Stories about Our Dogs (1882)

AUTHOR: Stowe, Harriet Beecher

KEYWORDS: animals, animal welfare, food

SUMMARY (Bryn Skibo, edited Deborah Madsen)

The stories gathered in this text are devoted to the interesting lives of the narrator’s pets, their relationships with the family, and their unique characters. The final chapter admonishes readers to care for their pets as well as they care for themselves, to feed and shelter them appropriately, and not to have a pet if they cannot care for it properly. Throughout the text are examples of respecting an animal’s ability to think for itself, to have interests and unique wants and fears, which are dutifully respected by the narrator’s family.

Thus, in Chapter I, a mastiff, Carlo, is told to walk a nurse and an invalid child home, where he is petted, fed, and spoiled. The story is told from his perspective and the narrator respects that Carlo has his own thought processes, without attributing language to him: “Carlo was a dog that had a mind of his own, though he couldn’t say much about it, and in his dog fashion proclaimed his likes and dislikes quite as strongly as if he could speak” (6-7). Eventually Carlo makes clear that he does not want to be in his previous home, where he worked as a guard dog, and is allowed to go back, where he doted on the child (Charley) and the father.

He had great, honest yellowish-brown eyes, - not remarkable for their beauty, but which used to look as if he longed to speak, and he seemed to have a yearning for praise and love and caresses that even all our attentions could scarcely satisfy. ... Yet, if any one intruded on his rights and dignities, Carlo showed that he had hot blood in him; … he would give a deep warning growl, - as much as to say, ‘I am your slave for love, - but you must treat me well, or I shall be dangerous’” (8).

Eventually, Charley dies, the family moves, and Carlo is given away to another family nearby who loved him.

In Chapter II, the family, newly settled, is given a Newfoundland puppy by a neighbor. The family names this dog Rover; all of the children (the dog’s “playfellows”) are described as rovers, girls and boys. The family moves to town and Rover goes with them. Charley the second child is born and grows to “consider Rover in all things as such a model, that he [Charley] overlooked the difference between a dog and a boy, and wearied himself with fruitless attempts to scratch his ear with his foot as Rover did, and one day was brought in dripping from a neighboring swamp, where he had been lying down in the water, because Rover did” (18). Rover tries to attend the father’s theological lectures and to attend Sunday service, “but the prejudices of society were against him, and so he meekly submitted to be shut out, and with outside the door on these occasions” (19). Rover is poisoned by a stranger and dies (20).

Alas! The fashion came up of poisoning dogs, and this poor, good, fond, faithful creatures was enticed into swallowing poisoned meat. … If those who throw poison to dogs could only see the real grief it brings into a family to lose the friend and playfellow who has grown up with the children, and shared their plays, and been for years in every family scene, - if they could know how sorrowful it is to see the poor dumb friend suffer agonies which they cannot relief … we have faith to believe they never would do so more (20).

Eventually Charley convinces the family to get another dog, though they are very heartsore after Rover’s death. In Chapter III, Charley finds a mongrel puppy and they name it Stromion. Another son brings home an elderly Newfoundland named Prince who mourns the loss of his old master: “His howls and lamentations were so dismal and protracted, that the house could not contain him; we were obliged to put him into an outhouse to compose his mind. … Time, the comforter, however, assuage his grief… . He was really and passionately fond of music, and, though strictly forbidden the parlour, would push and elbow his way there with dogged determination when there was playing and singing” (23). The sisters eventually bring home an Italian greyhound: “Giglio knew his own good points, and was possessed with the very spirit of a coquette. … He assumed lofty, fine-gentleman airs with Prince also, for which he sometimes got his reward, -- for Prince, the old, remembered that he was a dog of blood, and would not take any nonsense from him” (26). Prince, an elderly dog, smells: “... Giglio would spring gracefully from the table where he had been overlooking him, and, picking his way daintily to the mat, would snuff at it, with his long, thin, nose, with an air of extreme disgust. It was evidently a dog insult, done according to the politest modes of refined society, and said as plain as words could say, ‘My dear sir, excuse me, but can you tell me what makes this peculiar smell where you have been lying?’” (27). “At any rate, Prince understood the sarcasm, for a deep angry growl and a sharp nip would now and then teach my fine gentleman to mind his own business” (27). Giglio is taken to Paris with the girls, runs away, and is found, several months later, living in high society.

It is in Chapter IV that the narrator is revealed to be one of the girls living in Europe; they are eventually enticed into getting another dog: Florence, a King Charles Spaniel (30). “She was nothing but a little bundle of nerves … She visited the picture-galleries, the museums, and all the approved sights of Florence, and improved her mind as much as many other young ladies who do the same” (30). Florence travels around Italy, France, and England with the girls and eventually returns to America, where she is given to a nice old lady who loves her until she (Flo) dies.

Chapter V describes how one of the daughters, Jenny, brings home a Scottish Terrier, Wix, who generally terrorizes the household (humans and cat alike), until they give him away to someone with a barn, where he achieves fame as a great “ratter.” “From all which it appears that a dog which is only a torment and a nuisance in one sphere may be an eminent character in another” (48).

In the concluding Chapter VI, the narrator remarks: “In these stories you must have noticed that each dog had as much his own character as if he had been a human being. Carlo was not like Rover, nor Rover like Giglio ... . Each animal has his own character, marked and distinct as a human being. Many people who have not much studied the habits of animals don’t know this. To them a dog is a dog, a cat a cat, a horse a horse, and no more, - that is the end of it” (49). The advice ofthe narrator on adopting or buying a dog or cat: “Don’t do it without making up your mind to be really and thoroughly kind to them, and feeding them as carefully as you feed yourself, and giving them appropriate shelter from the inclemacy of the weather” (54). Following the story of a cat who died when its mistress had to leave it with someone else the narrator concludes: “You see by this story the moral that I wish to convey. It is, that watchfulness, kindness, and care will develop a nature in animals such as we little dream of. Love will beget love, regular care and attention will give regular habits, and thus domestic pets may be made agreeable and interesting” (57). “We should remember, too, in all our dealings with animals, that they are a sacred trust to us from our heavenly Father. They are dumb, and cannot speak for themselves; they cannot explain their wants or justify their conduct; and therefore we should be tender towards them” (58).