Dogs in literature and in life

Dogs are the best people.  I whole-heartedly agree with The Fauves on that one. It is now 11 days since I had to have my beloved canine companion Betty put to sleep. She was 14 years old and had a range of health issues, so as everyone keeps telling me it was the kindest thing to do, but it was still the most awful decision I have ever had to make.

Betty came to live with me when she was 6 weeks old, a little strawberry blonde cocker spaniel with razor-sharp baby teeth and the idea that the carpet was the place to wee rather than the lawn. We had so many adventures together over the years; air travel for beach holidays in WA, a road trip to Byron Bay (we stopped overnight in Dubbo and I smuggled her into my hotel room through the window), countless laps around The Tan (where she was once patted by Cathy Freeman and once photographed by The Age), Albert Park Lake and many other smaller parks and blocks all over Melbourne.

The house is quiet and empty and lonely without her. But I’m trying to accentuate the positives. I bought a new rug which will remain free of dog hair and ‘accidents’. I no longer have to dash home between work and going out, to walk and feed her, so I’ve been going out straight from work, which feels strangely liberated.

I still get very teary whenever I think of her. My sister advised me against reading (or watching) Marley & Me by John Grogan, and I’m sure I couldn’t handle it right now. But her advice made me consider famous dogs, and more specifically, dogs in literature.  I could think of a few – Timmy the dog in Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five series, Buck in Call of the Wild by Jack London, Cerberus the hell-hound of Hades –  but when my list stopped there I decided to google the subject and found Wikipedia’s list of dogs in literature for your enjoyment.

Luckily I haven’t had much time during work hours to be sad as it’s been far too busy. Deals are being done all over the place as we get closer to program guide deadline. The guide will be in The Age on Friday 17 July, so look out for it. But first we have to lock in authors, juggle session times and venues, write biographies and other text, source photos and in my case, confirm all sponsors, trusts and foundations, and major donors.

Despite the economic down-turn, people and companies are still prepared to be generous, and we welcome several new supporters for the 2009 festival. These include the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust which has given a grant for us to take the Schools’ Program on the road to regional Victoria during the festival; The Smith Family, who are sponsoring a session in which authors discuss their paths out of disadvantage to literary success in a promotion of the importance of literacy and fostering an early love of literature;  and The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law (Monash University) in partnership with law firm Holding Redlich who are sponsoring the appearance of human rights lawyer and author Thomas Buergenthal at the festival.

But wait, there’s more: Qantas, JWT (currently working on our ad campaign which is very exciting, gorgeous and clever), the Italian Institute of Culture together with Crown Coffee, Australian Ethical Investment, CAE, Kangarilla Wines and The Finkel Foundation. Whew.

Until next week.

Nina
Development Manager