Top Ten Tuesday: Most Memorable Dogs in Fiction

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week has no assigned theme so I decided to write about memorable dogs in fiction:

Lufra, the Baluchistan Hound in Frederica by Georgette Heyer (1965), is not as exotic as he sounds.  Frederica gets into trouble when she takes the family dog for a walk in London and invokes the name of her aristocratic relative to appease those complaining about his behavior. My reviews.

Leo in Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones (1975). Sirius, a star, is punished by his peers and sentenced to live on Earth as Leo, a dog, until he can complete a seemingly impossible mission.

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion (1956). Harry is a white dog with black spots but when he runs away from a hated bath, he gets so dirty he turns into a black dog with white spots and no one recognizes him! My review.

Six-Thirty in Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (2023). Six-Thirty is a beloved, highly intelligent rescue dog, named for the time he was adopted (or wakes up the characters). My review.

Toto in The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900). Toto is Dorothy’s most trusted companion, a “little black dog with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose,” some kind of terrier. In Tik-Tok of Oz, it is finally revealed that he knows how to talk but rarely bothers. My review.

Elvis in A Borrowing of Bones by Paula Munier (2018). Elvis is a retired bomb-sniffing Belgian Shepherd with PTSD, who belonged to Mercy Carr’s deceased fiance. He and Mercy are beginning a new life together in Vermont and he pays an important part in her sleuthing. My review.

Susie in Mine for Keeps by Jean Little (1962). When Sally comes home after five years in a Home for Handicapped Children, she is shy and afraid. Being given responsibility for Susie, a puppy that is also timid, helps build her confidence. “You’re mine too, mine for keeps!” My review.

Chet in Dog on It by Spencer Quinn (2008). Chet is the lovable sidekick and canine narrator of this series about Bernie, who is not the sharpest private investigator. There are now 15 books in the series.

Timmy in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. In Five on a Treasure Island, George has been forbidden a dog so poor Timmy lives in a nearby village but he is so invaluable as a part of their mystery solving that he earns permission to live with George.

Dog Monday in Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery (1921). When Anne Shirley Blythe’s eldest son goes to fight in WWI, his loyal dog waits at the train station for nearly five years:

Thousands of trains had Dog Monday met and never had the boy he waited and watched for returned. Yet still Dog Monday watched on with eyes that never quite lost hope. Perhaps his dog-heart failed him at times; he was growing old and rheumatic; when he walked back to his kennel after each train had gone his gait was very sober now – he never trotted, but went slowly with a drooping head and a depressed tail that had quite lost its old saucy uplift. One passenger stepped off the train – a tall fellow in a faded lieutenant’s uniform, who walked with a barely perceptible limp. He had a bronzed face and there were some grey hairs in the ruddy curls that clustered around his forehead. The new station agent looked at him anxiously. He was used to seeing the khaki-clad figures come off the train, some met by a tumultuous crowd, others, who had sent no word of their coming, stepping off quietly like this one. But there was a certain distinction of bearing and features in this soldier that caught his attention and made him wonder a little more interestedly who he was. A black-and-yellow streak shot past the station agent. Dog Monday stiff? Dog Monday rheumatic? Dog Monday old? Never believe it. Dog Monday was a young pup, gone clean mad with rejuvenating joy. He flung himself against the tall soldier, with a bark that choked in his throat from sheer rapture. He flung himself on the ground and writhed in a frenzy of welcome. He tried to climb the soldier’s khaki legs and slipped down and grovelled in an ecstasy that seemed as if it must tear his little body to pieces. He licked his boots and when the lieutenant had, with laughter on his lips and tears in his eyes, succeeded in gathering the little creature up in his arms Dog Monday laid his head on the khaki shoulder and licked the sunburned neck, making queer sounds between barks and sobs.

I saved the best for last, didn't I?  Are you crying yet? How did the poor dog not freeze to death?  Have you read any of these?  Who did I forget?

According to a recent episode of 60 Minutes, studying dogs may reveal a path to longer, healthier life for dogs and humans. It is well documented that owning a dog provides older adults with significant physical, mental, and emotional benefits, including increased physical activity through walking, reduced loneliness, lower blood pressure, and a stronger sense of purpose. There are also benefits to the dogs: the Dog Aging Project has found that dogs that live with other dogs appear to suffer from fewer diseases. And when it comes to cognitive decline, dogs that don't exercise were found to have a six times greater chance of developing dementia.