Meet this large dignified dog and his friend James Astell who were photographed together in Edmonds in 1910 and who host this post about dogs.
Yes, dogs.
They seem to be everywhere even in old photographs. According to the AVMA website, which collects statistics and demographics on U.S. pet ownership, in 2017 to 2018, 38.4% of households included dogs. This isn’t unusual.
Dogs have hung out with humans for the last three to four thousand years so it’s not surprising that pictures of them are a part of the Historical Photo Collections of Sno-Isle Libraries.
Come along with us as we introduce you to a few of the dogs from yesteryear.
Although we don’t have any photographs of them, before Euro-Americans began moving into the Puget Sound area, the Coast Salish people kept dogs.
In the article, “Coast Salish Woolly Dogs,” published on June 22, 2016 in HistoryLink.org Essay 11243, writer Russel Barsh describes how the Coast Salish people raised herds of small long-haired dogs for their fur which they wove into blankets and clothing.
The dogs were shorn for their fur just as if they were sheep. They also used small wiry-haired dogs for hunting. Both breeds are now extinct, but we can’t help but wonder if we don’t see glimpses of them in our dogs today and perhaps in the photographs we share here.
The dogs on this page represent all walks of life. Just like their forebears the woolly and hunting dogs of the Coast Salish people, dogs were well integrated into the lives of their more recent companions and colleagues of Puget Sound.
If you'd like to find more photographs of dogs from days gone by, we invite you to search our Historic Photo Collections using the keyword dog.
