For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 10, 2021

uh… yeah

Some actually are, judging by the perceived intelligence of some of the fools in the news.

So is Geo pronounced GEE-oh or Joe?

With that type of neighbor, the dog is always more intelligent!

Maybe Ted & Sally Forth live on the other side of the people with the constantly barking dog.

Takes one to know one, I guess.:/

Good Lord… What a bunch of pigs…

Betcha the dog has better manners.

So maybe they have so ticks and are waiting to be ticked-off?

that’s what i did… had a next-door neighbor with a pair of dogs who would bark at anyone coming out on our back deck… my ex- would scream at them and got into verbal altercations with the neighbors… after that relationship was over, i would go over to the fence with treats – the dogs barked at first, but then over time they would wag their tails and whine whenever i came out on the back deck

I didn’t know Elly’s brother had a ponytail.

Dadism: To train a dog, you have to start out knowing more than the dog.

I find that to be true, more often than not.

Is Geo short for Geode, the rock who is the navigator on the spaceship “Vessel” in Disney Star Wars High Republic? High Republic is right. You have to be high to come up with “ideas” like that…

If I were Elly, I would not accept this lame excuse from my brother. If you have had a baby as Elly has and your brother lives in the same town, as Phil does, then you should have had a visit BEFORE the baby has turned a year old.

A dog, horse, or kid … you’ve gotta be smarter than the beast to train it!

What is going on today ? This is second ‘strip’ where all I have is a ’grey square ! ! !

Most dogs are smarter than their owners

I’ve known a lot of “owners” like that. “Repossessed” a couple of adoptions because of it.

I got a buncha cheap but tasty dog treats to stuff through the fence gaps so the next door dog wouldn’t bark at me. She did bark all day at everyone/everything else every day, though. Blessed silence when she died.

I never understood why a dog owner leaves their pet outside alone and don’t notice that it is barking all night. How can they not hear it? I had only one dog in my life and he was never left outside alone. He was a 90# Pit-Lab and a great comfort to me after my hubby passed. Maybe I spoiled him but, I treated him like a family member. When he was in the back yard, so was I. In the front, so was I. Miss him.

Last Saturday one of our neighbors left their small dog on their balcony while they left for the day. I actually heard the owner tell the dog that they would be right back. That dog howled and barked the entire time they were gone, several hours.

If the dog starts telling you he’s a 2,000-year-old demon, run…don’t walk away. (Son of Sam reference)

Phil has his Dad’s chin, alright.

Georgia wasn’t invited to dinner?

I’ve got a neighbor like that. My old dog is a lot more intelligent. Good part though, neither one barks.

Yes, some dogs may be more smarter than the owners.

This is first time it is mentioned that Phil’s profession has changed to be a teacher instead of being a nightclub jazz entertainer. The real-life Phil, Lynn Johnston’s brother Alan, had been a teacher as early as 1985.

So Phil, when are you and Georgia going to give John and Elly some nieces and nephews?

Poor dog.

Maybe the neighbor’s dog is lonesome sometimes. To entertain him/herself they bsrk sing or howl all day from displeasure.

Stuff like this is why a lot of people hate dogs. People consider it morally abhorrent to dislike dogs, but a LOT of owners just let them bark all day and all night like this, and it drives their neighbors insane.

Don’t you love Phil’s insect antenna in the first panel? Goes well with his weird chin and ponytail ; )