Thursday, November 26, 2020
When were dogs leashed?
Vintage.es shows a truly stupid pliers-like contraption for walking a dog, with Agatha Christie demoing the gadget for some unknown reason.
The text says "It’s the quintessential invention that we didn’t need because Mary Delaney had patented the idea for a dog leash some 40 years earlier in 1908."
Well, leashes were invented a lot earlier than 1908, especially in Britain. Were they common in earlier decades?
I've always walked and biked, and I don't recall having any trouble with dogs until the 1970s. I also don't recall seeing dogs walking on a leash until the '70s. It was common in big cities, but not in small or medium towns. Dogs were in back yards or loose, and they usually weren't troublesome when loose.
Maybe the real variable was my age. Dogs usually tolerate youngsters of all species but defend against adults of all species. I didn't have trouble with dogs until I was an adult.
Looking in Googlebooks, it appears that leashes weren't mentioned in the US until 1917 when they were part of Army K9 training. Leashes start to be mentioned more after WW2. British books talk about leashes much earlier, around 1850.
The ngram graph shows an even more recent pattern:
I suspect the recent peak relates to the S&M tendencies in various fashionable subcultures (Goth etc), not actual canines. The same fashionable "alt" "resistance" types also LOVE being muzzled by demon governors.
I suspect the recent peak relates to the S&M tendencies in various fashionable subcultures (Goth etc), not actual canines. The same fashionable "alt" "resistance" types also LOVE being muzzled by demon governors.Labels: Bemusement
¶ 9:20 AM
