Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 13, 2021

Puddles knows what he wants.

What kind of start, Luann? A “ruff” one?

Another story arc of Bernice belittling Luann?

One small step for man… one Giant leap for Puddles!

They should call Bern “umbrella” because she is a pro at throwing shade!

It just gets worse and worse

Booooring.

All of a sudden, everyone starts missing the Bets + Gunther Arc… lol

Why is Luann trying to over feed Puddles.

it is harder to train an older dog. I have had older rescue dogs that I had to train for certain things. One would only eat expensive wet dog food in a tube. The vet advised against it due to her teeth rot and prescribed small bit dry food. I had a battle on my hands – she refused to eat for almost a week before she finally ate the dry bits. She was also potty trained on puppy pads because her previous owner was an elderly woman who lived in an apartment upstairs so she never went outside for potty. It took a while and modeling by my other dogs for her to understand that she was to go outside for potty (however when she went blind, I had her resume the puppy pads again). She had food aggression because she was an only dog so I trained her not to guard her food and growl when she was alone away from other dogs using treat rewards at first then gradually stopped. She was 8 when I brought her home. She died at 18 years old and I still miss that tiny chihuahua.

Puddles’s storyline about training an undisciplined Luann. Bernice will be the narrator for this storyline. How exciting!

Yes, we all know Luann is inept, clumsy, & sappy. Isn’t there another arc we can start???

Vamos Bernice, consigue una campana y muéstrale a Luann que puedes recrear el experimento de Pavlov en Puddles.

Has Bernice ever trained or had a dog? Who knows.

The “bets/gunther” arc was getting serious and even mildly intimate. This new arc is comic relief. I’d like to think next mondays comic might go back to bets & gunther. The next arc thread for bets and gun is likely to be subdued because comics like this can’t be too “adult-ish” due to the potential that kids might read it.P.S. It is just a comic, not meant to be taken seriously.

I got a bad feeling about this arc.

The “friendship” between Luann and Bernice has always puzzled me. At least, Tiffany doesn’t pretend to be her friend.

Puddles FTW!

How do we get a whole week out of this? (I might be sorry I asked).

I think this storyline is to highlight how lazy and uncoordinated luann is. She wants to live a fun life full of excitement and whimsical experiences while not having to deal with any adult responsibility. Luann LOVES having a dog for the fun and cute things they do but she whines incessantly about having to feed, walk, clean up after or take to the vet.

It’s a conspiracy I tell you. A conspiracy.

GoComics forced Greg to run this arc so that they can have some down time to repair the burnt out servers they got when there were too many people making too many comments.

This story is just like the time Luann took Bernice to the dog park. Jack showed up and traded put-downs of Luann while Lu was off screen doing stupid things to get Puddles to fetch. Stupid sand snark the only thing worse than….

Bernice has Nil and Gunther has Bets. Luann lost Quill when Quill decided to focus on his career instead of Luann’s need for validation.

Ok, so yesterday we had a one day story with a decent joke. Apparently it it be turned into a couple of weeks of Bernice insulting Luann. Think I’ll go read Zits and check back in a week.

Luann loves Puddles and she’s afraid that others will see her as a lazy owner. I understand her feelings, but there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. Dogs are lovely animals and great friends, but they are also very complicated and totally unpredictable. I think Bernice’s advice was (for once) good and Luann would benefit from going to an obedience training. Or, at least, asking Jack for advices.

And sooo the drama continues, will luann ever clean her room?..

It must be break time again. Think I’ll skip reading for a bit and then catch up. This is quite boring. I’m secretly hoping that Brad and Toni show up and rescue the strip by telling of Toni’s pregnancy.

So while all the other characters gets arcs relating to important emotional decisions, when Luann finally shows up we get to see her…trying (and predictably failing miserably) to train her dog.

You know a comic strip has a serious problem when the most boring character in the cast is the main character.

If at first you don’t succeed, make Bernice eat dog food.

PUD is a good dog, but if you want to train him to do or don’t do stuff take him to obedience school. Bath Pud.and Luann will have fun and maybe Luann will meet Mr. RIGHT

Take a hike! I was talking to Bernice!

I wonder why G&K continue to portray their main character as a hapless, clueless, lazy, unmotivated stereotypical blonde? Even Tiffany has been allowed to grow and mature in this strip. All the characters have. And why would she continue to remain friends with such a nasty, insulting, smarmy shrew?

Dog week at the DeGroots! … NO! I don’t mean the girls! 8^ (

Sunday! Monday! Tuesday! Luann appears in the “Luann” comic strip three days in a row!!!! This just might continue all week long …. !!! This is kinda cool … !!! :-) :-)

Luann is embarrassed and ask Jack to help her train Puddles. Luann keeps this a secret from Bern; however, Bern hears them planning to meet at the dog park and realizes that she was right all along. Luann and Jack are having an affair….

“How to train a dog to be as neurotic as you are.”

Bernice should remember the saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” It can apply to college age young women as well.

Our dogs are fine one at a time, but two or three ==> pack and the pack is bad.

Maybe the problem is that they all sat down to breakfast and Puddles hadn’t been fed. Of course he would beg; they were eating and he hadn’t been fed.

Better late than never, right? Puddles is going to love all the extra attention! He doesn’t understand what Bernice is saying so he’s safe from her barbs.

