United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club, Inc. Dog Stories & Publications

Kerry Blue Terrier Collectibles

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:32:27 GMT

Breed Reference Books

This section includes those writings that focus in detail on the Kerry Blue Terrier and serve, as the title implies, as standard reference books. Some do not exclusively address the Kerry Blue, however they contain extensive sections on the breed, and are considered to be a significant resource. Some are quite old and may contain information that is dated, however they remain a valuable source of continuity and breed history. Bob Nazak

Clarke, Egerton.
The Popular Kerry Blue Terrier
Popular Dogs Publishing Company, Ltd, c1928
65b, Long Achre, London, W.C.2.
Egerton Clarke of Narcunda Kennels wrote the “Popular Kerry Blue Terrier”, with a forward by the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Kenmare. Illustrations by Hay Hutchison. Published by Popular Dogs Publishing Company Ltd. in England in the 1920′s. There is no publishing date in the book, but advertising for The Bog Kennels on page 71 makes reference to the dates 1925 and 1926. This is the first book published on Kerry Blue Terriers. Addresses breed history, Standard, Points, Breeding, Rearing, Management, Preparation for show, and Sporting attributes. A very scarce book. Hardcover, 78 pages.

Foy, Eileen S.
A Compact Kerry Blue
Private publication available from Bookworld International. 2001
It is 67 years since Egerton Clarke wrote his book on the Kerry Blue Terrier; a new book is long overdue. This book will help fill that void. Aimed at all interested in this special breed, it provides advice and information for the new puppy owner, the aspiring exhibitor, the seasoned breeder and even those who may venture into the judging the Kerry Blue. There are many colour photographs of “Kerries being Kerries”, and many previously unpublished photos to interest and intrigue. The author first acquired this wonderful breed in 1970. Progressing from exhibiting to awarding CCs at Belfast Championship Show in 1975, the judging continues both at home and abroad. She has written a variety of articles for newsletters and the canine press. The book was the next logical step.

Gardner, Mrs. Katherine “Casey”.
Record of K-9 Characteristic, A prerequisite of Breed Research, The Kerry Blue Terrier. (The Kerry Norm)
First printed in Terrier Type 1964.
Book published the following year 1965.
This work, now out of print and extremely rare, revolutionized the study of the mechanics of K-9 movement.
Mrs. Gardner was very active in the breed; her Kennel name was “Kerrycroft”. She died on 3 August 1994. The USKBTC has made inquiries of the state and is investigating the possibility of republishing this work.

Handy, Violet E.
The Modern Kerry Blue Terrier
Published by “Our Dogs” publishing Co., c 1933
“Our Dogs” Buildings, Manchester 1, England
56 pages. 16 b/w pictures and line drawings. Cloth covers.

Handy, Violet E.
The Modern Kerry Blue Terrier
Published by Milo G. Denlinger, c 1947
Washington, D.C
Reprinted from the original. 46pp. With frontispiece, 15 plates and text-illustrations.

Hutchinson, Walter
Popular & Illustrated Dog Encyclopaedia, Part 29, Kerry Blue Terrier
Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers), Ltd. c 1934 (soft)
34-36 Paternoster Row, London E.C.4
This Scarce Dog Magazine is one volume of the Dog Encylopedia by Hutchinson’s. This Magazine was published on a weekly basis for 50 Weeks and then at the end published as a great book in 3 Volumes (see next listing). Each one of these Magazines featured one or more different dog breeds and Part 29 and focuses on the Kerry Blue Terrier with a total of 19 old Kerry Blue photos and two great full page art drawings of a Kerry Blue Terrier dogs. This is a great vintage write up with nice old photos but not much written Breed Info. There is also some information and photos on some other breeds. Dogs featured are Kerry Blue Terrier, King Charles Spaniel and Kelp Tal French. There are a total of 40 Pages to this Magazine and the Magazine measures 8 3/4 x 11 inches in size. The Kerry section consists of 21 pages and 61 black and white illustrations.

Hutchinson, Walter
Hutchinson’s Popular and Illustrated Dog Encylopaedia
Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers), Ltd. 1934 (3 Volumes Hard”
34-36 Paternoster Row, London E.C.4
This is Hutchinson’s Dog Encylopedia 1934 first edition. London: Hutchinson & Co. Set is bound in the deluxe red leather. A rare complete three-volume set with over 2000 pages. One of the most historically important works on the Canine race. Walter Hutchinson brought together some of the greatest experts, writers, photographers, and artists to create a really astounding and thorough work on the many purebred breeds and there histories. This encyclopedia is incredible for the illustrations in color, black and white, and sepia tone. The quality of writing is probably not being matched these days, editor Walter Hutchinson drew upon some of the greatest dog writers and fanciers of all time to prepare this work, a supremely important and magnificent work. All the purebred breeds along with dog related subjects are included in this set. The Kerry Blue Terrier is covered in Volume 2.

Irish Kennel Club
The Native Dogs of Ireland – Their Origin, Development and Standards
Published by the Irish Kennel Club. 1st edition, 1984
Covering the Irish Wolfhound, the Irish Red Setter, and Irish Red and White Setter, the Irish Terrier, the Kerry Blue Terrier, the Softcoated Wheaten Terrier, the Glen of Imaal Terrier and the Irish Water Spaniel. 105 pp. 10 colour plates. Card covers.

Izant, Edith
The Kerry Blue Terrier
Denlinger’s Publishers, Ltd., 1982.
Box 76, Fairfax, VA 22030
Edith Izant is a dog devotee, a Terrier fancier, and a Kerry Blue aficionado. Mrs. Izant’s book is a complete work on the Kerry Blue Terrier. It contains information on just what a Kerry Blue should be, the breeding of Kerrys and how to care for a Kerry and keep him in top condition.
Also includes a few chapters on History of the Kerry Blue, Showing your Kerry in Obedience, How to “set” ears on puppies, Kennel names, and more. Loaded with black & white photographs and line drawings of champion Kerry Blue Terriers. Quarto (11.25” X 9”) hardcover with 112 pages and pictorial endpapers (map of the “The Kingdom of Kerry”). Also published in a softcover edition.

McLennan, Bardi
Kerry Blue Terrier
Published by Kennel Club Books-USA, c.2005
Terrier expert Bardi McLennan retells the fascinating origins of the KBT in a lively, enjoyable way and shares her insight into the breed’s history, characteristics and temperament. Illustrated with over 135 color photographs on 157 pages, this book discusses selection and care of the puppy as well as house-training, obedience training and dealing with and preventing behavioral problems. An excellent chapter on preventative healthcare addresses all of the concerns of a responsible owner. From the first days with the new puppy in the owner’s home, to showing your Kerry and finally to the special care for a senior dog, this new volume will prove an invaluable addition to every Kerry lover’s library.

Please note that there are two versions of this book. The edition published in England is mentioned below. Although both books are excellent, the one published in the USA includes more information on American kennels and pictures of Kerries in the USA.
ISBN 1-59378-321-3 was published in the USA in 2005.

McLennan, Bardi
Kerry Blue Terrier
Published in London. printed in Korea. 2002
This is a fabulous book in full color devoted to the Kerry Blue Terrier Dog. The book is a first and only edition book that is unavailable in the United States and Canada. Beautiful illustrated hardcover book with 157 pages in as new condition. In addition to an extremely authoritative text, this book presents over 135 photographs in full colour, which prove to be as informative as they are attractive. Helpful hints and important information are highlighted to provide easy access to everything the reader needs to know, from the history of the Kerry Blue Terrier to life with a Kerry Blue Terrier. There is also a birth certificate and vaccination record in the back of the book for your own dog and their records. Book size 8.5 x 6.8 inches.

Montgomery, Dr. E.S.
The Complete Kerry Blue Terrier
Published by Denlinger’s, Silver Spring, Maryland, 1950.
6 1/4″ x 9 1/4″, hardbound with satiny blue cover bearing gold lettering and the black image of a Kerry head, glossy pages. Some versions of the book feature endpapers describing various postal stamp releases honoring dogs.
This book by Dr. E.S. Montgomery is an American Kerry classic, packed with useful information and photographs for the fancier. Chapters include: (1) The Personal Element; (2) The Early Origins of the Kerry Blue Terrier; (3) The Early Modern History of the Kerry Blue Terrier; (4) The Early Show History in England and Ireland; (5) The History of Kerry Blue Terrier Specialty Clubs in England and Ireland; (6) The History of the Kerry Blue Terrier in America; (7) The Heredity and Development of the Kerry Blue Terrier; (8) How to Judge a Kerry Blue Terrier; (9) The External Characteristics of the Kerry Blue Terrier; (10) Official Standard of the Kerry Blue Terrier; (11) The Character and Personality of the Kerry Blue Terrier; (12) The Feeding and Care of Kerry Blue Terriers; (13) How to Trim a Kerry Blue Terrier for the Exhibition Ring; (14) Kerry Blue Terrier Champions in England; (15) Kerry Blue Terrier Champions in America, and a preface, introduction, and concluding chapter. As with many of the older Denlingers books, this one carries a “Part II” with generic information on care, training, etc. The first part of the book completely devoted to original Kerry Blue text by Dr. Montgomery is 144 pages in length; Part II is 128 pages. Part II includes photographs of Kerries. The endpapers are unique – the front carrying a map of “The Kingdom of Kerry”; the back includes two drawings — one with a Kerry passing two Sealys and the quote, “An Irishman, a very valiant gentleman, I’ faith”, and the second showing a Kerry at the end of his lead addressing three Pekes, “Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat.” Both quotes from Shakespeare!

Montgomery, Dr. E.S.
The New Complete Kerry Blue Terrier
Howell Book House Inc., NY: 1965.
845 Third Ave., New York, NY 10222
2nd Edition. 1st printing 1965. 2nd printing, 1969.
An updated illustrated version of the original classic Montgomery book on the Kerry Blue Terrier published by Denlinger in 1950. Hardbound (5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″), with blue cover bearing gold and white lettering and a photograph of Gladys Titcomb’s Ch. Deed’s Show Off. Illustrated with B/W photos and pen & ink drawings 293pp.

Rathborne, M.F.
The Kerry Blue Terrier
“The Drogheda Independent” Co., Ltd. 1927
9, Shop Street, Drogheda, Ireland
A very rare book. I have only seen a typed copy of the text without illustrations.

Redlich, Anna
The Dogs of Ireland
First edition published in Ireland in 1949.
Hardcover book with dust jacket. 189 pages.
Breeds include: Irish Wolfhound, Irish Setter, Irish Red and White Setter, Irish Water Spaniel, Kerry Beagle, Irish Terrier, Kerry Blue Terrier, Glen of Imaal Terrier and Soft coated Wheaten Terrier.

Redlich, Anna
The Dogs of Ireland
Dundalk, 1981
W. Tempest, Dundalgan Press
An updated version of the book originally published in 1949.

