The Planet Dog Foundation crew is busy preparing for our 6th Annual Woofminster Amateur Dog Show, a celebration of the many ways dogs endear themselves to us. There are a variety of "challenges" to allow participating dogs to show off some hidden talents (stay tuned next week for a full report on the festivities!)
I have noticed a lot of use of the term "man's best friend" in relation to the event, and it got me thinking - Who coined that phrase? I hadn't heard the story, so for those of you who haven't heard it either, here's the story of poor Old Drum:
Old Drum was a black and tan hound dog belonging to Charles Burden. On the night of October 18, 1869, he was shot and killed by Leonidas Hornsby, Burden's brother-in-law and neighbor. Hornsby was disgruntled at the loss of several of his sheep, and vowed to kill the next dog caught on his property - and that dog was Old Drum.
The death of Old Drum resulted in three separate jury trials and an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court. In his closing arguments to the jury, Mr. Burden's attorney, George Vest, delivered the following tribute, and is credited with naming the dog as "Man's best friend". Mr. Burden won the case, and was awarded damages in the amount of $50.00, an astronomical sum for the time.
Eulogy of the Dog
"Gentlemen of the Jury, the best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith.
The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.
The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
Gentleman of the Jury, a man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side.
He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and the sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert he remains. When riches take wings and reputations fall to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.
If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.”
