Doghouses were once a common sight in the back yards of American households. Well into the 20th century, family dogs typically spent their nights outdoors, and quite a few dogs seem to have lived outside all of their lives. Don’t assume that this indicated that people did not love their dogs, or that outdoor dogs weren’t pets. There are lots of reasons that dogs lived in separate houses. For instance, enjoy dogs were crucial for lots of households; often, a barking pet dog was the only burglar alarm available. especially during the warm months, flea infestations were so hard to control that the best way to limit household infestations was to keep dogs outside. (I’ll be doing another post on flea control later this summer.) If a family had a stable or barn, dogs typically slept there and did not have a doghouse.
Advertising trade card for Charles Hall, Springfield, MA, undated (1870s). Chromolithograph, published unknown. This image was purchased as a “blank,” and Charles Hall, who started his service in the early 1870s, added the store information, probably using a local printer.
A few doghouses from the nineteenth century survive; there is a captivating one in the collection of the John Quincy Adams house. but a lot of are long gone. However, lots of images of doghouses, in a variety of media, show use what they looked like and how they were furnished and used. This trade card, from the 1870s, depicts a mother pet dog with her pups receiving a pan of milk from two children. It’s a plain, unpainted structure with a peaked roof. It looks like it may have a floor, too, and the adult pet dog lies on bedding of straw.
Advertising trade card for W. Winslow, Peabody, MA, no date (1870s or 1880s). Lithograph, Gies & Co, Buffalo, new York (c. 1871 – c. 1922). This is another blank with the store information added later.
The trade card above, from around 1880, shows a doghouse that has been fashioned from a barrel. In this domestic scene, the mother terrier has brought a rat to her puppies and seems to be instructing them on their task as terriers to hunt and kill rodents.
Advertising trade card for Prescott’s universal Stove Polish, J. L. Prescott & Co., Berwick, Maine, undated. Chromolithograph, publisher unknown. This card was distributed widely, and lots of copies survive.
Here’s another trade card image that shows an improvised doghouse made from a barrel steadied with bricks to keep it from rolling. The adult pet dog is absent, but a collar and chain lies in front of the barrel, as does a pan consisting of a large bone. Frances Butler, the author of Breeding, Training, Management, Diseases, Etc. of Dogs (first edition 1857), encouraged his readers, “If you are in the routine of keeping your pet dog on a chain, let him at least run a few minutes every day.” maybe that is what is happening here.
“Beware of the Dog,” commercial photographic postcard. Coryright 1907, Robert McCrum. published by Bamforth & Co, new York, new York. This card was one of several comic photographic postcards by Robert McCrum thar featured dogs.
Another crudely constructed doghouse from the early 20th century is depicted in this comic postcard from 1907. It shows a bewildered puppy chained to a doghouse that is raised on improvised legs nailed to the exterior and has an open roofing line for ventilation. The dirt yard suggests that this doghouse is in a city backyard or alley — not a terrific place to keep a dog, but a location where lots of city dogs lived.
Two dogs, a cat and a doghouse. real photo postcard, photographer unknown. sent from pleasurable Lake, MA, on 16 June 1908 to Phoebe Cahoon of Sandwich, MA.
Advice books about pet dog keeping typically included plans for making a good doghouse, but nothing I have seen looks remotely like this improvised structure. set well off the ground, it is covered with what were probably leftover shingles. With its small entrance, it was probably relaxing in winter, especially if two dogs slept in it. Again, we see the straw bedding in the doorway. notice the cat keeping company with the two spaniels here.
Plan for the “Vero Shaw model kennel,” published in William A. Bruette, Amateur’s pet dog Book: A Treatise on the Management, training and diseases of Dogs. new York: field & Stream publishing Company, new York, new York, 1906. My copy of this little book, which is only 4 1/2 by 6 3/4 inches, is inscribed “From Foley pet dog Supplies, Inc. 119 So. 19th St. Phila. Pa”
Finally, here’s a plan for an improved pet dog house, published in a small paperback titled Amateur’s pet dog Book, which was published in 1906. Called the “Vero Shaw model kennel.” It could be taken apart to enable extensive cleaning and had a bench front that allowed its occupant to “rest and take pleasure in the air.” notice the trim on the height of the roofing and the glass window! This doghouse was intended to be a significant littleoutbuilding, an asset to the yard it occupied.
As a side note, Vero Kemball Shaw (1851-1921) was a British peer (I haven’t figured out his title yet) who was apparently active in the British pet dog fancy. He published The Illustrated book of the pet dog (Cassell, Peter, Galpin & Co) in 1881. The book featured stunning chromolithographs of purebred dogs, and the images have typically been pulled out of the book and sold for framing.
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