I’ve been following Mutts for decades; I really enjoy the artwork and its gentle and simple nature. Unfortunately, McDonnell frequently uses the strip to promote various “worthy” causes and ideologies. Although perhaps admirable, the campaign propaganda frequently damages the humor beyond repair.†
The Mutts strip shown here is one of (very) many in which McDonnell protests against the abusive habit of keeping dogs chained up, but it is notable for the excellent pun in the final panel. One minor detail that I find puzzling is the expression on Guard Dog’s face: I think that he should be smiling, or perhaps wincing.
P.S. † – One of the worst examples was a sequence in which the Fatty Snax Deli suddenly went “vegan”. I don’t think it has shown up again in the strip even once since that arc appeared.
Comics I Don't Understand 
“I don’t think it has shown up again in the strip even once since that arc appeared” — “it” = the deli? Or the vegan-ness?
Mutts has just started what seems to be a story about the guard dog’s owner moving away and leaving him behind. We only see the dog frantically barking after the unseen owner and moving truck.
@bensondonald, yes, I was saddened when I saw the comic today.
@ bensondonald (2) – The extended “Guard Dog” arc has been running since November 1st:
Yes, the current Mutts is sickening. It’s hard to believe anyone would do that. But then, that’s true of much that I see these days.
Perhaps McDonnell has finally gotten tired of the Guard Dog’s intolerable life, and decided to resolve the problem:
P.S. The foreshadowing would indicate that Doozy is going to free (and probably adopt) him, but it might take another week before that happens.
P.S. @ Phil (1) – When I wrote that paragraph at the end of the post, I had not realized that the “vegan” arc was far older than I had thought (summer 2020). So I was wrong, there have been a fair number of strips showing the deli since then (although most of them have Butchie at the ice cream counter). It does appear that the “vegan” character of the deli has been sidelined, or at least not emphasized since the changeover arc ended.
The Guard Dog story arc has now entered its fourth week (every day except Sundays), with no immediate end in sight. Unfortunately, as this comic by H.T. Webster shows, inhumanity to pets is nothing new (this one was published in 1936):
Again very sad.
I’m just trusting that Mutts will give us at least a non-tragic end, even if not perfectly happy.
Have I mentioned recently how much I like the movie Wendy and Lucy? Fine example of not giving in to an artificial full happy ending, but still redeemed from tragedy.
There was an arc in Breaking Cat News regarding how the People† came to get their cat Goldie. She was left behind when the neighbors moved.
† One of the real-life events in BCN world is that the “People” are getting a divorce. It’s not yet clear how that will be handled in the strip. The character of “The Man” has not appeared for some months.
@ Brian (10) – A similar quiet breakup appears to have occurred in “Extra Ordinary“. Jordan hasn’t appeared in the comic nor in the author’s introductory comment for over five years, but since he was only a semi-regular character, I didn’t really notice his disappearance until Li Chen removed him from the masthead image about a year ago or so (in the old one, he was driving the bus).
P.S. I was surprised to discover that I’ve been following Extra Ordinary for over a dozen years. I was disappointed when the release frequency underwent an unannounced reduction from “weekly” to “biweekly” in mid-2022, but it’s understandable that the author needs to concentrate more on her Patreon strip “Cat Town“, which is presumably paying the bills.
Mutts now has Mooch and Earl discovering Guard Dog and trying to rescue him, and I suspect that they will somehow succeed.
Ed – Yes, I am very relieved to see this development. Thursday’s script has them working on the stake holding the chain.
Even if Earl and Mooch manage to get the chain loose, that won’t be enough to qualify as a “happy end” (neither for me, nor for McDonnell). He has to find a place in a caring household, and the existing character dynamics would not work with Earl’s “Ozzie”, nor with Mooch’s “Millie & Frank”. It’s possible that the solution will be “external” (using a new temporary character brought in for the adoption), because the only available regulars that would fit well would be Doozy (the most likely candidate), or (as a possible long shot) Butchie, owner of the Fatty Snax Deli.
There is a newsy feature at Daily Cartoonist about the Guard Dog story and press about it.
@ mitch (15) – Since we already know that Guard Dog is in the process of being rescued, the most significant “spoiler” in that article was rather well-hidden: if the story arc really does last seven weeks, then we can expect it to run until about December 19th.
P.S. My time estimate (@6) was way too short, but my prediction of the rescuer’s identity was right on the money:
Here an article on the origins of the word “mutt”.
It’s official: Doozy has adopted Guard Dog, and she appears to have re-named him “Sparky“, which is almost certainly McDonnell’s way of honoring Charles Schulz:
Yes, it’s been rather touching to follow this story!
Is this a new update?
Yes, that is indeed a new strip. McDonnell is in the middle of a six-month sabattical, but he announced from the very beginning that he would be interspersing new comics amidst the re-runs, in particular to continue the Guard Dog story arc (and probably as an attempt to minimize reader drift during his time off).
You can tell the difference because the re-runs do not have a year in the handwritten copyright line. Before the strip shown here @20, the most recent new item was published on Valentine’s Day:
P.S. I’m still not sure whether one new strip per month is worth keeping Mutts on my daily link list, especially when the new “imporved” CK website is incompatible with my primary comic desktop system.