I can’t remember whether or not I read these—I was born in 1962—but I had heard of them... “see Spot run; run, Spot run” etc. Maybe I did. The one mentioned above, as it says, debuted in 1980...the year I started college...
Growing up with few channels on TV and no internet, I wound up going to my library and checking out the children’s section, then the adult section. I know I liked the books by Walter Brooks that featured Freddie the pig, etc. (Those went back to the 30s I think).
Right, they are not the same.
I don’t know who this author is or his dog. And I was 10 at that time.