Marguerite Henry may be best known for her stories about horses, but she loved all animals. Here, in the book originally published in 1955 as Wagging Tails: An Album of Dogs, she wrote about the origins of twenty-five different types and breeds of dogs. Ranging from the Bulldog to the Cocker Spaniel to Labradors and Chihuahuas, there's something for every dog lover to enjoy. Each description is paired with a full-color illustration by Wesley Dennis.
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Have you ever wondered why Dachshunds have short legs and a long body, how the Cocker Spaniel got his name, whether a Fox Terrier could ever actually communicate with a horse, how the German Shepherd—once famed as a war dog—became the beloved friend of the blind; or why, in years past, the Beagle was so small he could fit into a glove? With a wealth of historical facts and true anecdotes Marguerite Henry answers these and dozens of other questions in this worthy companion to the Album of Horses.
Skipping dry statistics and depending largely on the Wesley Dennis illustrations for descriptions, the author vividly examines twenty-five pure-bred dogs plus the mongrel. Her interest lies in the very hearts, the very spirits of the dogs themselves.
Almost no breed, except the mongrel, is an accident. Man combined with nature to give each dog his individuality; to shape him for a specific purpose on the earth. Underlying each sketch is the mysterious process of life itself.
—from the book
Contents:
- The Scot's collie dog
- The merry beagle
- The gentleman boxer
- The misunderstood poodle
- Old Sour Mug, the bulldog
- The cocking spaniel
- The German shepherd
- Little lion of Peking
- The spotted dog of Dalmatia
- Fox terrier: Dog with a past
- The pointing dogs
- Speaking as a springer
- The labrador, king of retrievers
- Boston terrier: All American
- The Saint Bernard: Dog of mercy
- Mustard Seed: The pet pomeranian
- The great dane
- The midget from Chihuahua
- Herr Dobermann's pinscher
- Little die-hard: The Scot's terrier
- The arctic sled dogs
- The dachshund: Big enough
- Many purebreds make the mongrel
64 pages : 29 cm / Ages 8-12
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