The inspiration for the Beastie Boys song, presumably. The Breeder and Sportsman, October 25, 1902 Improved mollycoddles! This Spratt's ad includes an illustration depicting the St. Bernard stalls at a dog show. Spratt's was contracted to feed and otherwise look after the dogs at many shows around the turn of the century. Image source: Eberhart, … Continue reading Vintage Dog Ads

The Country-side Monthly, June 1912 Molassine cakes were made with molasses. Eradication of all internal parasites, a claimed benefit of feeding the product, would have been highly unlikely. But the charming slogan that every cake "wags a tail" seems plausible. A website on the industrial history of Greenwich provides an interesting look at the Molassine … Continue reading A Vintage Dog Food and a Little Detour

This collection opens with three ads from the most famous animal food manufacturer of the era, Spratt's. The opening sentence sounds a little threatening The Kennel Club Calendar and Stud Book - Vol III, 1876 Country Life Illustrated, January 8, 1897 The American Fancier, February 16, 1901 The Breeder and Sportsman, October 30, 1909 The … Continue reading Vintage Dog Ads

Two ads appearing in Chicago Field, April 7, 1877 I'd like to hope that the person who took this dog was saving him from dogfighting and not using him for more of the same but I guess we'll never know. The ad ran weekly for a month. The Breeder and Sportsman, July 27, 1901 The … Continue reading Vintage Dog Ads

A full page ad at the back of the book: Plageman, R. B. (1899). House dogs, their care and treatment. New York: S. C. Hodge The C. S. R. Blue Book of Dogdom, Volume I, 1909 The Country-Side Monthly, June 1912 Country Life and the Sportsman, December 1938 While not dog ads, strictly speaking, these … Continue reading Vintage Dog Ads

Mr. Spratt and his mystery meat from the book Dog Shows and Doggy People by Charles Henry Lane, 1902 James Spratt was an American entrepreneur living in England who manufactured the first processed dry food for dogs around 1860.  By the 1870s, the company was selling its biscuits in America, eventually opening a factory in … Continue reading Spratt’s in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Dog Literature

Forest and Stream, December 1886 An ad for publications promoting tourism appearing in Country Life in America, December 1901. A firearms ad in Country Life in America, January 1902 with text that begins "An outing in California would not be complete without you take with you a Stevens single barrel gun." We need a time … Continue reading Vintage Dog Ads XIV