The 1907 book, Our Domestic Animals, their Habits, Intelligence and Usefulness by Gos de Voogt, Charles William Burkett, and Katharine Prescott Wormeley, contains many photos and a few illustrations of dogs, cats, horses, chickens, rabbits and other domesticated animals. I chose several cat and dog images I thought readers would enjoy.
Starting with these decidedly not flat- faced Persian cats:
Dachshunds are referred to as German bassets:
An English shepherd, parenthetically called a collie, and an old English shepherd, which we now call the old English sheepdog:
A formal family affair:
This glossy-haired retriever, a name I can’t recall coming across previously:
What looks to be a cocker of much heavier bone and substance than the modern version:
And oh hey, look who showed up:
Very interesting. It shows the differences (and mostly not for the good) that breeders have made. Bet those Persian cats had no breathing problems or perpetually tearing eyes. The collie seems to have a shorter coat and a more broader head. The glossy-coated retriever looks rather like what today is called a flat-coated retriever. The cocker spaniel looks like today’s Cumberland spaniel. Even the beagles look different.
I have a friend who has an English Shepherd named Wally; he looks like the dog in the picture except that he is black and white. The breed is quite rare these days; I’ve read that they are related to Border Collies.
I love seeing these past “versions” of dogs and cats, even as it makes me sad for the decline in breeding standards, like the Persians, and, not featured, GSDs.
Good to hear English Shepherds are still around, even if rare.
German Bassets.
Thank you for sharing!