Johns, Roeland.
Our Friends The Irish And Kerry Blue Terriers
Publisher: Methuen & Co., Ltd., London. First Edition published in 1935
This is a rare Out Of Print hardcover dog book that has a dust jacket with a B/W Photo of an Irish Terrier on it. The Book has 87 Pages and measures 4 1/2 x 7 inches in size. Inside this Book there are only 2 Old B/W Photos as a Frontispiece and they are of an Irish Terrier named “Ch.Culbahn Confidence” and a Kerry Blue Terrier named “Blue Wizzard of the Bog”. The Book has 14 written Chapters: 1) The Origin of the Irish Terrier, 2) Irish Terrier Temperament, 3) The Irish Terrier’s Show Career, 4) The Irish Terrier, 5) Preparing the Irish Terrier for Show, 6) The Rise of the Kerry Blue, 7) Showing the Kerry Blue, 8) The Kerry Blue Terrier, 9) The Kerry Blue’s Show Career, 10) The Breeding of Irish and Kerry Blue Terriers, 11) Rearing and Training Puppies, 12) Glossary of Terms, 13) The Law and the Dog, 14) Ailments and Remedies. This Book would be a nice addition to any Irish or Kerry Blue Terrier lover’s library.

Schneider, Earl
Know Your Kerry Blue Terrier
Published by The Pet Library Ltd,
A guide to dog care and history of the Kerry Blue Terrier. Softcover, 64 pp, colour illustrations and photos.

Schweppe, Frederick
How To Raise And Train A Kerry Blue Terrier
T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Neptune City, NJ. 1964
A soft back book published in 1964. Contains 9 chapters over 64 pages with lots of info, a color cover but all photos inside are black & white pictures. Measures approx. 8 inches x 5.5 inches.
It has a lot of valuable information, (the history of the breed, characteristics, etc.) and great pictures.

Schweppe, Frederick
Kerry Blue Terriers
TFH Publications Inc., Neptune City, New Jersey, 1990
This book illustrated throughout entirely with 175 full-color photos and drawings presents sensible easy-to-follow recommendations about selecting and caring for a Kerry Blue Terrier It concentrates on providing readers with the information they need and want all given in an interesting and easy-to-read style. Following is just a partial listing of the topics covered: History of the Kerry Blue Terrier; Description of the Kerry Blue Terrier; Grooming; Selecting Your Dog; The New Family Member; Feeding Requirements; Accommodations; Housebreaking and Training; Behavior Modification; Health Care; Preventive Dental Care; Breeding; Dogs and the Law; Index. Hardcover, 192pp, index, color illustrations.

Williams, Capt. A. Watts
The Kerry Blue Terrier
Peter Hopwood & Co., Ltd. c 1923
17 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.1
Captain A. Watts Williams organized the Blue Terrier Club of England. This is more of a pamphlet than a book but might be a challenge to the claim that Egerton Clark wrote the first book

KERRY BLUE TERRIER COLLECTIBLES

BREED CLUB PUBLICATIONS
This section includes those materials produced and published under the auspices of Kerry Blue Terrier Breed Clubs both in the U.S. and in other countries. AKC materials developed in cooperation with the USKBTC are included. Common type publications such as handbooks are listed in reverse chronological order. The edition frequency of the Breed Books of the early 40s were constructed through the use of references in other books as I have not had the good fortune to see any of these documents. It is possible that there could be errors in dates, etc. Validation is welcome. Bob Nazak

United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club, Inc.
The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook, 2005.
Carol Kearney,Editor. over 400pp, black-and-white drawings and photos, rosters of champions and top producers, breeder advertising. Many contributors include articles on health, structure, movement, performance, the standard,and the breeder’s perspective on the Kerry Blue. Copies are available in the shop section of the national club’s website at http://www.uskbtc.com.

United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club, Inc.
The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook, 1992.
Susan Dunivent, Editor. 322pp, black-and-white drawings and photos, rosters of champions and top producers, breeder advertising. Contributors include Carol A. Basler on “Setting Kerry Ears,” Edith Izant on judging and the working Kerry blue, Gay Stahley on obedience, Dr. Ralph A. Reilly on “Structure, Conformation and Movement.”

The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook, 1985
Published by the United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club, Inc. Publication Committee Chair, Fern Rogers. 224 Pages.

The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook, 1976.
The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook, 50th Anniversary Year, 1976, published by the Kerry Blue Terrier Club of the United States. Publication Committee Chair, Mrs. Walter L. “Zippy” Fleisher. 147 pages. Contents include: Foreword, The Origin of the Kerry Blue Terrier, The KBT as a Pet, Feeding, Health Hints, Housebreaking, Grooming, The KBT as a Show Dog, The KBT in Obedience Training, Conditioning the KBT, Trimming the KBT, Preparing and Handling a Kerry – Show Competition, Official American Standard of the KBT, Basic Functional Anatomy of the KBT, Contemplations for the Novice Breeder, Miscellaneous Hints to the Novice Breeder, Tail docking and dew claw removal, Setting Kerry ears, Repeat Breeding, Bringing Kerry History Up To Date, 1968-1976, The Parent Club and the AKC, Breeders Displays. A wonderfully illustrated (drawings and numerous photographs) volume with a huge amount of information all together in one place!

The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook, 1968 .
The book is a softcover with 124 pages and also includes a trimming chart that is 17″ X 22″.

The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook, 1964.
Botho Lilienthal, Chairman, Publication Committee. Kerry Blue Terrier Club Publication 1964 Soft covered book for owners and lovers of this type of dog. Published by the United Kerry Blue Terrier Club Inc.1964. Contains good quality photos in black and white. Has a large advertising section at the back for kennels, champions, and stud services catered to this breed of dog. 112 pages.
United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club, Inc. (continued)
“The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook”, 1958.
Dr. E.S. Montgomery, Chairman, Publication Committee. Committee included Edith Izant, Mrs. Botho Lilienthal, Mrs. Edward Loebe, Gladys Titcomb, and Mrs. Mathew J. Whittall. Published in 1958 by the US Kerry Blue Terrier Club Inc. 112 pages.

The Kerry Blue Terrier Handbook, 1952 .
Published in 1952 by the US Kerry Blue Terrier Club Inc. Dr. E.S. Montgomery was Chairman of the Publication Committee which included Donald Flavin, Gladys Titcomb, Edith Izant, and Ruth Hanning. This 107-page book is a gem. From its Forward by Donald Flavin through the well written and illustrated Conformation and Trimming Chapters, this great Breed is presented for today’s breeder. Overviews of Ireland, the US and England’s Kerries are accompanied by corresponding Kerry Standards for Conformation judging. A Chapter on judging the Kerry written by William Fox is extraordinary. The second half of the book is given over to the kennels of the day. The ‘Greats’ of Kerry lineage are presented in crisp, uncluttered photographs. Photos of dogs who are known as names on Pedigrees are now available to you in prestigious wins at Morris and Essex or as single dog photos to be studied and appreciated for years to come.

Kerry Blue Terrier, A Book of the Breed, 1949
Fifth Breed Book published by the United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club, contains the “New Standard”. 70 text pages on glossy paper. Good articles about coat care, puppies, and early history of the Kerry in the US.

The Kerry Blue Terrier, A Book of the Breed, 1947
The fourth Breed Book Published by the USKBTC.

The Kerry Blue Terrier, A Book of the Breed, 1946 .
Mr. Donald Flavin, President, USKBTC.
The third Breed Book Published by the USKBTC.

The Kerry Blue Terrier, A Book of the Breed, 1945 .
Mr. Hutchings, President, USKBTC.
The second Breed Book Published by the USKBTC.

The Kerry Blue Terrier, A Book of the Breed, 1942.
Mr. McKinney, Editor, USKBTC. Mr. Hutchings, President, USKBTC.
The first Breed Book published by the USKBTC.

Get a Kerry Blue Terrier, 1940.
A double-paged sheet produced by the Club. Intended for wide distribution to encourage interest in the breed.

Breed Booklet, 1940.
Mr. Henry Pattison, USKBTC.
A 12-page booklet published by the USKBTC. Based on an article that appeared in the March 1938 edition of House & Garden. The need for the booklet was suggested by Mr. William L. Day in the Kerry Blue Column in the March 1940 AKC Gazette.

United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club, Inc. (continued)
Progressive Neuronal Abiotrophy, A Genetically Inherited Disease in Kerry Blue Terriers
A pamphlet reporting the results of a committee study of PNA published by the USKBTC in1975.
William Caffey, Chairman, Abiotrophy Committee

Illustrated Standard of The Breed
A large pamphlet published in 1996. The document is a detailed discussion of the breed standard featuring many illustrations. Developed by a select committee of the USKBTC. Edith Izant, Committee Chair

USKBTC Photo Pedigree Book
Produced by the USKBTC in 1997. The document housed in a three ring binder with removable sheets featuring pedigrees of many Kerry Blue Terriers, one to a page. A valuable research and breeding resource. Dr. Scott Kellogg, DVM, Editor

USKBTC Tri-Fold
2002
Information brochure published and distributed by the Governors, as a basic source of information concerning the club. Intended for current and potential club members

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Empire Kerry Blue Terrier Club
Perry, Horace J.
Commentary on the Kerry Blue Terrier Standard
The Empire Kerry Blue Terrier Club, New York. 1991
A pamphlet written by “Jud” Perry a longtime Kerry Breeder and handler, Registered Kennel name “Kearnach”. The pamphlet was prepared as a fundraiser for the Empire Kerry Blue Terrier Club and reflected the information on the breed standard that was included in many lectures given by Jud over the years. One of the primary purposes of these lectures was to support the AKC Judges seminars conducted as part of the education of Judges new to the breed.

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American Kennel Club
The Complete Dog Book
The 19th Edition of best selling dog book of all time, The Complete Dog Book includes photographs, history, and the official standard for every breed admitted to AKC registration. This practical guide offers expert guidance for selecting the right dog, and information on registry, breeding, health care, training, and events. A glossary of dog terms appears within and many color photographs are used to illustrate the breeds. Size 6″ x 8″. Pages 790.

Kerry Blue Terrier Breed Standard Video
A valuable reference tool for judges, serious fanciers and breeders. The video produced in cooperation with the USKBTC offers a point-by-point analysis of a breed’s standard, with examples of dogs standing for examination and gaiting, and side-by-side comparisons of different specimens. Average run time per tape is about 20 minutes. USKBTC production committee included Jud Perry, Ruth Ann Reilly and Bob Nazak. Along with AKC Judge Phyllis Haage, the committee supervised the filming and editing of the video.

American Kennel Club (continued)
Breed Standard Packets
A Breed Standard is a written description of the ideal specimen for each breed and is written by the Parent Club of the breed. The standards are printed on a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 size sheet, which have been pre-punched to fit a 3-ring binder (6.5×9). They are packaged according to the breed’s designated group. A 3-ring binder with the AKC logo on the front and pockets on the inside covers is available to carry the standards.

