I always think “Elmer Fudd” when I see that panel.
Friends would always say “you want to get some fud?” when this cartoon came out.
Continuing the dog theme …
I don’t think I’d ever seen that one. Great cite! Thank you.
Friction!
More dog…
But also, the “Oh please, oh please!” I recognize that feeling of when your plan is almost working, just a little closer…
ETA: And also the implication that the cat can read, but doesn’t spot the poor spelling…
Also, what’s the plan? Just to torment the cat? What’s the dog gonna do with him after he gets the cat locked in the dryer?
ETA: I feel comfortable calling the cat a ‘him’, a girl cat would be way too wary to fall for that.
Well, the laundry soap is out of the cabinet, so there’s the implication that he really is going to run the cat through a washing cycle.
The implication is something like turn it on and be rid of the cat forever. Just an unfortunate household accident where curiosity did for the cat.
Excellent observation!
And adds a layer of darkness to that cartoon. Now it’s not as funny as it is cruel.
ETA: Yes, I’m a cat owner.
The box of detergent is sitting on a machine that opens from the top. It’s more likely that’s the washer, while the front-loader is probably the dryer.
My old apartment had precisely that kind of arrangement. I guess it’s easier to just dump the laundry to be washed into a top-loader than a front-loader.
Nahh, the laundry soap is just a background prop. The dog can stand on two legs and write… but just barely. It can also theoretically choose a setting and push a start button, but that’s something the viewer isn’t supposed to think about – it strains the suspension of disbelief. And reaching the cabinet, pulling down a box of detergent and placing it on the washer is outside the dog’s capabilities in that cartoon’s universe.
There’s also the issue that Larsen had a wonderful sense of What Is Funny. A dim witted cartoon cat suddenly spinning in a dryer is funny in the same way a python full of babies is funny. A cat buffeted by an agitator while it slowly drowns is unfunny in the same way that an actual python swallowing an actual baby is hideously unfunny.
But, I could be wrong. Another possibility is the box is cat kibble, although it probably wouldn’t be stored in the laundry cabinet, and Larson probably would have put kitty art on the box.
What about the time my mom was doing a load of laundry, and she closed and started the dryer, only to hear “Meow … thump … meow… thump …”
(The cat (who was female) was not harmed, but it’s kind of scary to think about what could have happened if she had not been heard.)
And now back to early man …
My wife will not even think about starting the dryer unless she finds the cats first - even though you can look in and clearly see there is no cat in there. Not that our cats have ever even been in there to begin with.
I’ve never seen that one but it is funny. Thanks!
Some cats do love crashing in the dryer and other dangerous places.
I saw a woman bring in a cat to the emergency room because it had been in a running dryer for about twenty minutes.
We should really get back to those funny cartoons.
We used to have a fat cat who could flow her fat exactly into the shape of the big square floor vent in the bathroom.
Real cats in real dryers are a real thing. And depending on how full the dryer & how large the cat, looking in through the hatch isn’t necessarily definitive.
But as @Baal_Houtham so wisely said, Larson had the gift of funny harmful but not unfunny cruel. It paid well.
@Askance: Great cite. I’d not seen that one that I recall.