Although dogs were originally domesticated to help men with major tasks like hunting or getting rid of vermin, or herding the cattle, by the early Regency period certain breeds had become very popular as pets. Different dogs went in and out of fashion in the centuries leading up to the 19th and this change in popularity of breeds can be seen in the portraiture of the times.
During the 18th century, the Labrador, the Poodle, the Greyhound, the English Bulldog and the Pug were all favorites with both ladies and gentlemen. All of these had a “working class” background, having been used for such varied employments as retrieving nets and fish, bull and bear baiting, hunting or coursing rabbits, save perhaps the pug, whose “root can be traced to 400 BC China, where the dogs were bred to adorn the laps of Chinese sovereigns during the Shang dynasty.” So pugs have always been ornamental rather than working dogs.
At the dawn of the 19th century, however, most dogs became much better known as house pets than working or hunting companions,
although they still performed those functions as well. But ladies began to dote more especially on the smaller breeds, such as the pug and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
“During Tudor times, Toy Spaniels were quite common as ladies' pets, but it was under the Stuarts that they were given the royal title of King Charles Spaniels.” King Charles was so enamored of the Toy Spaniels that he always had several around him and in various portraits. These small dogs went in and out of fashion, but resurfaced during the Regency to vie with the pug for the most popular dogs.
In my upcoming novel, Much Ado About A Widow, the heroine has a King Charles Spaniel, Lulu, who traces her lineage all the way back to King Charles’ dogs. Lulu is quite as much a character as either the hero or the heroine and first keeps the two apart, only to help, in the end, get them together.
I hope you’ve enjoyed a look at pet dogs in the Regency and Georgian periods and will remember how ladies and gentlemen of the past also loved their furry companions.
Sources:
“The Pug in Mansfield Park and the 19th Century” from Jane Austen’s World.
“History of the King Charles Spaniel” from the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club Blog.
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