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Izant, Edith
Kerry Blue Terrier Trimming Chart
A chart depicting the correct trimming and grooming of the Kerry Blue Terrier. It measures 23-5/8″ W by 18-5/8″ H. The dog is Townshend`s Lisduff Lady, owned & bred by Edith & Heard Izant. This chart tells you step-by-step or dog part by dog part, how to trim the hair. It is in black & white, very informative.

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Kerry Blue Terrier Club of England
Kerry Blue Terrier Club of England Handbook
1960.
87 pages, soft cover, many photographs.

Kerry Blue Terrier Club of England Handbook
1st 1953

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Northern Kerry Blue Terrier Club of England
Handbook of The Northern Kerry Blue Terrier Club
1990.
Handbook Of The Northern Kerry Blue Terrier Club 1990, 1st edition 1990, illustrated softback, complete with numerous black & white photographic illustrations of Kerry Blue Terriers. 96 pages.

KERRY BLUE TERRIER COLLECTIBLES

MAGAZINES & PERIODICALS
This section includes those magazines and periodicals that feature significant articles on the Kerry Blue Terrier or that feature the Kerry on the cover. Publications that include casual mention, advertisements, win reports, or breed columns are not included since the list would become unwieldy. This list is certainly far from complete, however it does represent a good cross section of this type material. Additions are welcome. Bob Nazak

AKC Gazette – September 1930
“Oakcrest Kerries Are True Blue” . An article consisting of seven (7) pages and 11 photographs written by Arthur Frederick Jones

AKC Gazette – June 2000
AKC Gazette magazine, June 2000 featuring the Kerry Blue Terrier.

Dogdom Magazine. September 1925, Volume 26, Number 7
F.E. Bechmann, Editor and Publisher
Battle Creek Michigan
Cover is Ch Castletown Rose owned by Miss Thomas. Lead article, “The Irish Blue Terrier”, was written by Henry B. Fotterell, Vice-Chairman of the Irish Kennel Club. Article “to be continued”, presumably in the next edition. Several ads by kennels of the time also included.

Dogs in Canada magazine – 1954
December 1954 issue Kerry Blue on the cover

Dogs in Canada magazine – 1955
December 1955 issue Kerry Blue on the cover

Dogs Monthly – 1991
May 1991 issue. Contains a Feature on the Kerry Blue Terrier. Contains 12 pages of info on the Kerry Blue including lovely b/w photos, the Standard, History, and breeders.

The Dog News. April 1928, Volume VI, Number IV
Adams, Glenn, M.D., Editor & Publisher
Corner Pearl and Race Streets
Cincinnati, OH
Cover Photo of Grand Champion Grabhaire who was owned by Mr. B. Jerome Megargee. This issue was the “All-Terrier number”, but other than the cover, the only other articles were on the Irish Terrier and trimming Wire-coated Terriers.

Dog World, June 1933
Standards of all breeds issue. Published by Will Judy. Front cover is famous imported Kerry Blue terrier, “Gougane Barra of the Cluain”, owner Irvin Mattick, St Louis. 152 pages chocked full of photos, ads, articles, show news and the standard for all AKC recognized breeds. Measures approx 9″ x 12″.

Dog World, 1937
Dog World Magazine, pre-WWII Christmas 1937. Christmas Annual & Dog Directory issue. The cover features “Little Miss Heather Brown and three Kerry Blue Terriers bred and owned by the Blue Leader Kennels of Mrs. C.H. Jackson, Jr., Santa Barbara, California”. Wide variety of breed advertisers featured. 144 pages.
Dog World, 1947
This November 1947 issue of Dog World Magazine features a Kerry Blue Terrier on cover. The dog is identified as Champion Bemel Embargo of Cloca Mora. Cloca Mora was the Kennel name used by Mr. & Mrs. Roessle McKinney of New Canaan, CT. Both served as Governors of the USKBTC.

Dog World – March 1983
160 pages. The dog on the cover is Kernwood’s Take it on the Lamb – the first Kerry to be registered with the Livestock Guard Dog Association. Lots of articles & ads.

Harper’s Bazaar, 1941
Dog Bazaar page – Kerry Blue Terrier Dogs. This is a two page complete article. Lots of dog related ads and prints.

House & Garden Magazine. March 1938.
Contains an article on the Kerry Blue Terrier by Mr. Henry Pattison (exact title unknown). This article reportedly served as the basis for the first booklet of the breed published by the USKBTC in 1940.

Kennel Review – May 1947
May 1947 issue of Kennel Review features a Kerry Blue Terrier on the cover. The magazine
includes many black and white photos of the day’s show wins. Photos cover many breeds including Kerry Blue Terriers.

National Geographic Magazine – 1936
The February 1936 National Geographic Magazine includes a 28 page article focusing on the terrier breeds and titled “Gallant Sportsmen Of The Terrier Tribe “. The magazine featured paintings of renowned Animal artist E. H. Miner. The artwork included excellent colors and detail. There are 8 color plates and numerous black and white photographs. Included was a painting featuring Kerry Blue and Manchester Terriers. Breeds represented and discussed include: Bedlington Terrier; Wire haired fox terrier; smooth fox terrier; Airedale; Irish terrier; Welsh terrier; schnauzer (listed as a terrier!); Lakeland terrier; Dandie Dinmont; Bull Terrier; Scottish terrier; Manchester terrier; Kerry blue Terrier; Sealyham terrier; Cairn Terrier; Silky Terrier.

New Zealand Kennel Gazette – Kerry Blue Terrier – 1992
May 1992 New Zealand Kennel Gazette (magazine), featuring a detailed 24 page supplement on the Kerry Blue Terrier. The Kerry Blue Terrier supplement includes articles on the history, characteristics.

The Literate Kerry (Vol.14)

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:24:10 GMT

(The following excerpt was taken from Dog People, edited by Michael Rosen. This particular passage was also written by M. Rosen.)

Dog People

Dog people are folks who want their lives to be a little doggier – more physical contact, consistency, innocence wildness, routine, unselfconsciousness, and even humility. Observing a dog is an exercise in appreciating the gifts of the nonhuman. Dog people try to put more “nature” in the concept of human nature. Dog people feel that seeing their dog basking on a sunny pane of carpet is a good reason to snuggle up for a snooze; they take the thumping tail as reassurance that yielding to the moment was the right decision. They like to be greeted each time they’ve been away, a reminder that life is too unbearably short to feign indifference to any joy, however familiar and constant. Dog people appreciate a dog’s expectations:Now is when we walk. Now is when I hop on the bed and you massage my ears. Now comes the part when you say you’ll be back, but I know you won’t be home before dinner. Dog people’s souls are anchored by gravity of another creature’s similar needs.

(Nanette Loya sent this to us, and we were given permission to post it. Thanks Nanette. The author of the piece is unknown.)

What is a Breeder?

A Breeder (with a capital B) is one who thirsts for knowledge and never really knows it all, one who wrestles with decisions of conscience, convenience, and commitment.

A Breeder is one who sacrifices personal interests, finances, time, friendships, fancy furniture, and deep pile carpeting! She/He gives up the dreams of a long, luxurious cruise in favor of turning that all important show into this years “vacation.”

The Breeder goes without sleep, (but never without coffee!), in hours spent planning a breeding or watching anxiously over the birth process, and afterwards, over every little sneeze, wiggle or cry.

The Breeder skips dinner parties because that litter is due, or the babies have to be fed at eight. She/He disregards birth fluids and puts mouth to mouth to save a gasping newborn, literally blowing life into a tiny, helpless creature that may be the culmination of a lifetime of dreams.

A Breeder’s lap is a marvelous place where generations of proud and noble champions once snoozed.

A Breeder’s hands are strong and firm and often soiled, but ever so gentle and sensitive to the thrusts of a puppy’s wet nose.

A Breeder’s back and knees are usually arthritic from stooping, bending, and sitting in the birthing box, but are strong enough to enable the breeder to show the next choice pup to a championship.

A Breeder’s shoulders are stooped and often heaped with abuse from competitors, but they’re wide enough to support the weight of a thousand defeats and frustrations.

A Breeder’s arms are always able to wield a mop, support an armful of puppies, or lend a helping hand to a newcomer.

A Breeder’s ears are wondrous things, sometimes red (from being talked about) or strangely shaped (from being pressed against a phone receiver), often deaf to criticism, yet always fine-tuned to the whimper of a sick puppy.

A Breeder’s eyes are blurred from pedigree research and sometimes blind to her own dog’s faults, but they are ever so keen to the competitions faults and are always searching for the perfect specimen.

A Breeder’s brain is foggy on faces, but it can recall pedigrees faster than an IBM computer. It’s so full of knowledge that sometimes it blows a fuse: it catalogues thousands of good structures, fine ears, and perfect heads… and buries in the soul the failures and the ones that didn’t turn out. The Breeder’s heart is often broken, but it beats strongly with hope everlasting… and it’s always in the right place !

Oh, yes, there are breeders, and then, there are
BREEDERS!!

(The following passage was written by Patricia B. Mc Connell, Ph.D. in a personal essay entitled, “Love is Never Having to Say Anything at All.” In this essay, she writes about her dog Luke and the lack of a shared language between dogs and humans.)

“Love is Never Having to Say Anything at All”
Excerpt

Our lack of a shared language is a profound disadvantage sometimes, causing us no end of grief when we’re desperate to ask our dogs what’s wrong with them, or yearning to explain why we are torturing them with yet another radiation treatment. Our ability to talk to one another may be one of the greatest accomplishments of the human species, and there are times when I’d give anything to be able to communicate with Luke in greater depth than I can now. But speech comes with a price. Being in conversation with even a good friend raises your blood pressure. It takes a lot of mental energy to make decisions about what words to say, how to string them together, what tone to use when you say them. That’s the very same energy that spiritual leaders advise us to turn off as a way of revitalizing ourselves. The constant conversation that most of us have in our heads as we’re driving, eating, and walking through the park can be exhausting (“Did I turn off the water in the herb garden? What should I do about Spots’ arthritis? It’s getting worse. Shoot, I forgot to get the oil checked when I got gas last night.”) and is so inherent to the way our brains work that we actually have to practice turning it off. Anyone who’s tried meditation knows how difficult it can be to shut off the internal chatter that comes with being verbal.

Experts at meditation can be “in the present,” and free of mental noise for hours, but I’m thrilled to turn off my brain for a minute or two. That’s because I’m a novice at a skill we humans need to learn and practice. But I doubt that Luke has to practice meditating to be able to experience the kind of spiritual peace humans have to learn to find. Being nonverbal allows an otherwise intelligent, highly connected animal to live in the present without the hailstorm of internal converstaions that complicate our human lives. If you think about it, most of what we “talk” about in our own heads isn’t about the present, it’s about the past or future. But dogs keep us firmly rooted in the here and now, and that, it turns out, is a notable accomplishment.

