Happy birthday Mr. Kipling

Today is December 30 - and it's Rudyard Kipling's birthday!  Rudyard Kipling was a famous late-Victorian poet and author - who even won a Nobel prize for literature in 1907.  He was born in India, but lived in England and the US as well.  Now when you say the name Rudyard Kipling - many people think of one of his most famous works - The Jungle Book.  That title sounds like it could be  a book about our house.  We can be pretty wild animals.

While Mr. Kipling had countless poems, short stories, children's books and travel writings, what you may not know is that he also wrote about dogs!  He had a book called Collected Dog Stories - which was a group of stories he wrote about dogs throughout his career.  He even wrote several poems about dogs.  Here is one - but get out your tissues... 

The Power of the Dog

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart to a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear.


When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.


We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-term loan is as bad as a long--
So why in--Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

Rudyard Kipling 

I had a hard time finding out what kind of dogs Mr. Kipling was owned by - but I did find one source that mentioned black Aberdeen terriers (Scottish terriers).  When you read his works, you can clearly see that he was a big fan of us canines.

As I started to write this blog, my human went into our "dog library" to see if we had Kipling's book.  Yup.  Of course, we do.  

And speaking of dog books, my human got a couple of new titles from Santa.  One of which is called How Smart is your Dog? by David Alderton.  Seriously?  A book to tell you what you already know?  Obviously, any dog who has his own blog HAS to be pretty brilliant.  Not to mention the fact that we herding breeds (PONs and Picards) have to be pretty smart to move around those sheep.  Mind you - Frodo and I don't particularly like sheep.  But we WOULD move them.  If we HAD to.  And with the FG, there is no question those sheep will be moved around.  And around.  And around.  And around....

Perhaps while my human is off (after she has taken us on 12 walks and has played fetch 43 times), she will sit down and read some of those dog books in our library.  Perhaps she should start with some of the obedience titles.  Nah.  I would prefer the one about biscuit recipes.

Have a good one!  And Happy birthday Mr. Kipling.