Illustrated Epistle: Cartooning With a Puppy 🐶

A puppy has meant being stuck here in Lyttelton, New Zealand. Which is just fine.

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I hope you managed to have some fun over the holiday season.
We had lousy weather here – cold and rainy like an English Christmas. The New Zealand summer hasn’t been up to much so far but at least we aren’t in lockdown. Our friends and family in North America and Europe were stuck at home during the holidays and everyone could only see each other over Skype, even if they lived in the same country.

Video calling is a childhood dream that we now take for granted. I am glad we got that before the personal jet pack as it is a lot more useful in a pandemic.

Our personal Christmas was quiet because our Jack Russell puppy kept us close to home and busy.

(I think this is the only Arctic Circle cartoon I’ve done about a Jack Russell and it is so old it was part of the original sales pack back in 2007.)

Molly is adjusting to this new life more quickly than we are. I got behind on my official deadlines (6 weeks ahead for daily cartoons and I was down to 4) because when Molly was in the studio I could only work when she was sleeping. Otherwise she would play with things like electrical cables or want to be OUT in the garden. If I had her on my lap she would walk on the keyboard, or chase my pencil.

I was lamenting this to a friend who told me to just puppy proof the studio already. And make an outdoor run. She was right and an hour or so’s job made the studio a lot safer. This weekend’s job was to put up some chicken wire and waratahs (star pickets/metal stakes) in the garden so that she can go out and play on her own whilst I am working.

Molly is three months old and out the prime age to train according to a book (Dog Zen) a friend lent me.
So far we have

This is also a good time to introduce her to things that could scare her later on, like other dogs and children. We have had dates with our friends vaccinated dogs and are taking her to local cafes in a bag or in the Mollymobile.

This way she doesn’t touch the ground as she has only just had her second jab. Next week we will be able to take her out to the beach as that is a very important part of New Zealand life. Fingers crossed that she likes the sea as much as I do. And that we have summery weather to enjoy it.

Wishing you the best for 2021.

Ta ta for now

PS. If you think someone else might find this interesting, please pass it on.

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