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Thursday 3 April 2014

A-Z Challenge 2014 - 'C' - Dogs


C - Cairn Terrier, Cocker Spaniel, Rough Collie

The letter 'C' enables me to include two world famous dogs. First there is:

Toto - the Cairn Terrier
(Illustration by W W Denslow for Frank L Baum's novel 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
Terry, as Toto, and July Garland as Dorothy
(Publicity photo for 1971 NBC TV showing of MGM's 1939 ;The Wizard of Oz)

The Cairn Terrier is one of the oldest terrier breeds and originated in the Scottish Highlands not Kansas. However the dog I meet in my North Yorkshire village is much less famous but just as friendly when you see her.



Cairn Terrier - Pippa
There are a lot of Cocker Spaniels in the village of many different colours from


Cocker Spaniel - Black
To : 


Blue Roan Cocker - Jasper
He was not too keen on being photographed. Cockers are ideal gun dogs but Jasper's just a pet. My next two were always pleased to be put of show.


Blue Roans - Thomas & Leo
But supposedly the most famous dog in the world was a:


Rough Collie
Lassie, the fictional female dog, was created by Eric Knight in a short story, later expanded into a novel called 'Lassie Come Home.' The novel was subsequently adapted in to the 1943 feature film that became the first about the exploits of the 'legendary' dog. 

Many of us in Britain have erroneously believed that Lassie was an American 'invention.' An early depiction of Lassie can be traced to a story called 'The Half-brothers' written by Elizabeth Gaskell in 1859. Later Nigel Clarke's 'Shipwreck Guide to Dorset and South Devon' told of a Lassie that saved the life of a sailor in WWI who had been torpedoed on HMS Formidable and left for dead in a mortuary until Lassie 'rescued' him.



19 comments:

Marc Latham said...

Cool dogs.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob .. love the photos and the descriptions of the dogs - I'm a dummy as to breeds (usually) - interesting about the Lassie story and then the shipwreck rescue ..

Good to know - cheers Hilary

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

beauties

Jolie du Pre said...

I'd love to see more Collie dogs. I never see them where I live.

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

Aww, doggies. My in-laws have a cocker, his name is Rockie and he's completely bonkers :).
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings

Sophie Duncan said...

I love cocker spaniels, they are generally mad and very friendly :) I did not know Toto was a Cairn Terrier, so I have also learnt something from your post, thanks.
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles - A to Z Ghosts
Fantasy Boys XXX - A to Z Drabblerotic

Shail said...

Thomas and Leo seem really happy to pose. :)

Anonymous said...

I LOVE spaniels (cocker or springer) - great choice. And you can never go wrong with photos of dogs :)

Happy A to Z-ing!

Celine
http://celineslouchelounge.wordpress.com

Jo said...

No I didn't know about Toto either. It is interesting about the Lassie stories. Great pix as usual Bob.

Bish Denham said...

I wonder why the name Cairn, which is a Scottish word for a pile of sticks or stones used as markers. Were the terriers markers of some kind? A mark of wealth, a mark of ownership?

David P. King said...

Very cool theme. Now I know more about the spaniel! :)

Damaria Senne said...

Great descriptions of dogs.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

I love terriers. My favorites are Yorkshire, Cairn and Rat. My sister has always owned collies. Turst me when I say, we KNOW all about Lassie in our family. :)

Bob Scotney said...

Bish - "cairns" were rock dens in which badgers and foxes live, The Sairn Terrier got its name from the way it squeezed into "cairns" and bark at the animals until the farmer arrived.

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

Doggies! What a happy theme! I'm sure you're going to have a lot of happy bloggers dropping by this month!

Kristin said...

Your picture of the cocker spaniel reminded me of a blond cocker spaniel that I used to pass on my way to kindergarden and first grade. I used to pretend he was my dog, although he was laying on the porch most of the time, as I remember and I never actually met him.

Anonymous said...

Interesting post on the terrier. I just popped in to visit from the A to Z Challenge. Good luck with getting through April and I look forward to your posts.

ScotSue said...

Love the photos of the Cockers - we had three over the years - a golden, blue roan and orange roan - and would have gone next for a black one but sadly health issues decided against it.

Lisa said...

Collies are so beautiful in my humble opinion. They have a majesty to them that is innate... I've never owned one, but I admire them. As far as Terriers go, many people when they see my little "Mauxie" Bonaparte, they first think he's a terrier. He kind of resembles one in the face, a Yorkshire terrier.