Dogs: Ontario’s Best Friend

Previous | Exhibit Home | Next

For millennia, dogs have been close companions with humans.

Dogs are commonly believed to be the first animal species domesticated by humans. Our symbiotic relationship with canines has long been tied not only to the tasks dogs help us accomplish, but also to their affection.

Click to see a larger image

Watercolour painting of hunter and dog, [between 1850 and 1860]
John Langton family fonds
F 1077-9-1-4-2
Archives of Ontario, I0008429

Click to see a larger image

Mrs. Hepburn and dog standing in front of Rickarton Castle, Picton, Ontario, [between 1898 and 1910]
Marsden Kemp fonds
C 130-5-0-0-35
Archives of Ontario, I0013371

Click to see a larger image

Boy with a pup at Lansdowne House, Ontario, June 1956
John Macfie fonds
C 330-14-0-0-89
Archives of Ontario, I0012717

Dogs have been a subject of photography since the early days of the medium. Here is one of the earliest photos in our collections that features a dog – even if it isn’t too impressed with the camera!

Dog icon

Click to see a larger image

Portrait of Mr. Kirk and dog, Elora, Ontario, [between 1860 and 1929]
Connon family fonds
C 286-1-0-11-14
Archives of Ontario, I0011630

Click to see a larger image

Trapper’s dog, Lake Panache, Ontario, March 1948
Ministry of Natural Resources Photo Library collection
RG 1-448-1
Archives of Ontario, I0054236

Click to see a larger image

Moses Koostachin and Father Gagnon with dog sled team led by Jumbo, crossing pond in muskeg between Weenusk and Hawley Lake, Ontario, February 1955
John Macfie fonds
C 330-14-0-0-130
Archives of Ontario, I0012770

Photos in our collections illustrate that dogs have been considered part of the family for at least a century. Clearly these dogs knew how to stay still!

Dog icon

Click to see a larger image

Three seated girls, three standing boys, and a dog, [1895-1910]
Bartle Brothers fonds
C 2-0-0-0-1264
Archives of Ontario, I0053545

Click to see a larger image

Wesley family portrait, [ca. 1880s-1890s]
Alvin D. McCurdy fonds
F 2076-16-3-10
Archives of Ontario, I0054217

Click to see a larger image

Future Ontario Premier George Drew and family in the yard of their home in Guelph, 1941
Gordon W. Powley fonds
C 5-1-0-17-7
Archives of Ontario, I0010958

As this photo of one of the province’s most accomplished musicians shows, well-known Ontarians have also had special relationships with their dogs!

Dog icon

Click to see a larger image

Glenn Gould as a child, at his piano with his dog Nicky, Toronto, [ca. 1940]
Gordon W. Powley fonds
C 5-1-0-133-2
Archives of Ontario, I0002768

Click to see a larger image

Man, three women, and a dog on a veranda, [between 1898 and 1920]
Marsden Kemp fonds
C 130-5-0-0-189
Archives of Ontario, I0013522

Click to see a larger image

Boy in Scottish dress with dog, [ca. 1900]
George Irwin fonds
C 119-1-0-0-30
Archives of Ontario, I0014086

Click to see a larger image

Katie Thorburn and Mary Macdonald with two dogs, 1908
George Irwin fonds
C 119-1-0-0-37
Archives of Ontario, I0014088

This photo prompts many questions about the place of animals in archives, and how they are present throughout the process of recordkeeping. Did the photographer mean to document the dog? Likely not. Was it a stray? Almost impossible to know.

In any case, our archivists listed “dogs” in the record’s metadata when it was digitized. This meant our curator was able to find this photo during research for this exhibit. And so it is included here as a useful—if ordinary—illustration of one dog’s experience in turn-of-the-century Ontario.

Dog icon

J.D. Atkinson Flour & Feed : [street scene], [ca. 1900]

Click to see a larger image

G.D. Atkinson Flour & Feed : [street scene], [ca. 1900]
Marsden Kemp fonds
C 130-6-0-17-1
Archives of Ontario, I0013581

Click to see a larger image

Clear Lake looking towards opening to Wolfe Lake, 1835
Thomas Burrowes fonds
C 1-0-0-0-32
Archives of Ontario, I0002151

Click to see a larger image

Pianist Patsy Parr eating ice cream with a dog, August 10, 1949
Gilbert A. Milne fonds
C 3-1-0-0-598
Archives of Ontario, I0020211

The Globe & Mail fonds at the Archives of Ontario documents the important relationship between guide dogs and their users.

The earliest-known recorded example of the guide dog/human bond is an Ancient Roman mural showing a blind figure being guided by a dog. In the 20th century, training schools sprung up over the world, bringing guide dogs to many grateful handlers, including many veterans who lost their sight in the Second World War.

Click to see a larger image

People with vision loss and guide dogs in front of CNIB national office, May 14, 1981
The Globe and Mail fonds
F 4695-1
Archives of Ontario, I0054219

Previous | Exhibit Home | Next

Previous | Exhibit Home | Next

In this Exhibit -