Footrot Flats

Footrot Flats was a comic strip written by New Zealand cartoonist Murray Ball. It ran from 1975 until 1999 in newspapers around the world, and resulted in a series of 27 books (collecting the newspaper strips, with additional material), a stage musical, and an animated film.

The cartoon was based around the life of Wal Footrot's sheep dog, "Dog", on their farm Footrot Flats (hence the title), and the other characters, human and animal, that came into their lives. Dog's thoughts are voiced in thought bubbles, though he is clearly "just a dog" rather than the anthromorphised creates sometimes found in other comics or animation. The humor was based around the foibles of the characters, who many, particularly farmers themselves, found easy to recognise around them. There was much "humour in adversity", making fun of the daily struggle that permeates farming life.