm about Snoopy, whom he refers to as one of their "less distinguished alumni," and asks them to give him a refresher course in obedience. Looking over his shoulder as he writes, Snoopy isn't thrilled about it at all, and when Charlie Brown further writes that he's going to send him back for a little discipline, he becomes sickly-looking and dizzy. He then follows him out to the mailbox with the letter, continuing to look totally downtrodden.

After Charlie Brown arranges for him to stay overnight with Peppermint Patty, Snoopy packs his suitcase, acting all melodramatic about having to go back to the puppy farm, even hugging Charlie Brown, before heading off, almost forgetting his food bowl in the process. Wearing the bowl on his head like a hat and carrying his suitcase, he heads over to Peppermint Patty's side of the neighborhood, kicking a can at one point until it lands on top of a pole, and then drumming a stick

across a picket fence, before attempting to walk while balancing the stick on his nose. When he reaches Peppermint Patty's house, she's balancing herself on a board on top of a ball. She leads him inside and to his bedroom, before bringing him down to the kitchen for some food. There, her friend Roy comes in and she tells him about Snoopy as she fills up some bowls with cereal, describing him as a strange-looking kid who never speaks but is a really good shortstop. Once she's filled Snoopy's bowl, she tells him to help himself,

and he climbs up in the chair and scarfs it all down instantly. Seeing this only reinforces her opinion that he's the strangest "kid" she's ever seen. That night, Snoopy brushes his teeth (with no toothpaste) and, like with his doghouse, sleeps on top of the headboard. Back with Charlie Brown, he comments on how quiet it's been without Snoopy around, and when he meets up with Linus at the wall, he concurs. Charlie Brown also hopes they're not too tough on him at the puppy farm.

That's when we see that Snoopy is living the life of Reilly at Peppermint Patty's, as he snaps his fingers to motion for her to bring him not one but two glasses of cola in order to replace the two he's already drunk at his table. Peppermint Patty then tells Roy, who shows up again, that Snoopy seems to see himself as a soldier who's on leave while in Paris... which is exactly what he's imagining, as he sits at the table and pretends it's outside a French cafe called "Le Mabillon," as well as that there's

someone else with him. He snaps his fingers again and she brings him more refreshments, saying she's glad he could stay "an extra day." But then, his stay lasts longer and longer, as we see Snoopy sunbathing and enjoying the swimming pool, while continually snapping his fingers for more refreshments. Meanwhile, Peppermint Patty, after wondering just how long he plans to stay, ponders whether or not anyone misses him. Walking into the kitchen and seeing the enormous mass of dishes

that's accumulated in the week Snoopy's been there, she comments, "I suddenly realize why nobody misses him," before she gets to work washing them. This is when Charlie Brown learns Snoopy never showed up at the puppy farm and that he's still at Peppermint Patty's when he calls her on a hunch. Hearing that Snoopy's about to eat them out of house and home, Charlie Brown opts to come and get him, walking over to her house with a leash. When he arrives there, she takes him around the back, where he sees Snoopy sitting at

the table under the umbrella, again dressed like the World War I Flying Ace and snapping his fingers for service. Charlie Brown then jumps him from behind and puts the leash on him, Snoopy holding his hands up as if he's a captured prisoner. Thanking Peppermint Patty for what she did for him, Charlie Brown starts walking Snoopy home. When he's told he's going to have to be on a leash whenever he's out of the yard, Snoopy comes up with a plan to get away. He acts as though the leash is choking him, and when Charlie Brown stops at

seeing this, Snoopy takes his chance. He cracks the leash, causing Charlie Brown to shudder, then rams into him headfirst, knocking him down and tossing his suitcase up in the air. Snoopy grabs his suitcase and runs for it, hiding behind a fence, when he sees Linus coming with his wagon. That's when Snoopy randomly assaults Linus before fleeing. Charlie Brown rushes up to the dazed Linus, asking what happened. He answers, "I think I was attacked by an... by an escape... an escaping prisoner," before passing out.

After hightailing it back through the neighborhood and dropping in on Schroeder, Snoopy arrives back on Peppermint Patty's doorstep. Not at all thrilled to see him again, she tells him that, if he's going to stay there, he's going have to start pulling his weight. We then see Snoopy washing the dishes, sweeping both the inside and outside, and vacuuming the bedroom. Sitting in a chair, reading a book, Peppermint Patty tells him to start on the living room when he's done with the hallway. He's

just about to tear off his apron and quit, when he remembers the leash Charlie Brown put him on, then ties the apron back and resumes vacuuming. After that, he takes out the trash, scrubs the floor (while doing so, Peppermint Patty tells him that her mother said there's going to be no dinner until he finishes the yardwork), and mows the enormous yard. Meanwhile, with both Linus and Lucy now admitting that they miss him, Charlie Brown decides to go and attempt to persuade Snoopy to

come home. He returns to Peppermint Patty's house and asks to speak to him. Snoopy, who's in the middle of mopping the floor, is more than happy to see him and the two of them have a nice little reunion. But that all goes down the drain when he tries to put the leash on him again, as Snoopy dodges it, then grabs it, rips it up, slams the pieces onto the ground, stomps over to the doorway, and points outside. Peppermint Patty notes that Snoopy doesn't seem to want to "play" this "game" involving the leash (or rope, as she calls it) and

suggests Charlie Brown leave. Once he's gone, she orders Snoopy to get back to work, and he goes back to vacuuming, doing the laundry (only he trips into the washing machine himself), sweeping, mopping the kitchen floor, and washing a huge window in one room. Charlie Brown then breaks it to the others that Snoopy refused to come home, and they can do nothing but mournfully wish he would.

