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A Pitbull Returned My Smile This Morning
Unsent Letters to dogs and dog owners
I grew up with a big, lazy Bernese Mountain dog called “Reina,“ meaning Queen in Spanish. She did her name justice. She carried herself regally, even sitting cross-legged, left paw gently folded over her right. She let me crawl all over her with such effortless ease. I knew I was cared for in my little world where she was so big.
J.M Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, based Nana, the canine caretaker of Wendy, John, and Michael, off his own dog Luath. In the book, Nana is portrayed as the gentle carer for the kids, giving them daily medicine and tucking them in bed with her big brown paws. She was originally going to journey to Neverland along with all three kids, an idea that was later dropped in the original book — but I’m sure she lived a rent-free life in Barrie’s mind.
Amidst messy human relations, dogs are easy to love. The connection between our bipedal species and our quadruped counterparts might even hint at an answer to that pesky question; “What is love?”
To begin unpacking that, here’s a few unsent letters to dogs and dog owners from our unsent letter archive:
