Richard Teleky - The Dog on the Bed: A Canine Alphabet

Also by Richard Teleky

FICTION

Winter in Hollywood

Pack Up the Moon

The Paris Years of Rosie Kamin

Goodnight, Sweetheart and Other Stories

NON-FICTION

Hungarian Rhapsodies: Essays in Ethnicity, Identity

and Culture

POETRY

The Hermit in Arcadia

The Hermits Kiss

ANTHOLOGIES

The Exile Book of Canadian Dog Stories

The Oxford Book of French-Canadian Short Stories

RICHARD TELEKY

The Dog
on the Bed

A Canine Alphabet

Copyright 2011 Richard Teleky

Published in Canada by Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 195 Allstate Parkway, Markham, Ontario L3R 4T8

Published in the United States by Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 311 Washington Street, Brighton, Massachusetts 02135

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Fitzhenry & Whiteside or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, ON M5E 1E5, Fax (416) 868-1621.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Teleky, Richard

Dog on the bed : a canine alphabet / Richard Teleky.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-55455-219-1 (print), 978-1-55455-840-7 (epub)

1. Dogs--Miscellanea. 2. Dogs--Humor. I. Title.

SF426.T44 2011 636.7 C2011-906613-0

Publisher Cataloging-in-Publication Data (U.S)

Teleky, Richard

The dog on the bed : a canine alphabet / Richard Teleky.

[ 372 ] p. : photos. ; cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary: An abecedarian that contains essays on the human-dog relationship, dog facts, dog lore, dogs in human culture and philosophy on dogs.

ISBN: 978-1-55455-219-1 (print), 978-1-55455-840-7 (epub)

1. Dogs. I. Title.

636.7 dc23 SF422.33.T454 2011

Fitzhenry & Whiteside acknowledges with thanks the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council for their support of our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities.

Cover and interior design by Daniel Choi

Cover Image: Precious - A Pug (w/c on paper), Garstin, Alethea (1894-1978) / Private Collection /

Manya Igel Fine Arts, London, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library

Image on page 361: Zoli , authors photograph

eBook development: WildElement.ca

For Rennie,

who cant read, but understands,

and

in memory of Zoli,

and Buster, Morgan, Max, and Spotty

Contents

CAST OF CHARACTERS

If translations of Russian novels can include them, as can playwrights of every nationality, then I want to make use of a sensible convention as well. The dogs who appear in this book are:

PREFACE

I was born in the Year of the Dog, according to the Chinese system of astrology, which may account for the sympathy I have for dogs. Of course, I like to think that it does. At any rate, this book is the result of that bond, and of years of association with various dogs, wide reading about them, and connections with dog people (breeders, veterinarians, etc.). Dog people, Chinese astrologists tell us, are supposed to be loyal and trustworthy, and I hope that Ive earned the right to consider myself one.

My title comes from a French proverb: There are two kinds of masters those who admit that the dog sleeps on the bed, and those who dont admit it. I first heard this saying from Magda Cscsy-Smjn, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nice, who regularly travelled between Europe and North America with her dog, Dolly. Perhaps it resonated with me because I remembered my mother frequently telling me, as a child, Get that dog off the bed! Ive planned this book since 1995, when I brought home the first dog of my own, a pug named Zoli. In subsequent years Ive read countless dog books, catching up on classics like Virginia Woolfs Flush and Konrad Lorenzs Man Meets Dog while following new titles and trends. We can learn a great deal about dogs not only by observing them but by reading about them too, and our dogs can benefit from that reading. People who genuinely love a dog as a dog not as an emotional prop, a lifestyle accessory, or a child substitute spend a lot of time thinking about how dogs take in their world. This often leads us to books, a good progression. Yet there have been days when it seemed that new books about dogs were being published faster than I could read them or write my own and The Dog on the Bed makes no claim to be comprehensive. But it is bookish, because thats the kind of person I am. As Groucho Marx once put it, Outside of a dog, a book is mans best friend. Inside of a dog, its too dark to read.

The Dog on the Bed is an alphabet of essays an abecedarian one short essay, at least, for each letter. The special nature of the abecedarian is that its a meditation, a kind of philosophical ramble. The author of an alphabet book is a mediator of sorts, representing the general reader or the enthusiast. The genre has been used by a variety of writers, including M.F.K. Fisher (on food), Eleanor Perenyi (on gardening), Roland Barthes (on romantic love), Ezra Pound (on reading), Carlos Fuentes (an eclectic memoir), and Ambrose Bierce, who perfected it for that classic, The Devils Dictionary . The form is a loose one, but it should be both informative and entertaining. Readers are free to read from cover to cover with growing momentum or jump in at essays of special interest, making individual versions of the book. This abecedarian, however, is not a how-to manual (there are enough of these on the market already), but rather an exploration of aspects of the mysterious bond between dogs and humans, and some of the ways in which it has been represented in our culture. There is an overall argument here, which runs through each letter of the alphabet: we are human because of our dogs. At almost every turn, the truly ancient human/dog bond has defined us as a species and our culture as well, from our early co-evolution to the way weve relied on dogs and how they have returned the attention. This bond is rich and messy, complex and even troubling a mirror to our deepest desires and fears. How could it be otherwise?

Naturally my own dog stories will inform this book as a kind of leitmotif and mini-memoir. From my first dog, a smooth-haired fox terrier, through all the other dogs and breeds Ive loved wirehaired terriers, Boston terriers, Cavalier King Charles spaniels, and, of course, pugs Ill record some of the interactions Ive had that illustrate various points under discussion. Inevitably, some essays will not include personal material, but dog people like the anecdotal, and so dog books (like the writings of most ethologists, or specialists in animal behaviour) are full of anecdotes. I make no claim to the expertise of a dog specialist (if there is such a creature), but rather will bring to my subject a fiction writers temperament, a literary critics interest in the arts, a dog lovers fascination with a popular subject, and my own concerns and values, likes and dislikes. So curl up with your dog at your side, or on your lap, and jump in. Richard Teleky