The British are often said to be sentimental about their pets and this is perhaps especially true of dogs. Trained canine companions have long played an important role in our ancestors’ lives, from hunting and racing hounds, through working farm animals, to show dogs, lucky mascots and ladies’ miniature ‘toys’. Traditionally the wealthy classes kept aggressive dogs to help guard their properties and sometimes adopted small dogs as ornamental pets, leading to the disdainful term ‘lap-dog’. Over time different breeds have become fashionable and useful to people: for example, during the 17th century various types of spaniel evolved into efficient gun dogs on land and in water, as huntsmen took up flintlock pistols for shooting game.

During the 18th century, the relationship between humans and animals gradually changed as dogs began to be admired for their appearance and appreciated for their sociability. The aristocracy and landed gentry still raised hounds such as lurchers and greyhounds for hunting, while working dogs were kept on farms and by agricultural workers, from shepherds to rat catchers; however there now emerged a pronounced trend in affluent households for dogs to become nurtured as pets. Favoured domestic breeds of the Georgian age included the Dalmatian and Pomeranian. Unfortunately, during the industrial period, as the poorer classes moved away from the countryside into towns and cities for work, there was a sharp rise in cruel urban sports involving fighting dogs, and dog baiting continued even when other blood sports were officially prohibited by the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835.

However, notwithstanding the criminal mistreatment of dogs in some communities, in the 19th century the raising of domesticated dogs advanced significantly among the rising middle classes. In 1879 a dog licence cost a tidy 7s 6d and indeed it became increasingly common for upwardly-mobile Victorian families to demonstrate their prosperity and rising social status by keeping a dog as a pet. The Kennel Club, established in 1873, was one of several hobbyist organisations formed for dog enthusiasts at this time and in 1891 Crufts held its first dog show. By the end of the century, dogs enjoyed a position in British society like nowhere else in the world.

Dogs in art
There is much visual historical evidence for the existence of the canine companions who provided security, sport, companionship and devotion to our forebears. From the 17th century onwards, dogs appeared frequently in paintings and popular prints, including sporting scenes, topographical and street views, indoor conversation pieces, genre pictures and formal portraits. By the Georgian era few country gentlemen were depicted on their estate without a handsome dog by their side and many domestic family groups included a cheerful puppy cavorting among the children. As amateur watercolour painting and drawing reached new heights in the 19th century, pets were among the familiar subjects captured by keen artists in the family. When photography became the new portrait medium in the 1840s, the novel mechanical likenesses emulated the style of traditional artworks and before long commercial photographers found themselves encountering the issue of photographing domesticated animals belonging to their clients.

Initially the exposure time for a daguerreotype photograph was many seconds – sometimes up to one or even two minutes – and it proved almost impossible to keep animals still in the studio for long enough to avoid movement and the inevitable blurring of the image. Open-air compositions, where there was plenty of light and space, were an option, although professional outdoor photography was rare until the more sensitive wet collodion photographic process was introduced in the 1850s.

By the 1880s further technical advances including convenient dry photographic plates meant that it now only required fractions of a second to take a successful ‘instantaneous’ photograph, reducing considerably the difficulty of capturing animated subjects. Nonetheless, restless infants and animals were invariably more challenging and time-consuming visitors to the studio than well-behaved adults: some commercial photographers avoided this line of work, while others made a point of actively promoting this aspect of their business – and generally charging clients more for the privilege!

Dogs in the detail
Many of us with family picture collections have inherited studio photographs of past generations posing with their dogs, and these are of great interest for they add another dimension to our understanding of our ancestors’ everyday lives. A dog in the picture may even help with approximate dating of some of our unlabelled family photographs, when we consider the history of canine photography, popular dog-related themes and the coming and going of different breeds. Studio photographs including dogs were quite rare in the mid-nineteenth century, only growing more common from the 1880s and, especially, during the early 1900s. Picturesque Victorian and Edwardian studio portraits depicting a baby or small children photographed with the family dog were a much-admired sentimental subject. Nineteenth-century mourning photographs portraying, for example, a newly-bereaved widow attired in deep black mourning garments, may include a large curly or shaggy black dog symbolising death, grief and despair, according to ancient folklore. Greyhound racing developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming popular with all social classes and inspiring more photographs of this lean, muscular breed of dog, both with and without their owners.

Some of our dog-loving forebears will also have travelled about the country showing their pedigree dogs in competitions during the late 1800s and early 1900s: their favourite canine prize-winners may be proudly displayed in family photographs.

With advances in photographic technology and improved, more affordable equipment, photographs on location became more commonplace from the later 19th century onwards, including street and workplace photography, professional scenes taken, by appointment, at home in the garden and also amateur photography. Amateur snapshots taken by enthusiasts using a personal box or folding camera were more popular from the mid-late 1910s onwards and between the wars many individuals and households acquired their first user-friendly camera. Until at least the 1950s, when indoor flash equipment became more widely available, snaps were usually set outdoors where there was a natural source of light, these informal photographs being taken to record both special and everyday occasions. Compared with formal, contrived studio portraits, amateur snapshots were relatively relaxed photographs set in genuine settings recording the physical world in which past family members lived – their home surroundings and the places they frequented on day trips and holidays, as well as depictions of their family and friends, vehicles and pets.

Among outdoor photographs, in rural scenes – in fields, farmyards and on country estates – outdoor working dogs crop up frequently, especially collies, used for herding animals, and terriers, often kept for pest control. Even modest photos posed in domestic gardens demonstrate just how popular pet dogs were within ordinary families by the interwar era, especially once families began moving out of overcrowded cities into new houses with more spacious gardens in the burgeoning suburbs.

Photographic evidence drawn from hundreds of diverse sources demonstrates that the Jack Russell and other small, wiry black, brown and white terriers were widely popular and in some families perhaps functioned as both pets and working dogs. Other breeds enjoyed a special vogue at different times, such as the ancient Chinese breed, the Pekingese (or Lion Dog), which became highly fashionable in the West from the early 1900s, influenced by royalty, and the plucky little black ‘Scottie’ (Scottish terrier), especially fashionable between the 1930s and 1960s. Meanwhile the distinctive curly-coated English Water Spaniel, once widely used for hunting waterfowl, was virtually extinct by the early 20th century.

Military mascots
Over the years, many dogs have also functioned as military mascots – regimental pets kept for ceremonial purposes and/or as an important emblem of the unit, as distinct from the military animals used directly in warfare (for example as transport or for communications). This custom reportedly originated when soldiers first took their dogs away to war, or adopted a dog at the place where they were stationed or were presented with a pet as a gift. Late 19th and 20th century military photographs often feature the much-loved dog that was the regimental mascot, bringing comfort, pleasure and – it was hoped – military success.

Cats and dogs have also been welcome companions on ships at sea, popular with the royal and merchant navy at times of war and during peace, on fishing boats and other vessels. Besides catching rodents, dogs at sea have provided companionship and a relief from the monotony of life on board ship, also helping to build morale among the crew and even warning of imminent dangers. From military and naval photographs, back to canine studio portraits, dogs are present in many visual images recording the past and offer an interesting approach to viewing and understanding our family history.