While washing the dishes again, Snoopy reaches his breaking point, throwing a plate and smacking at the dishes with a ladle, until they fall on the floor and smash apart. Peppermint Patty comes in just as Snoopy tosses another plate to the floor and, seeing the damage he's done, tells him he'd better chill out or she'll make him leave. She then tells him to clean up the mess, which he promptly does, and after putting on gloves and wiping her finger across the floor to make sure it's squeaky clean, she pushes him towards the door, telling him he's going

to sleep in the garage as a disciplinary measure. Later, in the dark garage, Snoopy becomes depressed and starts crying and mournfully howls, wishing he could be home with Charlie Brown. He gets his chance when Peppermint Patty, hearing his howls, comes out of the house and walks to the garage. When she opens the door, Snoopy jumps at her, creates a cloud of dust as he acts like he's attacking her, then runs inside the house as she lies on the ground in a daze. He goes into his bedroom, packs everything up, and runs off into the night.

Hiding behind a fence, he puts on a fake mustache and makes his way back home. Like when he first journeyed to Peppermint Patty's house, he comes across a can and kicks it down the sidewalk, the loud of sound which wakes up the residents of the houses he passes by. Upon arriving home, and glancing inside his doghouse, Snoopy walks up to the front door and loudly kicks it. This wakes up Charlie Brown and he walks over to the door and opens it. He actually doesn't recognize Snoopy

because of the mustache, but when he removes it, he becomes overjoyed that his dog's back. The two of them have the same type of little reunion they did before, happily dancing about and hugging each other, with Snoopy's tail happily wagging. Charlie Brown allows Snoopy to sleep in his bed, telling him that he really missed him and that the kids will be really happy to see him as well.

The next day, Charlie Brown walks up to Linus, who's sitting on the grass with his blanket, and is about to tell him that Snoopy's back, when Snoopy comes running in, grabs the blanket, and takes Linus on a ride through the fields and nearby forest, before swinging him around and flinging him. He lands right in front of Lucy but, despite how rough he hit the ground, he happily tells Lucy, "He's back." Lucy asks, "Who's back?", when she hears Snoopy clear his throat and turns to see him standing there. Before she knows what happened,

he kisses her on the cheek, she freaks out about "dog germs," and attempts to deck him, only for him to repeatedly dodge her punches while dancing happily, licking her again and again. The other kids yell that Lucy and Snoopy are having a fight, which exasperates Charlie Brown, given how quickly it took for them to get back at it. Lucy tells Snoopy to fight like a man, but he just keeps on dodging her punches and licking her. At one point, he acts like he's going to fight back, but just licks

her some more. Charlie Brown comes in and tells them to quit fighting, but by this point, Snoopy has worn Lucy down and she finally says, "I surrender." Ignoring her, Snoopy basically pins her down on the ground and continues licking, until she finally yells, "I surrender!", loud enough to send both him and Charlie Brown tumbling backwards. Though looking frustrated as she sits there, breathing heavily, Lucy, like Linus, happily says, "He's back." Snoopy skips over to his doghouse and, after affectionately kissing it, climbs up on its roof.

Vince Guaraldi starts off the special's soundtrack with a piece called "Red Baron," which plays during Snoopy's first acts of mischief. It's a typical mellow piece featuring guitar, piano, and some soft drums, and there are two other variations of it that play when Charlie Brown leashes Snoopy and he makes a break for it, and when he heads home from Peppermint Patty's during the night. The main title theme is this very upbeat piece that has elements of the Linus and Lucy theme in it, and plays at various points, such as when Charlie Brown first writes to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, when Snoopy first leaves home, when he and Charlie Brown celebrate when he finally comes home, and it's also used to close out the special. It's also fitting that it sounds like the Linus and Lucy theme, as that plays when Snoopy gets into mischief upon returning home and easily segues into the title theme during the ending. (Speaking of reused themes, Pebble Beach is used a couple of times, both when Snoopy shows back up at Peppermint Patty's house and when Charlie Brown later comes by to pick him up, and the main theme for Charlie Brown's All-Stars! is heard when Charlie Brown first heads over there to leash Snoopy.) Snoopy's initial trek to Peppermint Patty's home is scored with a somewhat melancholic piano and string theme, while Peppermint Patty has a theme all her own, largely done through piano and saxophone, and it really fits with her tomboyish personality. A very romantic, calm piano theme plays during the sequence where Snoopy hangs out at her house for a week, whereas a kind of melancholic piano/drum combo is heard when the kids actually miss Snoopy. When Snoopy drops in Schroeder during his escape, he's playing a smooth piece on his piano that, amazingly, isn't a work by Beethoven and is enough to get Snoopy dancing. And fittingly, when he's forced to sleep in the garage and wishes he were back home, a bluesy mixture of piano and drum cymbals is heard.

He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown is, if nothing else, a lot of fun, as it tells an enjoyable story in a well-paced, effective manner, but it also has the added bonuses of being one of the most well-made Peanuts specials of the 60's, with lots of good animation, nicely detailed and designed art direction and backgrounds, and some memorable instances of comic strip-style visuals, as well as the expected pleasing to the ear music score. The only misstep is that Snoopy is written to be a little too mean and assholish at points, especially during the opening, and runs the risk of becoming downright unlikable, but by the end of the cartoon, they've more or less corrected it. It's yet another Peanuts special that I would recommend to fans of both the franchise and classic cartoons in general.