Man’s Best Friend in Bronze
Man’s Best Friend
For all you dog lovers there is nothing finer than being greeted by Fido when you walk in the door. The family might have had a bad day, the work or school might have gone sadly wrong, but the affection you get from your pooch never fails to warm the cockles of the heart and often puts mud and dog hairs on your clothes too. Dogs are the most loyal of creatures and that’s why we give the beasties house room. Dogs were the first domesticated animals and cats didn’t follow until long after.
Everyone knows that old chestnut of the story of Greyfriars Bobby, a small dog owned by watchman John Gray is well known for staying by his master’s grave in Edinburgh for 14 years after his death from tuberculosis in 1858. There has been a Disney film about Greyfriars Bobby and there is a bronze statue marking the spot in Greyfriars Kirk which first opened its doors on Christmas Day in 1620. And there are many noteworthy people buried in the kirkyard, including James Hutton, the father of modern geology, and William Topaz McGonagall, my favourite and probably the worst poet in human history.
The tale is normally that the dog was a Skye terrier, but a new author has done loads of research and applied that old favourite Common Sense. He thinks Greyfriars Bobby was a Dandy Dinmont. Skye is 225 miles from Edinburgh and the Dandy Dinmont was a local breed, very popular at the time with 60 breeders in the area, so applying that logic the Skye was a less likely breed. The faithful Bobby is commemorated with a statue near the entrance to the kirkyard.
If you too want a wonderful bronze piece of canine sculpture in your living room then can I recommend the gorgeous Richard Cooper artworks that are just the thing for every dog lover, either as a treat for yourself or for the one in your life who lives for their dog. This delightful bronze captures the loving look of a mother Labrador as she patiently attends to her demanding pups, can’t be bad. And caring for your bronze is as easy as anything.
https://www.jamespirie.com/patience-labrador-and-pups-bronze-sculpture.html