Are you sure you should be doing this Luann? The last time you tried to force someone to obey you Quill broke up with you

Wait? Poor Puddles though she said ate and put the food in the past tense as well.

Oh boy, a whole week of Puddles showing bad dog etiquette, what a non-stop thrill ride this will be

Who let the dogs out?

BTW. Where is Schrodinger’s Dog ?

almost like Greg can’t decide with Bets and Gunther, so quick cutaway to different storyline!

Maybe Bernice could use some training herself.

Enough of Bets!

More smug, condescending Bernice. Great.

You in panel 3 Bernice was cutting down Luann.

Luann’s life would be a lot better if she would stop believing that she ever has to justify herself to that shrew Bernice.

Luann needs to ask Jack to help her train Puddles. Orrrrr, better yet, Lu needs to enroll Puddles in a training class, where she will meet her beloved, which will take a couple of years, and then they’ll get married, which will take a few more years, and by then Puddles will be 110 years old and won’t remember anything he was taught years earlier.

LuAnn why don’t you ask Bern about her fish? You know when they had to call Jack cause it was sick. You know … the fish in the tank … have you added gravel or plants for it yet or is the tank still bare. Speaking of … LuAnn why don’t you invite Jack over to get some one on one lessons for Puddles. It would be one way to shut Bern up.

Yesterday I asked if Luann remembered to feed Puddles (before she ate). Today’s strip answers my question. Obviously not.

Pud must be one of the oldest dogs on the planet. Or is this Puddles XIV?

And why was Puddles a problem until Butnice brought it up. Time for her brother to man up and face reality and go home and the same for Buttout. Wait…must be a family trend. Did their parents not train well?

Good riddence to that to that story arc.

5

Even though this "Puddles’ " behavior arc could last a considerable number of episodes….. perhaps even a few weeks…… I am hopeful this is simply being used as either fodder or kindling to set up an arc where we have perhaps Jack and Nil come over. I could see in a day or two where Luann (or Bernice) calls up Jack for “dog training tips”…. and he just happens to be with his buddy Nil, and they drive over.

The reality that everyone knows (including the key players here….. Luann and Bernice) is that Puddles was and is a FAMILY pet, and that Puddles’s behavior is a result of the interactions of all members of the family (including Brad when he was at home). So…. even though Bernice is poking fun at Luann, and Luann is responding in a typical way to that poking of fun….. BOTH of them DO know the reality of the collective group of folks “responsible” for Puddles less than stellar, but very typical behavior.

Puddles can be trained…. but it takes patience, consistency and time….. but would also be boring as hell for us readers to watch. So…… hopefully my initial idea of this simply being fodder or kindling will pan out and we will move to a more dynamic interaction.

By the way….. it seems Mordy has been absent a long time again. Hope things are ok with him.

Last week Gunther capitulated before Bets, his spine withered at the last moment. Waiting now, for Luanne to tell Bernice to get lost. How many more days to put up with Bernice’s low level bullying/put-downs?

Bernice, GO HOME! Maybe you can teach your brother how to house train his step kids.

I’m reminded of a few years ago my wife and I were at the beech in delaware in late april. two women were trying to get their dog to ‘retrieve.’ the thing is romeo, the dog, was having no part of it. They’d throw the ball into the surf and romeo would not go after it forcing his people to wade out and get the ball only to have another try.

after an hour romeo had taught his humans to retrieve the ball and had stayed out of the surf.

I get the impression Puddles is gonna be a key player this week!

I know this is for laughs, but it would be nice if Evans finally had a strip in which Luann finally calls out Bernice’s snobbinish.

Luann is such a loser! If anything, she is regressing rather than maturing….

Puddles is like my Snowball. She inhales the food before I can set the bowl down. I think it’s because she was abused before I got her. I’ve had her 6 years now, and this past year of me being home all day has changed her. She will let me pick her up now and stays on my lap for at least 10 min. before she gets antsy and wants down. But she still acts like she hasn’t had food for days when she sees me putting food in her bowl.

@Rhetorical:*************Luann wasn’t ‘seeking validation’ from Quill. She wanted him to not just be a workaholic and to stop constantly breaking plans he’d make with her. Had a workaholic Dad so I can relate. She did the right thing.

@BJShipley:

Tiffany is someone to point to as ‘high maintenance’. A character who can change the oil in your car is not ‘high maintenance’.

Maybe it’s just me but this friendship between Bernice and Luann seems to be getting worse and worse. Bernice reminds me of a former partner who was always making smart remarks about my job, my income, my friends, my menu choice at a restaurant, what I put in my coffee, my clothes, my family, the way I did laundry, my car, my books, it didn’t matter what it was, there was always a zinger waiting to be launched. If I complained it was always “oh I was just kidding”, and it never stopped. I finally realized that I was actually being bullied and got out of the relationship, but I have to admit I put up with it for a really long time and I don’t think it did my mental health any favors. I wonder if Greg realizes the type of negative relationship he is portraying? I don’t think it’s something that people want a gut of in the morning, but maybe he plans to eventually use this cartoon relationship as an example against bullies? That would be interesting and possibly helpful to readers who are dealing with the same problems.

What an incredibly boring story arc. And annoying. How many times must we see Bern abuse her supposed BFF with her snark? When will Luann be given a compelling arc free of Bern’s disdain?

I like this. But some people refuse to be entertained.