#MyrtleMondays: Girl's Best Friend

Last week’s post on Victorian veterinary medicine made me realize I’ve neglected to celebrate a couple of very important relationships that appear in the Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries—and their historical counterparts. So today, enjoy this collection of images of Victorian girls and their best friends.

Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries book 4, In Myrtle Peril, features a canine character who is a key player in the mystery—Sally Cooke’s terrier, Charley. Like humans throughout history and across the globe, Victorians were great dog fanciers. Queen Victoria had her own favorites, including her border collie Sharp:

Love for dogs often begins early in life, as these wee tots prove.

Minnie has some explaining to do. Little Mudd?!

And lasts a lifetime…

It’s often a family affair…

I wonder how many shots it took to get this whole group–and their dog!–all looking at the camera at the same time.

…and dogs were included in favorite activities:

Some young swimmers and their lifeguard. (This photograph fascinates me–this whole group went to the photo studio in their bathing costumes, with their dog. Perhaps it was a seaside photographer, but it’s taken indoors against a rather homey background…)

But along the way, it’s the one-on-one relationships that are the most enduring.