Woodstock is a fictional character in Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts. He is Snoopy’s closest friend and, after Snoopy, the most recognized non-human in the strip. Woodstock quickly became Snoopy’s best friend. The only non-avian character who can understand Woodstock’s speech is Snoopy.

When depicted in the comic strip, his speech is rendered almost entirely in “chicken scratch” marks, with Snoopy either directly translating or allowing the reader to deduce Woodstock’s meaning in the context of Snoopy’s replies. Woodstock does make nonverbal noises such as yawns (November 23, 1972), laughter, sighs (November 22, 1972) and “Z”s or snores to indicate sleep. He also uses punctuation marks like “!” or “??” to indicate emotions. {googleads right}In the movies and television specials, the chicken scratches are rendered audibly as a staccato series of high-pitched honks and squawks by Snoopy’s voice actor, Bill Melendez. Woodstock often works as Snoopy’s secretary (most notably when the latter was appointed “Head Beagle”), and caddies for him when he plays golf (usually with some difficulty). Woodstock also plays American football with Snoopy, usually attempting to catch the ball but, due to his size, he is simply hit by it; sometimes getting embedded into the ground a short distance. Woodstock also claims to have contact lenses (June 8, 1995).