Going to the Dogs

By Susan/Miranda

We’ve discussed heroes and heroines, of every size and shape, but somehow we’ve neglected supporting characters of the four-legged variety until Edith’s wonderful interview yesterday with Barbara Metzger. Clearly great minds think alike *g*, because I, too, thought it was high time we mentioned our canine characters.  (As my guest-blog-dog, I’m featuring a King Charles spaniel named Colby that belongs to my daugther’s best friend.  I’ve been trying hard to think of a way that the IRS would consider one of Colby’s litter-mates as a legitimate research expense for my Restoration books, but alas, I’m afraid the government’s not that creative.)

From children’s picture-books (Clifford the Big Red Dog) through video versions (Lassie and Homeward Bound), classics (Call of the Wild and Old Yellar) to contemporary bestsellers (Marley and Me), dogs have always been favorites with readers.

And why not?  Even the sternest hero will unbend with his dog.  Dogs are the most loyal of confidants, never spilling any secrets that our heroines might whisper into their furry ears.  Dogs can save the plot-day like Rin-tin-tin, or they can provide the classic “cute meet” between a heroine and a dog-walking hero.  Or, as Barbara Metzger has shown in her book, A Loyal Companion, dogs can even be narrators. 

There’s considerable historical precedent for dogs in our books, too.  English aristocrats that have always adored their dogs, whether packs of prize hunting dogs, or delicate “lady dogs” to tuck inside a muff.  A dog on the lap or the bed offered warmth in a drafty castle or manor house, and less romantically, were recommended to draw away fleas from one’s own person. 

The British royal palaces have always had dogs in residence.  The current Queen Elizabeth is often photographed at Windsor with a corgi or two trotting beside her.  Henry VIII never went riding or hunting without his hounds.  Queen Victoria set the fashion for pugs in her reign.  The first Queen Elizabeth delighted in her mastiffs, and liked to demonstrate their fierce tenacity and courage with bull and bear-batings staged for visiting foreign dignitaries –– just in case the dignitaries needed to be reminded of those same qualities in her English troops.

Dogs were so much a feature at Whitehall Palace during the 17th century that visitors commented loudly on the numbers of canines roaming the halls.  They were also appalled by the doggie-smell that permeated many of the royal chambers, and how the servants didn’t quite keep up with cleaning after the dogs in the staircases and hallways.  (Clearly the servants had the same selective blindness to pet-messes that affects my family, too.)

King Charles had such devotion for his flop-eared spaniels that the breed now carries his name, and every day he could be seen striding through St. James’s Park, a very tall (I’m sorry, Mary Jo, but Charles was enormous for his day, well over six feet) man surrounded by a pack of small dogs racing along with him.  He was often painted with the dogs, too, beginning with the puppy that’s precariously perched on his infant lap.

Sarah and John Churchill loved their spaniels as well, and there’s a wonderful story (maybe true, maybe not) that while Sarah was waiting for news of John fighting the Battle of Blenheim, she comforted herself by stroking the head of the pregnant bitch sitting in her lap.  The battle became one of John’s greatest military victories, and when the puppies were born, each showed a distinctive patch on their forehead that became the mark of the Churchill dogs.  Even today, King Charles Cavalier spaniels that carry this marking are much prized as “Blenheims.”

So which dogs  –– fictional or historical or even that one blissfully hogging most of the bed –– do you remember most?

Comments

[Maggie Robinson]

I loved Fred in Jennifer Crusie's Anyone But You. We had a basset named Spot who was just as lethargic and smelly. And we had a yellow lab named Jack who was way worse than Marley, if you can believe it. Then there was the Old English sheepdog we bought with our first tax refund (named Robinson's Tax Return, Taxi for short)who used to bite cars as he chased them, doing damage to both chrome and teeth. We are currently dogless but have six granddogs (and one grandcat) which are tiding us over.

Georgette Heyer was brilliant with a dog in something I can't remember. In the first book I wrote, a dog is the key ingredient to getting the couple back together. I need to revise it, but I'm keeping the dog!

[margaret]

I've shamelessly incorporated my own canines in novels I've written. Fortunately the breeds are period-appropriate.

My most memorable funny dogs in fiction are Ulysses in Heyer's Arabella, Bouncer in Heyer's Reluctant Widow, Lufra the Baluchistan hound in Heyer's Frederica...

The chief clue that Jane Eyre's Mr. Rochester has potential is the fact that his dog Pilot went with him everywhere.

The historical pet I remember best, and most sadly, is Mary Queen of Scots' little dog, which accompanied her to the block. After the decapitation it emerged from beneath her skirts, and later died of grief--or shock.

[piper]

In Georgette Heyer's "The Grand Sophie" a small Italian Greyhound named Tina charmed Charles. Okay, she charmed me as well, probably because I had one as well....

[piper]

Okay, I neglected to add that I have three now...and they do keep me warm at night, sleeping under the blankets with me...Ever heard of a three dog night?

[Kalen Hughes]

Heyer's dogs are fantastic (even the nasty little pug that gets tossed into the carriage on top of poor Hero). And I'll second Jennifer Crusie's dogs as well.

I'm very much a dog person (the bigger the better IMO), so any book with a staring role for a dog is a winner in my book.

[Kalen Hughes]

"Ever heard of a three dog night?"

LOL! But in my family it was Newfies. Kind of like sleeping with bears.

[shscott21]

I don't know why I forgot Jenny Crusie's dogs -- she does the best endearingly woebegone dogs that still manage to be 100% indepensible to the plot.

Margaret, I agree, that story about Mary Queen of Scots's poor little dog hiding under her skirts is an absolute heartbreaker. I know the doctors say it's impossible to die from a broken heart, but there's far too much proof to the contrary. Charles I's favorite dog also died soon after his master's execution, after howling so long and mournfully that the Puritan's in charge of keeping him feared he was possessed by the devil.

