Posted on 09/04/2011 3:23:55 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
EDINBURGH, Scotland—To millions of people around the world, he's the loyal dog who kept a lonely vigil at his master's graveside.
Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye terrier, supposedly spent 14 years pining by the grave of his owner, a local known as Auld Jock who died in 1858. The tale of devotion has beguiled generations of visitors to Scotland's capital and inspired dozens of children's books and a 1961 Disney film, "Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog."
Greyfriars Bobby .But to Swedish historian Jan Bondeson, the 150-year-old legend of the dog that stuck it out through snow, hail and freezing temperatures is nothing more than a shaggy dog story cooked up to lure tourists to Edinburgh's rain-soaked Greyfriars cemetery—and some locals and dog lovers are howling.
Dr. Bondeson, a 48-year-old consultant rheumatologist at Cardiff University in Wales, visited Edinburgh several times to study the matter for a new book and now proclaims that Bobby was just a stray trained to hang out in the cemetery.
In his retelling of the tale, Dr. Bondeson argues that a pair of canny Edinburgh men concocted the Greyfriars Bobby story to stir up trade at a... (see link)
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Skye Terriers are scrappy little ones. I guess all terriers have that “trait”. Our Cairn Terrier is especially ruthless when it comes to trying to find mice. His weirdest trait is that he adopted a toad.. and looks over it. He’ll even growl at the German Shepherd if he tries to come near it.
I did not know that about Keeper. Throughout history, we have stories of dogs that pined away for their dead mistress or master. If a person has a dog, they know fully that the dog would “die” for them. That is just the simple fact. For a dog to understand their master is dead and mourn that loss.. not a big leap!
Emily Bronte had two dogs: Grasper and Keeper. I don't know what happened to Grasper but Keeper was a mastiff (sic?) and I have a drawing of him that she did. He was very bold and wild. Once he attacked a stray dog and Emily threw pepper on the two of them to break up the fight. The stray dog bit Emily and left town (smart dog!) Emily heated up a branding iron and burned it into her bleeding arm to mortify it. Scared the pants off her family but that was Emily!
Cairns definitely have their own little personalities, don’t they? I have always wanted one since I was a little girl and fell in love with Toto (Wizard of Oz). I think the scariest part of getting one was learning just how far they will go to seek out their rodents. Ours was only about 5 months old and got under the back of the house (through a small opening from a step). I could barely get my wrist and hand in there. We thought for sure that we were going to have to smash the concrete and who knows what else to get to him. However, he emerged... black with dirt, bugs all over him and as happy as a clam from his adventure!
Yes I dressed like a floozy a little skinny floozy. :D
Now you gotta find that picture!
I don’t think I am going to find it. I have some other pictures of me when I was young and skinny, would they work for ya? :D
Git ta postin’ woman!
;<)
That picture is right up there with “I’ll Take It From Here” on an emotional level.
LOL!
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