Where but with dogs (and selected other animals) can we have such a deep and meaningful relationship with so little baggage? Words may be wonderful things, but they carry weight with them, and there’s a great lightness of being when they are discarded. The story of the Garden of Eden is a lovely allegory for the cost if cognition. Being able to use our brains the way that we do separates us from the rest of the animal world, and like most everything else in life, has its costs as well as its benefits.

And so, perhaps it’s not just the things we share with dogs that wrap us together in mutual love. In the lovely balanced irony of yin and yang, it’s the differences as much as the similarities that bring us together.

I do know that some of my happiest times are when Luke and I sit silently together, overlooking the green, rolling hills of southern Wisconsin. Our lack of language doesn’t get in the way, but creates an opening for something else, something deep and pure and good. We dog lovers share a kind of Zen-like communion with our dogs, uncluttered by nouns and adverbs and dangling participles. The connection speaks to a part of us that needs to be nurtured and listened to, but is so often drowned out in the cacophony of speech. Dogs remind us that we are being heard, without the additional weight of words. What a gift. No wonder we love them so much.

Compiled by
Carol Kearney

The Literate Kerry (Vol.13)

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 22:24:37 GMT

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 13)

Mark Twain (pseud.) wroteFollowing the Equator in 1897. The excerpt below is taken, as written, from that selection.)

Dogs are incapable of blushing, a fact which has given rise to the suggestion that they are incapable of shame. Even if dogs could blush this would pass unnoticed on a black dog. Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.

(The following excerpt was taken from A Sheaf written in 1916 by John Galsworthy, (1867-1933). He wrote novels, plays and short stories with themes that focus on upper class English society, the economically and socially oppressed and explored questions of social justice. Galsworthy was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in literature.)

Many, no doubt, first bound or bred the dog to his service and companionship for purely utilitarian reasons; but we of to-day, by immemorial tradition and a sentiment that has become almost as inherent in us as the sentiment toward children, give him a place in our lives utterly different from what we accord to any other animal,(not even excepting cats); a place that he has won for himself throughout the ages, and that he ever increasingly deserves. He is by far the nearest thing to man on the face of the earth; the one link that we have spiritually with the animal creation; the dumb creature into whose eyes we can look and tell pretty well for certain what emotion, even what thought, is at work within; the dumb creature which—not as a rare exception, but almost always—steadily feels the sentiments of love and trust. This special nature of the dog is our own handiwork, a thing instilled into him through thousands of years of intimacy, care, and mutual service, deliberately and ever more carefully fostered; extraordinarily precious even to those of us who profess to be without sentiment. It is one of the prime factors of our daily lives in all classes of society—this mute partnership with dogs.

(In History of Quadrupeds, written in 1790, Thomas Bewick gives his opinion of the terrier .)

The Terrier has a most acute smell, is generally an attendant on every pack of Hounds, and is very expert in forcing Foxes or other game out of their coverts. It is the determined enemy of all the vermin kind; such as Weasels, *Foumarts, Badgers, Rats, Mice, &c. It is fierce, keen, and hardy; and in its encounters with the Badger, sometimes meets with a very severe treatment, which it sustains with great courage and fortitude. A well-trained Dog frequently proves more than a match for that hard-biting animal.

There are two kinds of Terrier,- the one rough, short legged, long-backed, very strong, and most commonly of a black or yellowish colour, mixed with white; the other is smooth, sleek, and beautifully formed, having a shorter body, and more sprightly appearance: it is generally of a reddish brown colour, or black, with tanned legs; and is similar to the rough Terrier in disposition and faculties, but inferior in size, strength, and hardiness.

*A Fomart is a European Ferret.

(A Ring-Ouzel is a rare bird often called the Blackbird of the Moors. The author of the poem is unknown.)

Ring-Ouzel

Ay, see the hounds with frantic zeal
The roots and earth uptear;
But the earth is strong and the roots are long,
They cannot enter there.
Outspeaks the Squire, “Give room, I pray,
And hie the terriers in;
The warriors of the fight are they,
And every fight they win.”

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 12)

Sun, 05 Dec 2004 22:25:01 GMT

Take That, Will Rogers
By Steven Bauer

(Steven Bauer is a novelist, poet and director of a writing program in Ohio. Two of his books are The Seven Months of Winter and Satyrday. The excerpt below is taken from his personal essay entitled, “Take That, Will Rogers,” in which he discusses the unique traits of dogs in general and his five dogs – Minnie, Gabrielle, Chance, Pippin and Pittsburgh, – that now live with him and his family.)

I never met a dog I didn’t like.
When I was growing up, I heard this said not about dogs but about people, a sentiment I found deeply mystifying, even stupid. As far as I was able to tell, this Mr. Rogers, who had first admitted liking all people, was grown up, had the benefit of years of experience, and still had not discovered what I already knew at a very young age. I had found that there were lots of people I didn’t like, lots of people who weren’t worth liking. The neighborhood bully, for example, who had tied me to a tree and made me smoke a whole pack of Winstons; Miss Searle, my teacher, who was a fanatic about the flutophone; our next door neighbors, the Mienkes, whose devotion to their lawn precluded my ever traversing it. Though I was young, I’d learned that people could be mean and petty, blustery, braggadocious, exclusionary, obtuse, selfish, and cruel. At the time—don’t ask me how this is possible—I knew no dogs, and so the concept of peace, goodwill, and charity toward and entire species was alien to me. But it is no longer.

Sure, I’ve run into several dogs I was wary of, and one or two whose annoying personal habits have put me off—incessant and annoying barking, or an obsession with the human knee—but by and large my major impulse, when I see a dog, is to stop whatever I’m doing and say hello. I hesitate to write about this because it makes me seen like the sort of sentimentalist who goes all weepy at the sight of painted puppies and kitties with eyes the size of dinner plates, and this is emphatically not the case. I don’t feel all weak nad fuzzy inside when I see a dog; I feel, rather, exhilarated and interested, braced, ready for the world to take on new colorations and possibilities. Dogs, with their nose-to-the-ground, tail-wagging eagerness, their let-me-at-that-squirrel enthusiasm, remind me that what might on some days seem routine or dreary is only that way if you refuse to see the world at each moment with new eyes.

I could not tell you how many times our small pack has made its way across the fenced acre we have for them—enough times, anyway, for them to know each blade of grass intimately. And yet, every morning when they charge out the back door and into the field, it’s with the wide-eyed amazement of Cortez on a peak in Darien. What new wonder waits in store? What new outrage? Which other animals have left their scents and scat? Have the farmers momentarily deserted a piece of bizarre-looking and totally terrifying machinery the pack wants to flee from but will nevertheless bark at bravely as it stands its ground? Are the cows standing moon-faced and foreign, great impressionist splotches of black and white begging to be harried? What new rodents can be unearthed? What new cats scared up a tree?

. . .When all five dogs are together in a room, the resulting tumult, the conflicting desires, the vocalizations, can get a bit daunting. Minnie will want a bit of solitude, while Gabrielle will believe that not heard is not seen; Pippin will be inflicting upon Gabrielle her insatiable interest, white Chance might well raise his muzzle and croon. And over it all, Pittsburgh will canter, regal and a bit anxious, hoping for a chewie. It’s at moment like this that I catch myself, fierce believer in regulating the number of one’s offspring as I am, understanding those parents who find themselves having just one more child, and then on beyond that. I remind myself that if I didn’t have these dogs, that all but one of them came because someone else abandoned them. Sure, the costs and difficulties multiply, but so does the joy.

I know that I am preaching to the converted here, but nevertheless . . .I still believe I was right as a child to distrust Will Roger’s naïve faith in humankind, and I still believe my current parallel faith in dogs is not misfounded. Much has been written about the loyalty of dogs, but what I love about them isn’t their devotion to me so much as their devotion to being alive. I love their open hearted willingness to take the world on its own terms. Let me at it, they say; sock it to me. Here I come, ready or not. Let the games begin.

How to Read Your Dog
By Danny Shanahan

(You might recognize this name because it has appeared in the New Yorker magazine for more that fifteen years. Danny Shanahan has been a contributor and cover artist, and his cartoons have been collected in volumes entitled, Lassie, Get Help and the children’s book, Buckledown the Workhound. In this humorous essay, he gives you his own slant on how to interpret dogs by anyalyzing three categories: how a dog looks, what a dog says and what a dog does. This excerpt below gives you an idea of his unique interpretation of dog behavior.)

Looks
The Head Cock

To assume that dogs who cock their heads are simply listening is a half-truth; to assume they’re trying to hear and understand us is something worse. Dogs who cock their heads are engaged in a fierce inner struggle—not merely to comprehend, but to also remain calm and respectful. Were it not for the act of tilting their mugs in mock concentration (usually biting their tongues or the inside of their cheeks as well), they would run the potentially embarrassing risk of laughing—loud, long, uncontrollably—at nearly everything we say to them.

Says
The Short Yip

The short Yip, or Yap, is the “aloha” of the canine language. Depending on the breed, sex, situation, or mood of the dog in question, it can mean “hello” or “good-bye,” “yes” or “no,” “say what?” or “muzzle it!” It’s frequently used to show annoyance or impatience, and can be when repeated in an incessant, mind-numbing, machine-gun mantra, extremely effective in driving off burglars, evil spirits, psychoanalysts, and children selling candy bars or magazines.

Does
Riding With the Head Out the Window

Dogs have long endured a shaky, distrustful relationship with cars. A loved one carried off, a trip to the vet, motion sickness, even the specter of sudden death—these are onoy a few of the memories that contribute to a deep unease in or around automobiles. Any dog who enjoys riding in a care is, in fact, a consummate actor. With his head out the window, he can fill his gray wooly with wind and distractions. Perhaps he’ll pretend he’s a jet or a chickadee. He can count men with ponytails, or women in black tights. With his feet off the ground and his tongue hanging out, he’s moving full-speed ahead, not sure of where he’s going, or whether he’ll get there at all. He needs to count people—he’s dangerously close to becoming a person himself.

The Literate Kerry (Vol.11)

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 22:25:30 GMT

The following passage was taken from Travels with Charley, in Search of America, 1962, written by John Steinbeck. Charley was the name of Steinbeck’s dog, who accompanied him on his travels across America. Nobel and Pulizer Prize winning author, Steinbeck also wrote Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Tortilla Flat, The Red Pony and Of Mice and Men,among others.

Charley likes to get up early, and he like me to get up early too. And why shouldn’t he? Right after his breakfast he goes back to sleep. Over the years he has developed a number of innocent-appearing ways to get me up. He can shake himself and his collar loud enough to wake the dead. If that doesn’t work he gets a sneezing fit. But perhaps the most irritating method is to sit quietly beside the bed and stare into my face with a sweet and forgiving look on his face; I come out of a deep sleep with the feeling of being looked at. But I have learned to keep my eyes tight shut. If I even blink he sneezes and stretches, and the night’s sleep is over for me. Often the war of wills goes on for quite a time, I squinching my eyes shut and he forgiving me, but he nearly always wins. He liked traveling so much he wanted to get started early, and early for Charley is the first tempering of darkness with the dawn.

