We are unabashed fans of the cartoonist Charles Addams whose recurring characters became known as The Addams Family. Addams was sometimes called “the Bela Lugosi of cartoonists,” which, in a twisted way, connects with our own breed, the Puli, since Bela Lugosi was Hungarian, the Puli is Hungarian, and we’ve lost count of how many times people have referred to one of our dogs as, “Cousin It.”

Addams loved dogs, and at least two of them were purebreds dogs. It would be tough to top the personal “dog-centric” milestones of his life: The elevator man in one of Addams’ apartments knew the cartoonist only as “the man with the dog.” He married his third wife, “Tee’” in a pet cemetery in Water Mill, NY (a surprise for the 60 guests coming for cocktails), and the wedding party all wore black at a time it just wasn’t done.  He and Tee’s ashes are interred alongside those of their beloved dogs and cats.