[shscott21]

Sleeping with Newfies, Kalen??? As in more than one? Holy cow, better be one big bed! *g*

I remember earlier in the year your post about your dog swimming like a little tugboat -- I've never forgotten that, it was so descriptive.

[Nina P]

Dogs! I love dogs! My current MIP has three, one of which is shamelessly patterned after my GSD. The other two (long eared French Hounds) belong to the hero and act as a social lubricant between him and his dog-fearing heroine. At least that's what happens after he uses them to chase her down.

I also like the big cowardly dog in Jo's FORBIDDEN MAGIC. And of course, like others, I fell in love with Jennifer's Fred, too.

Susan, thank you for the historical notes on dogs. The point about the fleas makes me want to shiver.

And Kalen... you sleep with your Newfies?! Is there any room for you in the bed? BTW, Kalen, congrats on LORD SIN. It’s due in May, right?

Nina, back to her MIP

[Kalen Hughes]

I was a kid with the three Newfies (all of us in a double bed). Now I'm barely willing to share with one little pit bull. My 55lb beast manages to take up A LOT of room. LOL!

Someday I hope to return to owning MASSIVE dogs again (Gentle Giants Rescue in Los Angeles is where I plan to get them; it's run by Burt Ward, aka Robin, the Boy Wonder!).

And thanks, Nina. LORD SIN is due out May 1st. I'm starting to freak out.

[Janga]

Heyer's dogs are grand--especially Lufra. Jayne Ann Krentz is another author who has some great dogs in her books. There are lots of famous "literary dogs" in addition to those in romances: the faithful Argos in The Odyssey, Shock, Belinda's lapdog in Pope's The Rape of the Lock, Nana in Peter Pan, Toto in The Wizard of Oz, and Fang, Hagrid's dog in the Harry Potter series come immediately to mind. Among "historical dogs," Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Flush and Nixon's Checkers were the first I thought of.

Dogs aren't the only memorable animals in romance fiction. If I were listing favorite animal characters from romances, I would also include Jo's Banshee the horse (Forbidden) and Knox the parrot (Forbidden Magic) and SEP's Tater the elephant (Kiss an Angel).

[maryjoputney]

No one does critters better than Jenny Crusie, from Fred the Bagel Hound to the scruffy cat in BET ME. I have stopped reading mystery series where the writer kills a cat just to show how evil the villain is. Cheap shots!

I virtually always have a cat in my books, often just hangin' out, but I did include a Boarder Collie in The Rake. (Spelling deliberate, and stolen from my sister, who had a Border Collie named Bella move in with he. It was promptly dubbed the Boarder Collie. :))

Mary Jo, adding that even a 12 pound cat can take up quite a lot of space on a bed.

[Sara Lindsey]

Julia Quinn's Newton the Corgi is a personal favorite. When he shakes (on command) the filthy Serpentine water all over Anthony... priceless! I also loved the hero's interaction with the heroine's dog in Catherine Coulter's gothic, The Countess. And Sam in Teresa Medeiros' Yours Until Dawn. I have Elaine Fox's Beware of Doug in my TBR pile.
And Penelope - our feline mascot from Avon FanLit - will haunt me forever...

[Kalen Hughes]

If we're talking cats, I love the trio in Juila Ross's THE SEDUCTION.

[AnneGracie]

Add me to the list of people who love dogs. I have always had them in my life. (And cats, even though they make me sneeze.) And I loved the dogs in all the books mentioned.

My favorite dog stories/legends are of the hound Gelert, whose "grave" Beddgelert, I visited in North Wales. And then there's faithful little Greyfriars Bobby.

The story of Gelert, as written on the tombstone reads:

"In the 13th century Llywelyn, prince of North Wales, had a palace at Beddgelert. One day he went hunting without Gelert, "The Faithful Hound", who was unaccountably absent. On Llywelyn's return the truant, stained and smeared with blood, joyfully sprang to meet his master. The prince alarmed hastened to find his son, and saw the infant's cot empty, the bedclothes and floor covered with blood. The frantic father plunged his sword into the hounds side, thinking it had killed his heir. The dog's dying yell was answered by a child's cry. Llywelyn searched and discovered his boy unharmed, but near by lay the body of a mighty wolf which Gelert had slain. The prince filled with remorse is said never to have smiled again. He buried Gelert here.

Greyfriars Bobby's story is here:
http://greyfriarsbobby.co.uk/

And then there's my own gorgeous Chloe-dog, currently posing on my website in her Valentine's Day finery.

[Jane George]

I loved the Corgi with anger management issues in Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist. (Not a romance, but a love story nonetheless!)

I've also been in *love* with Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs for years. But as dh is strictly a Cat Man,(think Robert de Niro in Meet the Parents), my own two felines are pretty safe from any GSMD intrusion.

GSMD's are so heroic looking I'd love to see one pop up in a book. They date back to Roman times.

[Barbara]

I was thinking today that it's hard to imagine anything more appealingly REAL than dogs. I love dog noses, in particular, that little noise they make when you kiss them--! Dogs and cats litter my life and my books.

Anne wrote about one of my favorite dog stories: Greyfrairs Bobby. Such a touching story.

Another one I love is Mr Bojangles and the dog that danced with him..."after 20 years he still grieves..."

[Janga]

Grieving dogs made me remember Monday, the broken-hearted dog who waited for Jem to return in L. M. Montgomery's Rilla of Ingleside--a book that just thinking about makes me teary.

[LorettaChase]

My current favorite dog is Gaspode in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. But I also loved Jennifer Crusie's Fred very much. And I am quite fond of my own fictional bulldog Daisy in Not Quite a Lady.