Inscription on a Monument
Senator George Graham Vest
1870
(Senator Vest (1830 -1904) was a Democrat from Missouri, who served in the Senate from 1879 to 1903. Senator Vest’s dog was killed by a neighbor. Below is a record of Senator’s statement to the court which considered the offence in 1870.)

Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honour when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.

Gentlemen of the Jury, a man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sicknss. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintery winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege that that of accompanying him to guard against dangers, to fight his enemies, and when the last scene all comes, and death takes the master in his embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.

The Literate Kerry (Vol.10)

Sat, 18 Sep 2004 22:25:51 GMT

The Borough,
by George Crabbe
1810

With eye uprais’d, his master’s looks to scan,
The joy, the solace, and the aid of man;
The rich man’s guardian, and the poor man’s friend,
The only being faithful to the end.

“My Dumb Friends”
by Ralph Wotherspoon

My home is a haven for one who enjoys
The clamour of children and ear-splitting noise
From a number of dogs who are alawys about,
And who want to come in and, once in, to go out.
Whenever I settle to read by the fire,
Some dog will develop an urge to retire,
And I’, constantly opening and shutting the door
For a dog to depart or, as mentioned before,
For a dog to arrive, who politely admitted,
Will make a bee-line for the chair I’ve just quitted.
Our friends may be dumb. but my house is a riot,
Where I cannot sit still and can never be quiet.

“Dog,”
by Harold Monro
1925

O little friend, your nose is ready; you sniff,
Asking for that expected walk,
(Your nostrils full of the happy rabbit-whiff)
And almost talk.

As so the moment becomes a moving force;
Coats glide down from their pegs in the humble dark;

You scamper the stairs,
Your body informed with the scent and the track and the mark
Of stoats and weasels, moles and badgers and hares.

We are going OUT. You know the pitch of the word.
Probing the tone of thought as it comes through fog
And reaches by devious means (half-smelt, half-heard)
The four-legged brain of a walk-ecstatic dog.

OUT through the garden your head is already low.
You are going your walk, you know,
And your limbs will draw
Joy from the earth through the touch of your padded paw.

Now, sending a little look to us behind,
Who follow slowly the track of your lovely play,
You fetch our bodies forward away from mind
Into light nad fun of your useless day.

Thus, for our walk, we took ourselves, and went
Out by the hedge, and tree, to the open ground.
You ranm in delightful strata of wafted scent,
Over the hill without seeing the view;
Beauty is hinted through primitive smells to you:
And that ultimate Beauty you track is but rarely found.

Home . . .and further joy will be waiting there:
Supper full of the taste of bone.
You lift up your nose again, and sniff, and stare
For the rapture known

Of the quick wild gorge of food, then the still lie-down;
While your people will talk above you in the light
Of candles, and your dreams will merge and drown
Into the bed-delicious hours of night.

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 9)

Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:26:17 GMT

Thoughts on Judging and Exhibiting

(The following excerpts were taken from a number of sources, however, they all have a central theme.)

Excerpt below taken from, “Bobby’s Main Vice was Orgies”
by Terence Brady

The more I see of dogs shows, the less I like people. I’m not talking Cruft’s here. I’m talking local. And rural. And small. They can be quite unnerving experiences as I discovered. I was invited to adjudicate in “The-Dog-You’d-Most-Like-To-Take-Home-With-You” class recently at one of our friendly neighbourhood canine expos, and accepted. Shows just how wrong you can be. I got savaged.

And not by a dog either. Nor by an owner. By several owners. All the proud proprietors of Dogs-You’d-Most-Like-To-Take-Home-With You. And they weren’t kidding. Two middle-aged ladies of indeterminate sex, who are usually to be found arranging the flowers in the Church, gave me a public and extremely abusive dressing down for passing over their most unappealing pub. A hitherto quite amenable ex-military gentleman now blantantly turns his back on me in the snug of The Mason’s Codpiece the moment I have bought him his gin and tonic for ignoring his rickety and foul-breathed whippet.

Worst of all, I receive regular anonymous hate mail from the little old lady down the road in the Thistle Cottage who looks like Mrs. Tiggywinkle. I know the letters are from her because she signs them Yours anonymously, Miss Ada Woolridge, Thistle Cottage. Apparently she will never forgive me till her dying day for failing to call into the final line-up her aging and toothless dachshund who rumour unkindly has it is in fact not a dog at all but a stoat.

But as anyone who has ever adjudicated knows only too well, the business of amateur arbitration more often than not veers inevitably towards the subjective. And the fact that I gave the Blue Ribbon in the class to the lookalike of my own first and beloved of canine companions, a sort of sheepdog thing, all hair, George Robey eyebrows, size ten and a half paws, and straight off the Walt Disney drawing board, should come as no great surprise to anyone.

Excerpt below taken from Bulldogdom, 1919
by A. G. Sturgeon

There is an old axiom. “An exhibitor’s business is to hide his dog’s faults and a judge’s to find them,” but do not infer from that saying anyone is entitled to fake his dog. There is just an ordinary ring-craft sense required, and if the dog being shown has a particular fault, the exhibitor will learn in time to make so much of the dog’s good qualities that the fault in question is more or less lost sight of by the judge.

If the exhibitor is a sportsman there is no need for me to dwell on the advice, “Keep smiling – win or lose.” But unfortunately there is a class of exhibitor whose idea of dog-showing is covered by the words, ” Wine, tie or wrangle,” and to such people there is only one course suggested, which is, either change their methods or keep out altogether. This class of exhibitor, unless placed at the top, either rags the judge openly or crawls round the show hinting at all sorts of low down ulterior motives.

If an exhibitor cannot both win and lose decently, his place is at home. To shy one’s hat in the air and behave otherwise like an exhuberant puppy with a bone, when one wins, and to give way to pettish temperment with malious mouthings when one loses, is to declare one’s-self absolutely outside the pale in any sport.

Excerpt below taken from Me and My Dogs, 1933
by Lady Kitty Ritson

Then I had to make tracks for New York, where I was judging Alsatians at the Westminster show.

I found to my horror that I was scheduled to begin at eight o’clock in the evening, a moment when I am generally thinking of my bed. This was the second time in my life that I have been really frightened in the show-ring, when I stood there really quite alone in a huge ring with hundreds of seats around, many of them filled with women in furs and wearing diamonds. Somebody kindly gave me a clap, and then everybody clapped – a friendly demonstration towards a shivering stranger which did do quite a bit towards heartening me.

That is a magnificent show, and the organization is wonderful. The dogs are kept below and brought upstairs for their classes when wanted by means of telephone messages. The rings are scrupulously clean and there is hardly any noise. I have judged three times in America, once at the “Garden” (Westminster) and twice at Mrs. Dodge’s show, the Morris and Essex. The latter is a fairyland show, held in May, out of doors, in blazing sunshine on a ground which is bright with flags and coloured chairs. Last time there was an entry of 2,000 individual dogs, and a “gate” of 25,000 people.

But to return to the New York show. I was inwardly shaking with the fright in that great ring, until I had looked over the first puppy dog, and then I was only interested. If you know your job you haven’t time to be frightened, and you can say that you know your job without being conceited. You may judge well or badly, but you can still know your job. At the end of the day you are fully cognisant of whether you have just judged “according to Cocker” or whether you have been blessed with that wonderful spirit of inspiration which every judge sometimes gets.

I enjoyed myself that evening, and I was looking fowards to doing the bitches the next day (“the females,” as most people in America call them, or “the matrons”). They still fight a bit shy of that controversial word “bitch.”

Classes in America are rather different from England, as at the very end of all things is a supreme class entitled “Not For Competition in the Classes” where the champions all parade. This provides intense excitement all round. So far, a little bitch had carried everything before her. She had won her classes, she was “Best of Winners’ and now she was to meet all the giants in keen combat.

Dear little “Lola,” I shall never forget her with her lovely feminine outline, and her perfect dignity. It was chock-a-block with well-known German imported champions, many of them old friends that I knew well. Amongst them, the celebrated “Utz v. Hauschutting,” a dog who was supposed to be the marvel of the age, and the latest German Grand Champion.

I paraded them round, I gazed at them, I weighed them up, and then I looked again at Lola- Lola so sound, so quiet, so typical, with none of the exaggerations which have ruined the breed. I walked forward and gave her handler, Simpson, the coveted purple and gold ribbon. Little Lola had beaten all the champions, and beaten them rightly.

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 8)

Sat, 07 Aug 2004 22:26:51 GMT

(The excerpt below was taken from a personal short story written by Michelle Hunever. Ms.Hunever is a novelist, as well as a restaurant critic for a local newspaper. Her novels include, Jamesland and Round Rock. This story, entitled, “Lala the Loot” is about her dog, Lala.)

We were happy in Atwater except for one thing. One major thing. We had a crazy next-door neighbor, a woman who had repeatedly been charged with being a “neighborhood nuisance.” Therese was in her late seventies and surely mentally ill; she was filled with hatreds, resentments, and frustrations–and that’s putting her pathology nicely. All my neighbors warned me about her. She called the authorities about everything, real and imagined, any infringement, no matter how small. When people, having forgotten something, pulled back in their driveways and ran into their houses, she called parking enforcement if they blocked the sidewalk. If a car was parked in one spot for over the seventy-two-hour limit, or with a bumper in the red zone, or more than eighteen inches from the curb, she call to have them ticketed.

Therese must have had a list of every petty authority and enforcer in Los Angeles County. She called the county agriculture inspector many times about my garden — when I mulched my roses with straw,(she believed mice live in straw and therefore, the day I mulched, called and told the inspector I had an infestation of vermin); and when I fertilized with steer manure (she said I’d strewn excrement on the premises). When I first moved in, she phoned my landlord every time I had a house guest or a visiting dog, and told him I had a new roomate and/or a new pet. He didn’t care, and began hanging up on her. Everyone in the neighborhood avoided and ignored her as much as possible.

Except Lala, who was happy to see old Therese as she was to see almost anybody. Also despite my endless requests to the contrary, Therese constantly fed Lala table scraps. Lala was perhaps the only living creature who ever exhibited even the slightest pleasure at the sight of this bitter, vindictive old woman. (Theres’s own husband, a timid man, would sometimes raise his voice in unmistakable agony, “Therese, you are am evil, evil person,” an assessment with which we neighbors, wincing in sympathy, unanimously agreed.) Lal had more compassion and humanity – and a greater love of table scraps –than all of us combined.

One chilly Sunday afternoon, I was watching videos in bed with my boyfriend. We were watching Prime Suspect miniseries, one episode after the other. The only problem was that the phone kept ringing. And it was never anyone I wanted to talk to more than I wanted to watch Helen Miren solve crimes. Finally, after someone called to ask how to make pot roast, my boyfriend said, “Don’t answer it anymore, okay?”

