Animals – The Victorian Historian

People love their pets. There is no doubt about that. Americans spend over $60 billion a year on their pets.
This post is specifically going to be about dogs. Were dogs always looked at as the pets we know and love today?

Dogs were once considered a status symbol. Aristocrats, dating back centuries, owned dogs as a symbol of their wealth, often spending much money to obtain a rare or exotic breed. As Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837, her small dog was her close companion. The British influence among the world meant that dogs native to England were widely sought after and exported. In the United States, those who wanted a rare or exotic breed but couldn’t afford to have one exported took matters into their own hands. They bred different types of dogs together, resulting in new kinds never before seen, thus creating their own exotic breeds. As a side note, the Victorian era is credited as the source of breeding problems in dogs today, as people bred dogs containing genetic anomalies for the sole purpose of aesthetics. The more exotic a dog looked, the wealthier someone appeared. Small dogs, especially, were sought after. A “dainty” dog was considered more valuable than a larger dog, as that is the type of dog the Queen owned.

The images below contain people with dogs. However, not all of the dogs pictured belong to those people. At times, the photographer (at a person’s request) would place a dog in the photo as a prop to make the person or family in that photo appear well-to-do. Again, the smaller and more exotic the dog, the wealthier one would appear.

As the Victorian era began winding down and dogs became a fixture in households, they no longer were looked at as a status symbol. They became what we know them to be today, loved pets and family members.

Years of breeding have changed the way some dogs look. Some changes are minor, such as fur density. Others, however, are more significant, such as facial and skeletal structure. Below are some breed comparisons between the late 19th/early 20th century and today.

The ASPCA was founded on April 10, 1866 by Henry Bergh. Bergh worked in government service, where his job had him traveling often in and out of the United States.

During a stay in Europe, Bergh witnessed the brutal beating of a workhorse which had collapsed, unable to get up due to exhaustion. He had seen similar types of abuse as well while traveling throughout the United States.
While still in Europe, Bergh met with Lord Harrowby, President of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to learn how he himself could set up a similar organization in the United States. On April 10, 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was founded in New York, with Bergh as the organization’s President. Bergh’s motto was “Mercy to animals means mercy to mankind.”
The founding of ASPCA led to animal abuse laws. Those caught in the act of abusing an animal would now be arrested.

Under Bergh’s leadership, the ASPCA initially concerned itself with only the welfare of horses and livestock, including slaughterhouse practices, animal transportation and horse treatment, such as ambulances for injured horses and water for workhorses. Soon though, it included a variety of other issues including the elimination of using mice for lab experiments, cock fighting, dog fighting, and the use of live pigeons in shooting contests. Bergh was appalled by bullfighting in Spain, but as that was outside the United States, he was unable to do anything about it.

In 1867, the ASPCA began publishing annual reports on the organization’s progress. These reports also included the names of those who were arrested for animal abuse. As the organization continued to pick up more support, Bergh received numerous death threats and was physically attacked in public on multiple occasions.

Bergh had a conflict with PT Barnum from 1866-1867, unhappy with the way Barnum treated his animals, which included Barnum making a public display of feeding live animals to his snakes. You can read the entire correspondence between the two here.

The ASPCA continued to expand throughout the country. Those who joined referred to Bergh as “an angel in top hat”. Some of his supporters included literary figures such as Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Bergh wasn’t just involved in the protection of animals but in children as well. When he became aware in 1874 of a severe child abuse case, he founded the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC) the following year, drawing national attention to the welfare of children.

Henry Bergh passed away in 1888 at the age of 74. Despite their conflict, PT Barnum was one of his pallbearers. Bergh’s legacy lives on, as the interest in animal welfare has never been more prominent than it is today. As Bergh had stated regarding the protection of animals, “This is a matter purely of conscience, it has no perplexing side issues. It is a moral question in all its aspects”.