Davis himself had already kind of put Garfield on his hind legs, but his legs and feet were one enormous mass because he was a chunky cat. Davis clearly hadn’t had the idea to make the legs spindly and Snoopy-like, or else he didn’t think he could do that and not be in trouble from people like Schulz.

When Schulz drew Garfield with Snoopy legs, Davis was able to take that idea and run with it.