Lala was in and out of the house at her whim, sometimes joining us on the bed, sometimes patrolling the yard. The phone rang several times over the period of an hour. “God you get a lot of calls on a Sunday,” said my boyfriend.

Then someone was pounding on the door. I jumped up, pulled on a robe, and answered the door. It was Therese, with her weary, sagging face and hideoulsy swollen legs. She was eighty by then and nearer the end of her life . . .It must have been and enormous effort for her to walk all the way down my driveway. She’d been banging the door with her aluminum canes.

“A man stole Lala,” she said. “I’ve been trying to call you. He just opened the gate and stepped in and picked her up. He had white hair and a white mustache and a whole bouquet of white flowers. He probably stole those too,” she said.

My boyfriend and I moved into action. Dressed. Grabbed cell phones. We were so steeped in Prime Suspect, it seemed as if we were setting off into our own crime drama episode.

. . . We found our prime subject sitting on a cinder-block wall at the Foster’s. “Where’s my dog?” I asked him.

“Your dog? I haven’t seen your dog.” he said. And then, in the long grass behind him, I saw a familiar black-tipped tail. When he saw me spot her, he said, “I tried to call you and tell you I found her lost in the street.” . . .

And thus Lal was restored to me, again through the agency of a public enemy. We laughed about it–the high drama, the solving of a crime– but I was also keenly aware that it could have turned out very badly indeed.

I had almost sixteen happy years with Lala. As with many dogs, she was a study in unconditional love, but in her case, it was unconditional love of the most extroverted and expressive variety. She could beguile and charm even the worst of human beings, and somehow make them behave admirably on her behalf. She forced me to see the faintest spark of goodness in people. She made it impossible for me to thoroughly despise some of the most feared and disliked citizens in my community, for she brought out the best in them, brought out whatever trace of affection and responsibility slumbered within them . . .

Ah, Lala. You were a better human than I –except when it came to other dogs.

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 7)

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 22:27:18 GMT

Cleo for Short

(The excerpt taken from “Cleo for Short,” recounts Brooks Atkinson’s relationship with his dog Cleo. Justin Brooks Atkinson, 1894–1984, was an American journalist and an editor for the New York Times. He became its drama critic in 1925 and held that position until 1960. Atkinson’s books include Henry Thoreau, the Cosmic Yankee (1927), Broadway Scrapbook (1947), and Broadway (1970). An ardent naturalist and conservationist, he wrote This Bright Land: A Personal View (1972).)

“Like man, like dog,” was her motto. Her determination not to be discriminated against amounted to an obsession. She insisted on being in the bedroom when we slept and in the dining room when we ate. If we went swimming, so did she, ruining peaceful enjoyment. If we shut her in the next room when friends dropped in for an evening she threw herself impatiently against the door until, for the sake of quiet, we released her. Fair enough: that was all she wanted. After politely greeting every guest in turn she would then lie quietly in a corner. “You’re a pest,” I used to say, generally patting her at the same time. “Go and read a good book,” my wife would say with vexation. “What this dog needs is discipline,” my mother used to say with tolerant disapproval. To be candid about it, the discipline was easy. Excepting for the essentials, there was none. Cleo could be trusted to do nothing treacherous or mean. . .

. . . She stood well and held her tail primly. Her vanity was one of the most disarming things about her. Praise her mawkishly and she fairly melted with gratitude. She was an insufferable poseur. When I came home from work late at night and lounged a few moments before going to bed, she would sit up erect on the couch, throw out her chest grandly, and draw her breath in short gasps to attract attention. When everyone in the room was praising her–although with tongue in cheek–she would alternate the profile with the full face to display all her glory. “The duchess,” we used to call her when she was posing regally in the back seat of the open car. But she was no fool. She knew just how much irony we were mixing with the praise and she did not like to be laughed at. If she felt that the laughter was against her, she would crowd herself into a corner some distance away and stare at us with polite disapproval.

Not that my regard for her was based exclusively on her beauty and amusing personality. She had more than that to contribute; she had a positive value in the sphere of human relations. To give Cleo the proper exercise and a little fun, it was necessary to find a place where she could run. . .

On Saturdays and Sundays we explored deeper territory down to the Battery and around South Street, where barges tie up for the winter, or across the river to Hoboken, where ocean vessels dock. When Cleo trotted ahead as a sign of friendly intentions, I discovered that even in these distant quarters I, too, was cordially received, and we had great times together. On weekends we were thus in close touch with important affairs. Hardly a ship could dock or sail without our assistance. Sometimes when we were off our regular beat a tugboat we knew would toot us a greeting as she steamed by. “Hello, Cleo,” the skipper would bellow pleasantly from the wheelhouse. A man, as well as a dog, could hold up his head on an occasion like that. Thus Cleo opened up a new life for me, and it was vastly enjoyable for both of us.

There is no moral to be drawn from this tale of Cleo. Although the misanthrope says that the more he sees of man the better he likes dogs, the circumstances are unequal. If Cleo never did a mean thing in her life, there was no reason why she should. Her requirements in life were simple and continuously fulfilled. She was as secure as any dog could be. But men live insecure lives; food and shelter are necessities they work for with considerable anxiety. In a complicated existence, which cannot be wholly understood, they have to use not only their instincts but their minds, and make frequent decisions. They have to acquire knowledge by persistent industry. Their family associations are not casual, but based on standards of permanence that result in an elaborate system of responsibilities. It takes varying degrees of heroism to meet all these problems squarely and live a noble life. Living a life honorable in an adult world is not a passive but a creative job.

For Cleo it was much simpler. As far as I could see, there was nothing creative about it. The food was good; it appeared in the kitchen on time. The house was warm, dry, and comfortable. Her winter and summer clothes came without effort. Her associations were agreeable, including three dogs–all male–of whom she was especially fond. It was easy to maintain a sunny disposition in circumstances like that. But it would be unfair to deny Cleo her personal sweetness and patience. Whether her life was simple or not, she did represent a standard of good conduct. Her instincts were fine. She was loyal and forgiving. She loved everyone in the home. Beyond that, she was joyous and beautiful and a constant symbol of happiness. Although she obviously emulated us, sometimes I wonder. Shouldn’t I have emulated her?

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 6)

Tue, 06 Jul 2004 22:27:44 GMT

(Albert Payson Terhune was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1872. His family lived in Europe, Springfield, MA and Brooklyn, NY, but it was their summer home in Pompton Lakes, NJ that became famous.

Terhune’s home, Sunnybank, became the setting for most of his books on dogs. Terhune wrote for newspapers, magazines and published over fifty-five books, primarily on his dogs at Sunnybank. One book published in 1919 entitled, Lad, A Dog, is still in print. Although he wrote about his collies, his books talk to all people who own dogs.

Albert Terhune died in 1942. Much of the land once constituting Sunnybank was lost to developers in the 1960′s and the house was demolished in 1969. However, through the efforts of Terhune fans and dog fanciers, the central 9.6 acres was preserved and is now Terhune Sunnybank Memorial Park, administered by the Wayne Township Parks Department.

The passage below is taken from, “Some Sunnybank Dogs.”)

Of all my countless ignorances of dog nature, the densest is his yearning to be near his master or mistress.

I don’t know why my collies will leave their dozing in front of the living-room hearth for the privilege of following me out into a torrent of winter rain. They hate rain.

I don’t know why all folk’s dogs risk gladly a scolding by breaking out of a room or a kennel into which they have been shut, and galloping down the street or over the field to catch up with the master who purposely had left them behind.

Today (for another and non-thrilling instance) I am writing at my hammock desk, a hundred yards or more from the house, Seven dogs are with me. It is a cool, brilliant afternoon; just the weather for a romp. The lawns and the woods and the lake all offer allurement to my collies.

What are the seven doing? Each and every one of them is lounging on the ground, close to the hammock.

Even the crippled and ancient Sandy (Sunnybank Sandstorm) has left the veranda mat where he was so comfortable. To him all movement nowadays is a source of more or less keen discomfort. Yet he limped painfully down the six steps from the veranda to the driveway, and came slowy over to me, as soon as he found I was here; stretching himself at my feet, on bumpy ground much less comfortable than his porch bed. And here for the past two hours he has been drowsing with the others.

Why? I don’t know. There must be some mysterious lure in the presence of their human gods which gives dogs that silly yearning to stay at their sides; rather than to do more amusing and interesting things.

When I chance to go from the house toward the stables, a cloud of the white doves of Sunnybank fly to meet me and to escort me in winnowing flight to my destination. There is no mystery about this semblance of devotion. They know their food box is in a shed there.

The same cause was assignable to the welcoming whinnies of my horses ( when I still kept horses) that greeted me as I passed in through the sable doors in the early morning.

It is the same with the goldfish, when a hundred of them converge in fiery streams to where I halt at the curb of the wide lily pool; and when they wriggle fearlessly in and out among my dabbling fingers. They know – or hope – I am there to feed them.

No, none of those phenomena holds a single half-grain of mystery, any more than does human fawning on a rich relative. But the dogs – mine and everyone’s – stick around where we are and go where we go, through no graft motive at all.

They are absurd enough to want to be with us, and with no hope of reward. That is an impluse I have sought hard and vainly to explain to myself.

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 5)

Tue, 29 Jun 2004 22:28:08 GMT

(Author, cartoonist, humorist, and satirist, James Grover Thurber was born in 1894 in Columbus, Ohio. He began his career as a reporter for the Columbus Evening Dispatch and became known for his work on The New Yorker, where he was a writer and a cartoonist. Some say his most famous story is “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”

The brief passage below is taken from a personal essay entitled, “And So to Medve.” Although this excerpt does not directly relate to it, within the longer work, Thurber talks about his dog, Medve, which he states is Hungarian for “bear.” One Thurber aphorism is “The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.” Thurber died in 1961.)

Dog may be man’s best friend, but Man is often Dog’s severest critic, in spite of his historic protestations of affection and admiration. He calls an unattractive girl a dog, he talks acidly of dogs in the manger, he describes a hard was of life as a dog’s life, he observes, cloudily, that this misfortune or that shouldn’t happen to a dog, as if most slings and arrows should, and he describes anybody he can’t stand as a dirty dog. He notoriously takes the names of the female dog and her male offspring in vain, to denounce blackly members of his own race. In all this disdain and contempt there is a curious streak of envy, akin to what the psychiatrists know as sibling jealousy. Man is troubled by what might be called the Dog Wish, a strange and involved compulsion to be as happy and carefree as a dog, and I hope that some worthy psychiatrist will do a monograph on it one of these days. Even the Romans of two thousand years ago displayed the peculiar human ambivalence about the dog. There are evidences, in history and literature, of the Romans’ fondness for the dog, and my invaluable Cassell’s Latin Dictionary reveals proof of their hostility. Among the meanings of canis were these: a malicious, spitful person; a parasite, a hanger-on. The worst throw in dice was also known to the Romans as a dog. Caesar may have been afraid he would throw a dog that day he crossed the Rubicon.

