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 31st August 1968, seventeen years after Dennis the Menace started in The Beano. Dennis first strip also featured a dog but this dog was unnamed and looked very different to Gnasher.
Gnasher was created by Ian Gray (writer) and Davey Law (artist). Ian was just a young writer for the Beano when he and Davey Law came up with Dennis the Menace's famous canine sidekick. As Davey struggled to picture the dog, Ian 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.
The G on the beginning of both Gnasher and his son Gnipper's names is pronounced silently. Most of their speech bubbles also consist of normal English words beginning with the letter 'n' with a silent G added to the beginning (e.g. Gnight, Gnight).
Read more about Gnasher: Gnasher's Tale, Gnasher and Gnipper, Gnasher's Bit(e), Gnash Gnews, Changes Over The Years