Mr. Hartford

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Evil-doer
Full Name	Mr. Hartford (first name unknown)
Alias	Daddy (by Sasha)
Origin	Housepets!
Occupation	Unknown (possibly unemployed) Sasha's owner (formerly)
Powers / Skills	None known
Goals	Get the attention of "babes" (failed)
Crimes	Animal cruelty Abuse Neglect
Type of Villain	Abusive Owner

“	Far as I'm concerned you can do what you want with her-Obedience classes weren't worth the paper they're printed on.	„
	~ Mr. Hartford on Sasha.

“	King: ...Aren't you going to go home? Sasha: No, daddy kicked me out again 'cause I didn't get him any babes at the party. I think he just forgets when he's mad.	„
	~ Sasha telling King of Mr. Hartford's treatment of her.

Mr. Hartford is a minor yet important antagonist in Rick Griffin's webcomic Housepets!.

He is Sasha's former, abusive, alcoholic and neglectful owner who had only adopter the dog so she'd make him more atractive to women. With help from her boyfriend, the K-9 police dog, Kevin, Sasha was eventually taken away from Hartford and became part of the ECP.

Much like the Stranger and the Forgotten, Mr. Hartford is played much more seriously than the other antagonists in the comic, as he never has any comedic moments, his awful treatment of Sasha is never played for laughs and he is a disturbingly realistic depiction of an abuser in both his actions and the impact they had.

He first appeared in the strip "Housepets Christmas Edition".

Biography

Ownership of Sasha

Little to nothing is known of Hartford's life outside of his relationship with Sasha. It is known that he was always an alcoholic, slovenly and ill-respected resident of Babylon Gardens who held many parties in desperate attempts to have success with with women ("babes" as he calls them), to the point where, one day, he adopted the dog, Sasha, so that being a pet owner would make him more appealing to ladies.

Hartford abusing Sasha, even on Christmas Day.

Sasha was just that to Hartford as a way to attract "chicks". He was, otherwise, neglectful to her at best and abusive at worst. He would have her do all the housework while he sulked and drank and often vented out his frustration over his many shortcomings in life on the poor she-dog in many, awful ways, from calling her a "bad girl", throwing beer bottles at her, and guilt-tripping her for her "failures" at bringing him "babes" to locking her out of the house, even on cold or rainy nights.

Sasha would often need to be harbored by her pet friends, such as Fox Lindberg or Kevin Beauregard, and, one night on Christmas eve, Sasha met the corgi, King Milton after having been locked out her house. The corgi (actually the human, Joel Robinson who had been turned into a dog by the demigod Pete) was in a grim mood after having been bullied by the dog, Bino and, embittered at all pets, told Sasha to get lost, but then realized that Sasha was an abuse victim and, remembering his parents' awful treatment of their pets, he had a change of heart and kept Sasha company for the night. King would, later, build a little shed in the woods for Sasha to stay at when Mr. Hartford kicked her out the house.

One day, Mr. Hartford sent Sasha to some obedience classes, presumably so she'd become even more dependent and compliant towards him. The classes, however, were actually a front used by PETA to brainwash pets and use them for their devices. In Sasha's case, she was brainwashed into falsely admitting she was the perpetrator when a PETA agent attempted to assassinate Keene Milton by sabotaging his limousine, as PETA wanted animals and society to be fully separated, whereas Keene wanted to improve the status of animals within society. K-9 police dogs Mungo and Fox found out incriminating evidence against Sasha, but the latter had a crush on her and tried to clean her name. The two first visited Mr. Hartford, who told them of the classes Sasha had attempted and shew no concern whatsoever over her sudden disappearance. Sasha would later be snapped out of her brainwashed with help from the psychic, Tarot and PETA's plans were stopped.

After dumping her jerkish boyfriend, Bino, Sasha got with the police dog Kevin Beauregard. Kevin investigated Mr. Hartford for animal abuse and, after months of efforts, Sasha was finally legally separated from her scumbag owner and taken in by the Equal Chance Program.

Impact

Even after Sasha left Hrtford, the man left an impact on the dog through his actions.

While the dog always remained cheerful and good-natured in spite of her harsh life, Hartford's treatment of her contributed to her being very ditzy and, occasionally, showing signs of outright mental illness.

Due to Hartford not showing her any, Sasha would seek attention and affection among the other dogs, often acting flirtatious to do so, and would be very sensitive to anything she interpreted as anger towards her.

Sasha missing Mr. Hartford despite his abuse of her.

As is sadly common among abuse victims, Sasha was mostly oblivious to how awful Hartford was towards her. She'd defend him by claiming he simply had his bad days and that she deserved his harsh punishments for not attracting women for Hartford like he wanted her to and, even if he was always neglectful or hurtful towards her, she still loved him as her "daddy".

With support from Kevin and the rest of her friends, Sasha eventually came to see that Hartford was a terrible person and that she deserved better, finally learning to see her former owner's actions as unjustifiable abuse. Despite this, Sasha still missed Hartford, who had been her adoptive father for all her life, and, when she was emancipated from him, she needed emotional support from King (whose house she would reside in while the paperwork was complete) the first few weeks after this turn in her life.

Sasha was, initially, very overwhelming with her emotions and flirty towards King, but, eventually King expressed all the problems he had repressed for Sasha's sake and told her his boundaries with her. He told her that he was afraid that, by being firm, he would disillusion Sasha and she'd choose her old life, but, by that point, Sasha had decided she'd never live with Hartford or anyone like him ever again.

Trivia

• Despite his impact, Mr. Hartford was heard speaking in only two strips, "Housepets Christmas Edition" and "The First Place You Look", and appeared on-screen only in the latter.
• Mr. Hartford, the Stranger and Keene Milton are, so far, the only pet owners in Housepets! to be villains. Of the three, Mr. Hartford is the only one who was abusive towards his pet.