Vinatge Dog Photos & Postcards

January 6, 2003 10:32 AM

Vintage Dog Photos & Postcards From the strange to the enigmatic, ominous to amusing, this collection puts a smile on my face.
posted by snez (10 comments total)

Wonderful stuff! For obvious reasons, this one's my favorite.
posted by SealWyf at 10:48 AM on January 6, 2003

What an odd site. I like it. :)
posted by dejah420 at 11:53 AM on January 6, 2003

This is a lovely site. Old pet photos can be interesting because, espcially in daguerrotypes, they're sort of rare. The combination of the difficulty getting dogs or cats to sit still for a long exposure and the cost of a picture with very little image real estate meant that there weren't many of them out there. This is a real treasure trove, thanks!
posted by jessamyn at 1:09 PM on January 6, 2003

Shows that the Pit Bull's popularity isn't just a recent phenomenon.
posted by timeistight at 1:11 PM on January 6, 2003

There's just something about old photos- they always manage to frighten me.

Take this one for instance.

Is this guy Lucifer, a minstrel, or can shadows do that?

Maybe he's just The Mask.
posted by dgaicun at 1:14 PM on January 6, 2003

Great link, Snez. It's surprising to me that people have been taking photographs with their pets for this long. I wouldn't have thought that people had such high regard for the dogs in the house to put them in the family portrait.
posted by Gilbert at 1:39 PM on January 6, 2003

I wouldn't have thought that people had such high regard for the dogs in the house to put them in the family portrait.

There are cave paintings with domestic dogs, and pet dogs are to be seen in family portraits as old as you care to name (black and white Newfoundlands are called "Landseers" because a painter by that name used them in so many of his works in the 1800's). Pet dogs were held in very high esteem in many past societies (moreso in some past societies than in many today), it's not a modern thing (in the 1700's doctors also used to write prescriptions for dogs, as in "rest in front of the fire with a lap dog"). And timeistight, you're right, the Pit Bull is the modern descendant of some very old breeds which traces its roots back to Roman times. /dog fan schpiel
posted by biscotti at 2:12 PM on January 6, 2003

Would a photo of my wife's 15 year old doberman (who really ought to be dead by now, but somehow still persists, and who has a ten pound benign tumour hanging off her side) be considered a "vintage dog photo"? The dog is sure a "vintage dog"!
posted by troutfishing at 2:50 PM on January 6, 2003

Fix, Gripper, BeeBee and Spud are handsome specimens, and are contemporary rather than vintage.
posted by hama7 at 3:18 PM on January 6, 2003

Excellent site, snez...this person has a wonderful collection. Rooting around on the site shows that she also collects fabulous vintage postcards in the multiple babies and exaggerations genres. Fun stuff - thanks.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:49 PM on January 6, 2003