Gnasher

Gnasher is the pet dog of Dennis the Menace in the British comic strip Dennis the Menace from The Beano. First introduced in 1968, in issue 1363 dated 31 August 1968, seventeen years after Dennis the Menace started in The Beano. Dennis's first strip also featured a dog but this dog was unnamed and looked very different from Gnasher.

Gnasher was developed by Ian Gray (writer) and Davey Law (artist) from an original concept from staff writer Jim Fowler based on an article in a local newspaper about pets looking like their owners and/or vice versa. This article was used for a number of stories and led to the ongoing development of Gnasher and also the Bash Street Pups. As Davey struggled to picture the dog it was suggested he simply draw Dennis's hair and "put a leg on each corner and two eyeballs at that end". The result was one of the most enduring images for publishers DC Thomson. Soon after his introduction Gnasher's appearance changed from looking like Dennis' hair on legs to the more dog-like recognisable character he is today.