Tracing aspersions on the dog in literature and in common everyday speech is a task for some stronger authority than I, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, but there are a few calumnies that I might glance at here, in passing. I remember when “Don’t be an Airedale all your life” was a common expression in the Middle West, and a man I knew in Zanesville thirty years ago used the expression a dozen times a day. Shakespeare takes many cracks at Dog from “I would rather be a dog and baying at the moon than such a Roman” to “Turn, hellhound!” which Mackduff hurls at the bloody Macbeth to start their fifth-act duel with broadswords. The Bard, knowing full well that it is men who are solely responsible for wars, nevertheless wrote “Cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of war!” But it is not only in the classics that the much-maligned hound has been attacked. A craven pugilist is known to boxing fans as a hound. And I have always resented the words Whittier put in Stonewall Jackson’s mouth: “Who touches a hair on yon gray head dies like a dog!” Here it is implied that any soldier who took a free shot at Barbara Frietchie would be shot, and shooting is rarely the end of a dog. There are a score of birds and animals which could more aptly have been substituted for the dog and I suggest, “Who touches a hair on yon gray head dies like a duck!” But alas, these ancient libels are past erasing, and Dog will simply have to go on enduring them as patiently as he can.

Editor’s Note:
To find out more about Shakespeare’s reference to the dog, please read the article written by Bob Nazak entitled, “Shakespeare Goes to Montgomery.”

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 4)

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 22:30:27 GMT

(This excerpt is taken from a personal essay entitled, “Crimes Against Dog,” written by Alice Walker about her dog Marley. Among her many literary awards, Ms. Walker received the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for The Color Purple.)

” What is it about dogs? I think what I most appreciate in Marley is how swiftly she forgives me. Anything. Was I cool and snooty when I got up this morning? Did I neglect to greet her when I came in from a disturbing movie? Was I a little short on the foodstuffs and did I forget to give her a cube of dried liver? Well. And what about that walk we didn’t do and the swim we didn’t take and why don’t I play ball with her the way I did all last week? And who is this strange person you want me to go off with? It doesn’t matter what it is, what crime against Dog I have committed. She always forgives me. She doesn’t even appear to think about it. One minute she’s noting my odd behavior, the next, if I make a move toward her, she’s licking my hand. As if to say, Gosh, I’m so glad you’re yourself again, and you are back!

Dogs understand something I was late learning: When we are mean to anyone or any being it is because we are temporarily not ourselves. We’re somebody else inhabiting these bodies we think of as us. They recognize this. Ooops, I imagine Marley saying to herself, sniffing my anger, disappointment, or distraction. My mommy’s not on there at the moment. I’ll just wait until she gets back. I’ve begun to feel this way more than a little myself. Which is to say, Marley is teaching me to be more self-forgiving. Sometimes I will say something that hurts a friend’s feelings. I will be miserable and almost want to do away with myself. Then I’ll think, But that wasn’t really the you that protects and loves this friend so much you would never hurt them. That was the you that slipped in because you are sad and depressed about other things: the state of your love life, your health, or the fate of the planet. The you that loves your friend is back now. Welcome her home. Be gentle with her. Tell her you understand. Lick her hand.”

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 3)

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 22:30:52 GMT

(The following is an excerpt from a personal essay entitled, “The Color of Joy,” written by Caroline Knapp. Ms. Knapp was a columnist and a memoirist who started her career as a reporter for the Phoenix newspapers. Her second book, Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs (Dial, 1998), deals with love and relationships. Ms. Knapp died June 3, 2004, at the age of 42.)

In my view, dogs can be shamanistic, can be heroic and gentle and wise and enormously healing, but for the most part are dogs, governed by their own biological imperatives and codes of conduct, and we do both them and our relationships with them a disservice when we romanticize them . . .

That said, I also believe that dogs can – and often do – lead us into a world that is qualitatively different from the world of people, a place that can transform us. Fall in love with a dog, and in many ways you enter a new orbit, a universe that features not just new colors but new rituals, new rules, a new way of experiencing attachment.

Everything shifts in this new orbit, sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. Walks are slower: You find yourself ambling up a city street instead of racing to a destination, the dog stopping to sniff every third leaf, every other twig, every bit of debris or detritus in your path. The clothes are different: Predog, I used to be very finicky and self-conscious about how I looked; now I schlep around in the worst clothing – big heavy boots, baggy old sweaters, a hooded down parka from L.L. Bean that makes me look like an astronaut. The language is different, based on tone and nuance instead of vocabulary. Even the equipment is new and strange: You find yourself ordering unthinkable products from the Foster & Smith catalog (smoked pigs’ ears, chicken-flavored toothpaste), and you find your living-room floor littered with sterilized beef bones and rawhide chips and plastic chew toys and topes and balls, and you find your cupboards stocked with the oddest things—freeze-dried liver cubes, tick shampoo, poop bags.

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 1)

Wed, 09 Jun 2004 22:31:39 GMT

Memories

The following excerpt was taken from a book entitled, Quality and Other Studies and Essays, written in 1912 by John Galsworthy. John Galsworthy (1867 -1933) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932.

“Memories”

If a man does not soon pass beyond the thought “By what shall this dog profit me?” into the large state of simple gladness to be with dog, he shall never know the very essence of that companionship which depends not on the points of dog, but on some strange and subtle mingling of mute spirits. For it is by muteness that a dog becomes for one so utterly beyond value; with him one is at peace, where words play no torturing tricks. When he just sits, loving, and knows that he is being loved, those are the moments that I think are precious to a dog; when, with his adoring soul coming through his eyes, he feels that you are really thinking of him . . . It is on our hearts that his life is engraved.

The Literate Kerry (Vol. 2)

Wed, 09 Jun 2004 22:31:12 GMT

(This is an excerpt from a short story by Ann Patchett, entitled, “This Dog’s Life.” To read the complete story and others by this author, look for the book, Dog Is My Co-Pilot.)

“You were always my most normal friend,” my friend Elizabeth told me, “until you got this dog.”

While I think I would have enjoyed the company of many different dogs, I believe that the depth of my feeling for Rose in particular comes from the fact that she is, in matters of intelligence, loyalty and affection, an extraordinary animal. In the evenings, I drive Rose across town to a large open field where people come together to let their dogs off their leashes and play. As she bounds through the grass with the Great Danes and the Bernese Mountain Dogs, I believe that there was never a dog so popular and well adjusted as mine (and yet realize at the same time that this is the height of my own particular brand of insanity). The other dog owners want to talk about identifying her lineage, perhaps in hopes that one of her cousins might be located. It is not enough for Rose to be a good dog. She must be a particular breed of dog. She has been, depending on how one holds her in the light, a small Jack Russell, a large Chihuahua, a Rat Terrier, a Fox Terrier and a Corgi with legs. At present, she is a Portuguese Podengo, a dog that to the best of my knowledge was previously unknown in Tennessee. It is the picture she most closely resembles in our International Encyclopedia of Dogs. We now say things like “Where is the Podengo?” and “Has the Podengo been outside yet?” to give her a sense of heritage. In truth, she is a Parking Lot Dog, dropped off in a snowstorm to meet her fate.

I watch the other dog owners in the park, married people and single people and people with children. The relationship each one has with his or her dog is very personal and distinct. But what I see again and again is that people are proud of their pets, proud of the way that they run, proud of how they nose around with the other dogs, proud that they are brave enough to go into the water or smart enough to stay out of it. People seem able to love their dogs with an unabashed acceptance that they rarely demonstrate with family or friends. The dogs do not disappoint them, or if they do, the owners manage to forget about it quickly. I want to learn to love like this, the way we love our dogs, with pride and enthusiasm and a complete amnesia for faults. In short, to love others the way our dogs love us.

When a dog devotes so much of herself to your happiness, it only stands to reason you would want to make that dog happy in return. Things that would seem unreasonably extravagant for yourself are nothing less than a necessity for your dog. So my boyfriend and I hired a personal trainer for Rose. We had dreams of obedience, of sit and stay and come, maybe a few simple tricks. She didn’t really seem big enough to drag the paper inside. I was nervous about finding the right trainer and called my friend Erica for moral support, but she was too busy going on interviews to get her four-year-old son into a top Manhattan preschool to be too sympathetic. The trainer we went with was the very embodiment of dog authority figures. After a few minutes of pleasant conversation in which Rose jumped on his shoulder and licked the top of his head, he laid out the beginnings of his plan.

Number one: The dog doesn’t get on the furniture.

We blinked. We smiled nervously. “But she likes the furniture,” we said. “We like her on the furniture.”

He explained to us the basic principles of dog training. She has to learn to listen. She must learn parameters and the concept of no. He tied a piece of cotton rope to her collar and demonstrated how we were to yank her off the sofa cushion with a sharp tug. Our dog went flying through the air. She looked up at us from the floor, more bewildered than offended. “She doesn’t sleep with you, does she?” the trainer asked.

“Sure,” I said, reaching down to rub her neck reassuringly. She slept under the covers, her head on my pillow, her muzzle on my shoulder. “What’s the point of having a twelve-pound dog if she doesn’t sleep with you?”

He made a note in a folder. “You’ll have to stop that.”

I considered this for all of five seconds. “No,” I said. “I’ll do anything else, but the dog sleeps with me.”

After some back-and-forth on this subject, he relented, making it clear that it was against his better judgment. For the duration of the ten-week program, either I sat on the floor with Rose or we stayed in bed. We celebrated graduation by letting her back up on the couch.

I went to see my friend Warren, who, handily, is also a psychologist, to ask him if he thought things had gotten out of hand. Maybe I have a obsessive-compulsive disorder concerning my dog.

“You have to be doing something to be obsessive-compulsive,” he said. “Are you washing her all the time? Or do you think about washing her all the time?”

I shook my head.

“It could be codependency, then. Animals are by nature very codependent.”

I wasn’t sure I liked this. Codependency felt too trendy. Warren’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Kate, came in, and I asked her if she wanted to see the studio portraits I had taken of Rose for my Christmas cards. She studied the pictures from my wallet for a minute and then handed them back to me. “Gee,” she said. “You really want to have a baby, don’t you?”

I went home to my dog. I rubbed her pink stomach until we were both sleepy. We’ve had Rose a year now, and there has never been a cold and rainy night when I’ve resented having to take her outside. I have never wished I didn’t have a dog, while she sniffed at each individual blade of grass, even as my hands were freezing up around the leash. I imagine there are people out there who got a dog when what they wanted was a baby, but I wonder if there aren’t other people who had a baby when all they really needed was a dog.

