“If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” — Will Rogers

One of the best mistakes I’ve ever made was keeping my dog — because after a time, a mistake made right by puppy love can transform into something beautiful. After several years of destroyed couches, kennels, artwork, and one time a foam-core door, I discovered the secret to making my dog tick (exercise and company) and have been treated ever since to a relationship that has bested those I’ve had with most humans.

August 26 is National Dog Day in New York. As a shoutout to couch-wrecking canines everywhere, I present you with photographs of people and their dogs from a time when all present had to hold very still.

Champion hunting dogs shown to President Hoover (1929)

First dog team to go from Nome to Seward (1900–1930)

Trained dogs and monkeys running a dog and monkey hotel (1915)

President Harding’s dog “Laddie Boy” and other dogs (1921–1923)

Largest and smallest dog at a dog show (1923)

“Alex,” prize German police dog and pet of Miss Ailsa Mellon (1924)

John D. Eddy, former miner, with greyhound, Petaluma Gold (1942)

A dog that wandered through the open door of a Greyhound bus at a rest stop between Cincinnati, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. (1943) The photographer notes: “A passenger declined to share his seat with the dog and ejected him”

Two dogs rest on snow during Roald Amundsen’s 1911 Antarctic expeditions (1912)

Man and dogs on rail cart trip from Shelton to Nome (1912)

Dogs perched on the edge of a river scow (1897)

Boy with dog, a study made at Oceanside, L.I (1904)

Ten St. Bernard dogs sitting on four tier pedastals (1886)

The dog of war, reporting to first aid squad with helmet of wounded soldier (1914–1918)

Grace Coolidge with two dogs (1924)

Full-length portrait of a boy standing next to a dog (1860–1870)

Ann Bonfoey Taylor wearing a yellow goatskin coat, walking her three West Highland White Terrier dogs (1967)

Soldier in Confederate uniform sitting next to dog (1861–1865)

Boy and girl with two dogs and a wagon (1904)

Log cabin in West Virginia (1921)

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