dr. seuss' dogs and other tidbits

I can always count on the Guardian online to offer up something interesting.  Here's what I found today without even trying:
Photoessay on Dr. Seuss's dogs, including his childhood pet Rex, who sometimes decided to walk on three of his four feet
In Japan, the Kofukuji temple provides funerals for defunct Aibo robot dogs.  Love is where you find it.
I don't know Britt Collins, but we feel a lot alike about cats.
Barbra Streisand cloned her dog - twice!  Did you know that?
Why are kittens so cute? No, seriously, inquiring minds want to know.

prayer to stop a dog from barking

I found a book of charms, prayers and magic songs from the prehistoric Finnish people.  There's words of healing power (for hiccups, a lizard bite, when torn by a wolf or bear); words to chant to attract love, to repulse love, to avoid the cowhouse snake; prayers against wasps and elf-shots.
Here's a prayer to silence a dog:

Field maiden, farmyard girl! O golden king of earth,

here where they need thee, come from the field with thy

family to close the mouth of a dog, to plug the nozzle of a

whelp. Bind silk across its eyes, tie a bandage round its

ears, a mushroom up one nostril thrust, an apple up the

other one, lest it should scent the breath of man, perceive

the smell of a full-grown man, lest it should hear a passer-

by, lest it should see a wanderer.

Try it and let me know if it works!  There's two more in the book, if this one doesn't do the trick.

Abercromby, John Abercromby, baron, 1844-1924. The Pre- And Proto-historic Finns, Both Eastern And Western, With the Magic Songs of the West Finns. London: D. Nutt, 1898. p. 216.

what you should do if you find a fairy dog

thanks british library flickr

Hafod y Gareg's wife is on her way home from church when she comes across a tiny, exhausted dog.  This is the opening to a Welsh folktale that manages to dovetail a test of character and a trick question in a very short time.  Where did the dog come from?  Or...whom? Does she pass on all counts?  Aren't you curious?

greyboy pet prints

all images copyright and by kindest permission of the artist, m. pratt

One of the sincerest functions of art is its service to memory, both as an aid and a tribute.  California artist Mandi Pratt uses her skills in photography and printmaking to this end through her studio, Greyboy Pet Prints.  Would you like a photography session?  She'll ask you for your pet's story, learn about his or her personality, and make a comfortable, natural experience so your pet's true self can shine. 

Perhaps you'd rather have an artistic etching created from a photo you love; perhaps your pet is now with you only in memory.  The lovely thing about an etching is how it can bring a particular tactile quality to what you remember.  And if you wish, Pratt can include a very small bit of your pet's ashes into the etching ink.

She kindly shared a couple of photos that illustrate the etching process: wiping down an etched plate...

...and pulling a print from an inked plate.

Visit Greyboy Pet Prints here.  And don't miss Greyboy on Instagram!

wedawe

thanks reuseable-art.com

Wedawe:  a word that translates as "to own a dog" in the Mi'kmaq language, according to the vintage dictionary I have found this morning. The Mi'kmaq nation lives in Canada's Maritime provinces as well as parts of Quebec, Newfoundland and Maine; at the time of the book's writing, the language and the people were spelled "Micmac."  Also at that time the peoples of this nation wrote in a beautiful hieroglyphic system.  I mention that because I want you to see and appreciate it.
Here are some of their words regarding dogs, as recorded in the dictionary:

My dog, 'Nte.
Thy dog, ukte.
His dog, Ooteel.
A little dog, uliimoojeech.
An Indian's dog, ulnooaasum; Weiasiimooch.
A white man's dog, Aglaseawaasum.
A Newfoundland dog, Mootkulaasum.
A good moose-dog — i. e.. a good moose hunter — A moose-dog, Teamoowaasum.
A fox-dog, (a hound), Wokwisooaasijm.
A useless dog, Mejunooaasum. Lit., A dung- dog.
The ancient Indian dog, Lunsum.
A white dog, Wopsum.
What is this dog especially good for? - kogooaaasum?
A good dog for birds, Sesipawaasum.

He is a good dog for hunting porcupines, Madooeswaasum.
He is a capital dog for hunting bears, Mooinawaasum.
He is a good sheep dog, Cheechkelooaoochwaasum.
To own a dog, Wedawe.
A male dog, Nabesum.
A female dog, (a bitch,) Skwesum.
An old dog, kesegoo'sum.

-- from Rand, S. Tertius. (1888). Dictionary of the language of the Micmac Indians: who reside in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and Newfoundland. Halifax, N.S.: Nova Scotia printing company. 88-9.

romanian proverbs

thanks pixabay

From Rumanian Proverbs, collected by Marcu Beza and published in 1921:

• Câinele nu intră, dacă nu-i uşa deschisă. -- A dog doesn't enter if the door is not open.
• De te latră un câine, astupă-i gura cu pâine. -- If a dog barks at you, stop his muzzle with bread.
• Câinii când încep a lătra te lasă, dar gura lumii—pace. -- There is some respite from a barking dog, but never from wagging tongues.
• Câinele latră la lună toată noaptea, şi luna nu-1 ascultă niciodată. --The dog barks at the moon all night long, but the moon never hears him.
• Cine se judecă, adeseori pierde un bou si câştigă o pisică. --The man who goes to law often loses an ox to win a cat.
• Ce naste din pisică soareci mănâncă. -- What is born of a cat eats mice.
• La casa cu două fete mor pisicile de sete. -- In the house where there are two girls, the cats die of thirst.

the white dog of the faith

actually an edward lear illustration (PD)

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the great Cistercian abbot of twelfth-century France, is sometimes portrayed with a white dog; here's why. . . 

However it be, he verified the Interpretation of his Mother's dream. She dreamed, when she was of Child with him, she should be delivered of a white Dog, whose barking should be very sonorous. Being frighted at this Dream, she consulted an honest Monk, who said to her, Be of good Courage; you will have a Son, who shall keep God's House, and bark much against the Enemies of the Faith. St Bernard did more, than the Prediction imported; for he barked sometimes against chimerical Enemies, against Errors, which were either meer Trifles, or unjust Interpretations of the Words and Thoughts of others...

-- From Bayle, P. (1734-38). The dictionary historical and critical of Mr. Peter Bayle. The 2d ed., carefully collated with the several editions of the original ... To which is prefixed, the life of the author, rev., corr., and enl., by Mr Des Maizeaux ... London: J.J. and P. Knapton [etc.]. p. 772-3.

arkansas vs massachusetts

thanks pixabay

Actually, dog vs. cat.  The article I'm sending you to today was written in 2014, but 2.5 years won't have greatly changed the fact that Arkansas is the most dog-friendly state.  Massachusetts, meanwhile, could be Catsachusetts.  ("But how about pet-friendly US cities?" you ask.  Someone mapped that out last year - congratulations, Orlando.)  And does that say anything about the politics of said states?  Maybe.