When it came to teaching morality, dogs served as common characters in children\u2019s literature. In The Story of Cecil and his dog, or, The reward of virtue<\/i>, by James Miller, published in 1863, an impoverished boy named Cecil encounters an injured dog: \u201c\u2018Get away from me,\u2019 said Cecil, angrily pushing him with his foot; but immediately his conscience reproached him. \u2018I prayed God to have pity on me, and I have no pity upon a poor beast!\u2019 And he took the dog in his arms, and caressed it\u201d (35). As the story goes on, 12-year-old Cecil forms a deep bond with the dog, who teaches him many lessons about empathy, love, and godliness. Another children\u2019s story featuring an injured and vulnerable little dog is Little Tom Grubb and his wonderful dog<\/i>, published in 1860 in a children\u2019s collection of fairy tales. When the dog appears and his brother tells him to leave her alone, Tom states, \u201cDon\u2019t you know father says that kindness to dumb beasts is a duty, and whoever hurts them shows a bad heart. Poor thing- poor little doggie!\u201d (6-7). Later on in the tale, it is revealed that the dog can speak, and saves Tom from harm, favoring him over his brother because he showed her empathy. Both of these stories reiterate the theme of treating all beings with kindness, and the rewards from God that may follow if one does so. These values, however, were distinctly race and class-coded (Fielder, 164), targeted primarily toward young white boys. Finally, the contrast seen in these stories of the dog as a \u201cdumb beast\u201d vs. a beloved companion reveal the changing attitudes seen toward dogs in the late 19th century. At this time, animal rights essentially grew alongside those of children: \u201cthe first animal protection society in the United States had begun in 1866; by 1908 there were 354 active anticruelty organizations in the United States. Of these… 185 of them, were humane, or dual societies; 104 were exclusively animal societies; and 45 were dedicated solely to child protection\u201d (Pearson, 2). In the worldview projected by these stories, both children and animals were helpless beings that were in need of protection and care.<\/p>\n Child holding a dog sitting on steps of a boarding house, New Orleans or Charleston, South Carolina. c1920s. Arnold Genthe. Library of Congress.<\/p><\/div>\n Dogs and Inequality<\/strong><\/p>\n Children\u2019s and families\u2019 experiences with dogs and pets differed greatly across lines of class, race, and geographic location. In a rapidly industrializing America, it may have seemed at first that dogs had no place in the city. In the late 19th century, dogs are pets were commonplace among rural, working-class families that needed them for the purpose of hunting or herding. Dogs and children often worked side by side in these agrarian settings. Towering skyscrapers, smog, and crowded streets were indeed a sharp contrast to the pastoral notion of a collie herding sheep in a wide open field. Although dogs maintained their place as members of the family in urban settings, too, stray dogs were viewed with disdain. In the 19th-century city, \u201cdogs on the loose threatened disease, bodily harm, and sheer nuisance. Debates over animal control… reflected larger struggles over how to regulate city life and ensure public health and safety in an age of intense class conflict and endless rumination over the alarmingly tenuous state of the urban social order\u201d (Wang, 1001). As time wore on, however, more and more middle-class families began to keep dogs as pets as income levels increased nationwide, and organizations such as the ASPCA sought to regulate the stray dog population in urban areas. Later on in the century, during times of increased wealth and consumerism, city dogs came to be seen as status symbols living in relative luxury compared to their rural counterparts. A 1944 LIFE Magazine article, City Dogs<\/i>, reads, \u201cdeprived of wide open spaces, they are just as happy and healthy as country dogs and live years longer\u201d. The piece is accompanied by photographs of prominent citizens and celebrities with their dogs going for walks down bustling city streets. Dogs quickly became a part of the middle American dream, a white trope in a burgeoning cult of domesticity. For African American children, however, the idea of pets and domestication drew troubling parallels. Brigitte Fielder writes of children\u2019s novels: \u201c…[the] \u2018master\u2019 rhetoric seems ill suited for an African American audience. The analogy in which an African American child might identify with an obedient dog leaves antiracist readers uneasy\u201d (167). Much later on, African American children began to be featured in the media accompanied by canine companions. A notable example of this is in the film series Our Gang <\/i>of the 1920\u2019s and 30\u2019s. An ethnically diverse cast of characters appeared alongside the beloved Pete the Pup, including the character Farina, played by Allen Hoskins, the most popular African American child actor of the 1920\u2019s. Although racial inequalities were reflected in the show, it gave these children one opportunity to see someone who looked like them on the big screen interacting with a lovable pet dog.<\/p>\n Dogs and Income<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.loc.gov\/service\/pnp\/agc\/7a02000\/7a02700\/7a02763v.jpg\")
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