Shakespeare Goes to Montgomery

Sun, 02 Mar 2003 22:28:47 GMT

Mr. Shakespeare Goes to Montgomery

. . .as told to Bob Nazak

Though the word “dog” appears 151 times in the works of Shakespeare, the only dog to ever appear in a Shakespearean play was a small dog in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Sporting the name of Crab, he was owned by Valentine’s servant Launce. Though no breed is identified, the Oxford Companion to English Literature states that Crab appears to be a small lap dog, whose name suggests the size and sourness of a crab apple, clearly he was not a Kerry Blue. Contrary to rumors heard under the grooming tent, there is no evidence that crab was ever entered in an Elizabethan Dog Show. In fact, there is no record of dog shows being held in the late 16th century (though there are some obtuse and vague references on the MB-F Website). Sadly, Mr. Shakespeare could not have attended a Dog Show in his lifetime.

But then in October 2002, fate played a fortuitous trick when an unusual conjunction of the planets created a major rift in the time-space continuum, resulting in narrowly focused juxtaposition of the years 1602 and 2002. As luck would have it, the effect was centered in southeastern Pennsylvania and took place in early October — Montgomery weekend. Through good fortune and relativistic chance, we found ourselves staying in the same Holiday Inn as “The Bard”. Recognizing the unique opportunity to correct the 400-year-old defect in Mr. Shakespeare’s education, we invited him to the show. After we explained what a Dog Show was, he eagerly accepted. (In truth, it may have been the promise of lunch under the tent — Chicken a la King with a glass of rare wine — that convinced him.)

As we strolled about the show site, we were quick to recognize the historic significance of the occasion, and realized that it was important to record Mr. Shakespeare’s observations for the fancy to share and learn. His every word was recorded digitally. While I have not completed the translation of his Elizabethan era phrases, a preliminary review shows that he quickly grasped the concepts and intricacies of the Dog Show world. Eager to share his impressions, I present a partial translation and interpretation of the highlights found in a quick review of the recording. The actual quotation of “The Bard” is noted by Q, the modern translation is marked as T.

Q “Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or lym,
Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail,
Tom will make them weep and wail:”
– King Lear, Act 3, Scene 6
T Let’s be honest now, old Tom is one hell of a groomer!

Q “How now! Where’s that mongrel?”
– King Lear, Act 3, Scene 7
T Hold on now, just because it’s our first litter is no reason to get nasty!

Q “How now, you dog!”
– King Lear, Act 3, Scene 7
T Well Casey, are you going to show for me today?

Q “They flattered me like a dog; and told me I
had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there.”
– King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6
T He definitely has color.

Q “Unmanner’d dog! stand thou, when I command …”
–King Richard III, Act 1, Scene 2
T Must be a Kerry in the obedience ring.

Q “Stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me.”
– King Richard III, Act 1, Scene 3
T The long stay is tough with a Kerry.

Q “That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes …”
– King Richard III, Act 4, Scene 4
T He must be an import.

Q “Talks as familiarly of roaring lions
As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs!”
– King John, Act 2, Scene 1
T She looks quite mature for a junior handler.

Q “Nay, it perchance will sparkle in your eyes;
And like a dog that is compell’d to fight,
Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on.”
– King John, Act 4, Scene 1
T You never spar with an import in the ring!

Q “I am the fellow with the great belly, and he my dog.”
– King Henry IV, Part ii, Act 1, Scene 2
T Have you met my handler?

Q “For the fifth Harry from curb’d licence plucks
The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent.”
– King Henry IV, Act 4, Scene 5
T I’ve been in that ring!

Q “’Solus,’ egregious dog?”
– King Henry V, Act 2, Scene 1
T I told you, this Judge only picks handlers!

Q “Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free
And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate…”
– King Henry V, Act 3, Scene 6
T Wow! Talk about a rough Bench Show Committee.

Q “Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy to the old dam, treason,–“
– King Henry VIII, Act 1, Scene 1
T Yea, Old Treason was a great brood bitch.

Q “I think Crab, my dog, be the sourest-natured dog that lives..”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 2, Scene 3
T He just doesn’t want to show today.

Q “I am the dog: no, the dog is himself, and I am the dog—
Oh! the dog is me, and I am myself; ay, so,so.”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 2, Scene 3
T You’ve really got to get a life!

Q “Now the dog all this while sheds not a tear nor
speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears.”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 2, Scene 3
T Take it easy Sam, you can’t expect to win them all. Besides — it’s only a Dog Show.

Q “Why, he that’s tied here, Crab, my dog.”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 2, Scene 5
T I just hate holding someone’s dog ringside.

Q “Ask my dog: if he say ay, it will!
if he say no, it will; if he shake his tail
and say nothing, it will.”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 2, Scene 5
T How do you think you’ll do with this Judge?

Q “Gone to seek his dog; which tomorrow, by his master’s command, he must carry for a present to his lady.”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4, Scene 2
T She is supposed to pick him up at the grooming tent.

Q “I have taught him, even as one would say
precisely, ‘thus I would teach a dog.’”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4, Scene 4
T The new handler works well with Casey.

Q “I would have, as one should say,
one that takes upon him to be a dog indeed,
to be, as it were, a dog at all things.”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4, Scene 4
T CH, CDX, CGC, AX, AXJ, HX, ME, MXJ, TDX, UDX …… I’m impressed Sam!

Q “’Out with the dog!’ says one:
‘What cur is that?’ says another:
‘Whip him out’ says the third:”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4, Scene 4
T I thought having three Judges for the Futurity would eliminate these outbursts.

Q “’Friend,’ quoth I, ‘you mean to whip the dog?’”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4, Scene 4
T That’s going to get you suspended.

Q “Marry, she says your dog was a cur, and tells you currish thanks is good enough for such a present.”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4, Scene 4
T I don’t think she considers him to be the “pick of the litter”.

Q “.. and then I offered her mine own, who is a dog as big as ten of yours, and therefore the gift the
greater.”
– The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4, Scene 4
T I told you not to breed to that line.

Q “O Buckingham, take heed of yonder dog!” !
– King Richard III, Act 1, Scene 3
T Come on Judge, give us a break

Q “I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.”
– The Taming of the Shrew, Prologue, Scene 1
T I don’t think that pup is for sale.

Q “Trust me, I take him for the better dog.”
– The Taming of the Shrew, Prologue, Scene 1
T That’s not the one that I would have picked!

Q “Where’s my spaniel, Troilus?”
– The Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, Scene 1
T I get annoyed with these all-breed handlers at a big show.

Q “She had transform’d me to a curtal dog and made me turn i’ the wheel.” The original picture was done by the artist Persis Kirmse in 1934.
– The Comedy of Errors, Act 3, Scene 2
T I told you, always be careful when walking the dog on a bike path!

Q “Out, dog! Out, cur! Thou drivest me past the
bounds Of maiden’s patience.”
– A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 2
T Talk about a picky Judge.

Q “This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn, presenteth Moonshine”
– A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, Scene 1
T Sam, you’ve just got to work harder at conditioning Moonshine’s coat.

Q “… and this dog, my dog.”
– A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, Scene 1
T Now that was a great breeding!

Q “There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress’d in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit,
As who should say ‘I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips let no dog bark!’”
-- The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 1
T Couldn’t he just say ‘Please control your dogs’?

Q “’Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?’”
– The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3
T That much just to take him into the ring at Montgomery?

Q “O, be thou damn’d, inexecrable dog!”
– The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1
T Down, Casey!

Q “’Tis your fault, ’tis your fault; ’tis a good dog.”
– The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 1, Scene 1
T That does it! I’m getting a new handler!

Q “Sir, he’s a good dog, and a fair dog: can there be more said?”
– The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 1, Scene 1
T I think my breeding program speaks for itself.

Q “I’ll have my brains ta’en out and buttered, and give them to a dog for a new-year’s gift.”
– The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 3, Scene 5
T I’ve had it with dog shows!

Q “An he had been a dog that should have howled
thus, they would have hanged him: and I pray
God his bad voice bode no mischief.”
– Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3
T No point in arguing with a Judge.

Q “Get you with him, you old dog.”
– As You Like It, Act 1, Scene 1
T Hurry, the Veteran’s class is next.

Q “An you love me, let’s do’t: I am dog at a catch.”
– Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 3
T Come on! Toss the ball again.

Q “Lay hands on him; a dog!”
– Cymbeline, Act 5, Scene 3
T Judge, the AKC rep says we need to speed things up a bit!

Q “A pox o’ your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!”
– The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 1
T Not on my new rug!

Q “Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker!”
– The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 1
T That barking is driving me nuts!

Q “I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed monster.”
– The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 2
T I take it that you don’t really like her little bitch.

Q “Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.”
– Titus Andronicus, Act 4, Scene 2
T But Judge, he’s still a puppy!

Q “Away, inhuman dog!”
– Titus Andronicus, Act5, Scene 3
T He disqualified the dog!

Q “A dog of the house of Montague moves me.”
– Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1
T I might consider breeding to him.

Q “ … and dog will have his day.”
– Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act 5, Scene 1
T He might have a shot at Group.

Q “O inhuman dog!”
– Othello, The Moor of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1
T I can’t believe he did that in the ring.

Q “Thy mother’s of my generation: what’s she, if I be a dog?”
– Timon of Athens, Act 1, Scene 1
T I don’t think you should go there Harry!

Q “Away, unpeaceable dog, or I’ll spurn thee hence!”
– Timon of Athens, Act 1, Scene 1
T I don’t think you should show to him again.

Q “Thou art a slave, whom Fortune’s tender arm
With favour never clasp’d; but bred a dog.”
-- Timon of Athens, Act 4, Scene 3
T I tell you, there’s no money in breeding.

Q “’Tis, then, because thou dost not keep a dog,
Whom I would imitate: consumption catch thee!”
– Timon of Athens, Act 4, Scene 3
T You can’t be a Kerry owner unless you were a Kerry owner, got it?

Q “I understand thee; thou hadst some means to keep a dog.”
– Timon of Athens, Act 4, Scene 3
T Yes I have a fenced yard. Does that mean I can have the puppy?

Q “Away, thou issue of a mangy dog!”
– Timon of Athens, Act 4, Scene 3
T I told you, I only breed show dogs!

Q “Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
– Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1
T I’ve really had it up to here with these fad diets from California. What’s wrong with good old Purina Dog Chow?

Q “Turn, hell-hound, turn!”
– Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 8
T Sorry Judge, I’ll face my dog in the other direction.

Q “Patience is Scottish, and impatience does
Become a dog that’s mad:”
– Antony and Cleopatra, Act 4, Scene 15
T Interesting choices in the Group ring today.

Q “Against him first: he’s a very dog to the commonalty.”
– Coriolanus, Act 1, Scene 1
T I’m really not impressed by the Winners Dog.

Q “He like a thievish dog creeps sadly thence;”
– The Rape of Lucrece, Stanza 106
T Number 23 seems just a bit shy to me.

Q “My curtail dog, that wont to have play’d
Plays not at all, but seems afraid;”
– The Passionate Pilgrim, Sonnet 18, XVIII.
T Some dogs just will not spar.

Fin