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I usually enjoy this comic but as an animal lover, I was surprised to see the family dog getting the boot yesterday. What was that all about? Isn't that sending a message that it's just easier to give your pet the boot rather than have to get up and deal with their "messes" as you sit there on the couch watching television?

Jill, Minneapolis, MN

Very disappointed in your comic strip.Your strip was the only one I've read for the last several years, since Calvin and Hobbs left. I cried when your Old English sheepdog died...but comic strip or not..the last box,where you are kicking your dog out the door, killed your strip for me..You always portrayed everyday life in a realist way...so this strip saddened me...so very much!!!Too much animal abuse goes on..Would have been nice to see you giving the dog a hug,I think it would have shown..smell or not..you love your dog and been much cuter and appreciated. Hope more people email you..I've seen lots of comments on Twitter. Don't get a dog, if you can't handle what comes w/it and love it despite..as you show.(realist)the dog doesn't even have a clue why you kicked it out the door.

Sarah M, Dublin, OH

Your frustration level must run very high. How many times have you explained why you started the "new-runs", (which I enjoy immensely by the way - keep up the good work!) yet you still get readers whining about it and demanding that you go back to the old storyline.I don't understand people who love your work enough to follow it on your website, but just don't pay attention when you tell us how and why the strip has changed. You gave us plenty of warning and wrapped up the stories very nicely on that final Sunday last year.As I said above, keep up the good work as long. As you are willing to continue the strip I am willing to read it and love it.

Jan C, Victorville, CA

Oh my. So you stopped. I noticed the changes but thought you were just on vacation. Then as they continued, I didn't want to think that you actually quit! But today I needed my fix of FBorFW and discovered the sad truth. Lynn, I have been reading since its inception and love it. My own daughter is the same age as Elizabeth so it was fun to compare their respective development years. So many parallels. I just assumed that you would carry on forever. I even fantasized about watching the children grow old. Of course, that would mean watching you and Ellie too. Growing old WITH ME! NOW WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? Hugs to you Lynn, and thanks for many years of fun reading.

Pat V, Toronto, ON

As someone who owns a huge stack of Lynn's collections, I can clear up some confusion about the children's ages in the early strips.

It is not true that Michael was three or four when the strip debuted back in September of 1979. He was in kindergarten and his age in that first year was given as both five and six. Liz at the start of the strip was a baby still in diapers, taking a bottle, and crawling. She looked to be somewhere between six and nine months.

Despite what Lynn has said in interviews, it is not true that the children's ages were frozen for the first three years of the strip. At the end of the first collection, "I've Got the One-More-Washload Blues", Michael begins grade one. In the second collection, Is This "One of Those Days, Daddy?" Liz celebrates her second birthday (in a strip that would have run sometime in 1981). This places Liz's date of birth sometime in 1979, and by 1984, this had shifted to 1980, since Liz's age is given as four.

1980 stayed Liz's birth year until sometime after April was born (evidenced by a strip where April, born in 1991, complains about Liz being 11 years older). Later, Liz was quietly switched to the 1981 birth year that ended up on her online bio. If Michael was five in September of 1979, that would place his D.O.B. in 1974, which means he only needed to be slid back two years. Where this happens is a little harder to pinpoint.

Lynn can correct me on this, but I believe Aaron and Kate are actually about four and a half years apart, not five. Maybe when Lynn shifted the age difference between Michael and Liz from four years to five, she was attempting to split the difference.

Katje B, Albany, NY

To all those who give Lynn grief about what happens in the comic strip, here's a little tip....it's a comic strip. It's not real. It's a form of entertainment, just like a movie. Just read it, appreciate the chuckle and move on. Do you send nasty messages to movie producers when you don't like what they portrayed in the movie? I highly doubt it. Lynn, you do a wonderful job and your comics often bring a smile to my face. Keep up the good work.

Natalie D, Sudbury, ON