Thomas E. Dewey was the 47th Governor of New York. He was a moderate Republican, who wound up being the party’s nominee for president twice– and losing both times. Most famously, he lost the 1948 election to Harry Truman. By election day, it was assumed by the pundit class of the day that Dewey would defeat Truman in that election. And, well, Truman won.
Sound familiar? LOL.
The photo above is of Tommy Dewey, the governor’s son, and a dog he had taken to obedience class. It appeared in an article in Life Magazine on October 1, 1945, and the dog in question is “Curley,” an Irish water spaniel.
Curley apparently had been a quite naughty dog, for the article mentions that he won the award for “Greatest Improvement” at his obedience school graduation.
In 1945, Dewey was preparing to run for president, so it was great PR to have a human interest story about the governor’s son training up this dog.
Of course, if he had only put Curley in a carrier on the roof the car, he might very well have beaten Truman.
Maybe, but I bet that a large sector of the dog owning public today would be throwing fits about that choke chain.
Then there was the famous picture of Truman holding up a newspaper with the bold headline DEWEY WINS – the morning AFTER Truman was elected.
Oh yes, that dreaded “choke chain” . Many years ago when I first started my dog in formal training classes, it was called a slip collar, and we were given very clear, explicit instructions in its proper use– and this collar was NEVER used to choke or strangle the dog! It’s a tool, and just as with any other tool, should be used correctly. Do we castigate kitchen knives, because someone chooses to wound another person with that knife?
Kid looks proud, dog looks happy, there’s slack in the chain and it’s on the right way, and the kid isn’t holding the leash like an idiot. No complaints from me.
I hate to be a contrary Mary, but that collar is upside down — the dog has come round to the opposite side of the lad. As this is only for a picture, it’s not a problem. However, you will note that that collar will not loosen of its own accord, whereas when it’s on the right way it will not tighten of its own accord. You can check for yourself with anything you can make a loop of, like by passing a leash through its loop handle to form a slip collar. If you put it round your wrist as shown in the picture, it’ll tighten and stay tight.
A nice demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQU0SgN64dg&feature=related
That was what I was hinting at in the post.
You win the prize!
oooh, do I get a cookie? :D I’m not pointing out the existence of the collar itself — I use them among other training tools. I’m pointing out to Raegan that the collar *is* upside down, and not correct as he/she thinks. :)
It appears to me that the collar is on correctly. The lead is attached to the “free” ring, as it should be. Ideally, the whole collar would be rotated slightly so that the rings are more towards the handler, but as this is a static photo, no real problem. And the dog is correctly on the the handler’s left. At least in the photo I’m looking at. Perhaps a bit of confusion because the free end of collar obscures part of it going around dog’s neck.
One reason many trainers went to the nylon slip collar, is that it tends to stay in place better (and doesn’t wear the dog’s coat as much as a chain).