D8

Leslie Cockburn
AT THE LIBRARY

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There's a wonderful older book in the library called The English Dog at Home. Published in 1987, it confirms common knowledge that the British are incurably passionate about their dogs.

In many British households, the family dog is the star, perhaps even the favourite family member. And, in a certain way, that's understandable. Lavished with care and affection, dogs respond with devotion and unconditional love - something everyone needs.

The responsibility of caring for a dog has proven benefits: it's even been demonstrated to have a therapeutic effect on the handicapped, ill or infirm.

Naturally, the lives of dogs reflect the lifestyles of their owners. Yet, whatever their circumstances, dogs and their masters share a community of spirit - one of companionship and care, loyalty and love.

You'll see this in The English Dog at Home, a photograph-laden book, that features haughty pedigreed dogs and lovable mongrels in their own homes, some of which are decidedly grand. The book includes comic glimpses of rare breeds, both human and canine, and makes entertaining reading. It's by Felicity Wigan.

These tales of dogs at home are equally well-matched by noted psychologist and renowned dog expert Stanley Coren's vignettes of dogs in the great dramas of history.

In his book, The Pawprints of History, we learn that George Washington called a cease-fire to return General Howe's beloved fox terrier who had wandered out of Howe's tent and across enemy lines.

That Napoleon, on Elba, kept a dog simply as a food taster; Napoleon knew of several British plots to assassinate him.

That General George Custer owned and bred hunting dogs and was particularly fond of foxhounds and English greyhounds. He kept them with him always, although the night before the battle of Little Big Horn Custer sent his dogs away in the care of a soldier named James H. Kelly.

Kelly later became mayor and owner of a saloon in Dodge City, Kansas, where the dogs (descendents of Custer's pack) had free run of the town.

Many generals and leaders in times of war have had the companionship of a dog.

General George Scott had his bull terrier, Willie. General Omar Bradley had his poodle, Beau. King Arthur had his brave, beloved hound Cavall.

Sir Isaac Newton's Pomeranian Diamond was the reason his treatise on the law of gravity was published a whole year late. She knocked over a candle and it burned the manuscript. "Thus," Coren says, "an entire year of intellectual life and research by one of the greatest scientific minds of his era, was lost due to the actions of a dog."

You'll love both The Pawprints of History and The English Dog at Home.

Try too this glossy history of man's best friend called The Dog's Tale by Loyd Grossman. Its introduction ends with these words from S.J. Perelman: "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." The book's a treat!

Leslie Cockburn is the young adult and adult services co-ordinator at the Fredericton Public Library. She can be reached at leslie.cockburn@gnb.ca.