Dogs in History
Meet the dogs who shaped history — from ancient legends to modern heroes. Some of these dogs are famous, others long forgotten, but all played a part in the human story.
Their stories live here and are grouped into six themed categories.
Each tale will surprise you, move you, and change the way you think about dogs and history.
The Hounds of Annwn: Wales’s Ghost Dogs Were Never Hellhounds
In the First Branch of the Mabinogion, a Welsh prince steals a kill from a pack of white-and-red-eared hounds — and finds himself answering to the King of the Otherworld.
Rin Tin Tin: The Dog Who Saved Warner Bros.
He rescued a studio from bankruptcy, launched one of Hollywood’s most powerful careers, and died while his owner lost the house — and none of it involves the Oscar story you’ve probably heard.
Fortuné: The Dog Who Bit Napoleon on His Wedding Night
Before Napoleon entered Josephine's bed, Fortune was already in it — and he never accepted the new arrangement.
Black Dog: The Dartmoor Terror Behind The Hound of the Baskervilles
The black dogs of Dartmoor haunted the moors for centuries before Conan Doyle borrowed them — and he wasn't entirely convinced they weren't real.
Cave Canem: What Rome’s ‘Beware of Dog’ Signs Really Mean
The most famous ‘Beware of Dog’ sign in history wasn’t just a warning — it was a status symbol, a spiritual guardian, and a declaration of everything a Roman household believed it was worth protecting.
Rags: The Paris Stray Who Went to War
He was found in a Montmartre alley on Bastille Day 1918, ran messages through the trenches of World War I, and spent the next seventeen years as a celebrated military figure—while the man who found him was slowly forgotten.
Señor Xólotl: Frida Kahlo Named Her Dog After the Aztec God of Death
Named for the Aztec god who guides souls through the underworld, Señor Xólotl was Frida Kahlo’s companion through decades of surgery, pain, and art.
Argos: The Dog Who Waited
The man who outwitted gods and monsters had to stand at his own gate, watch his dog recognize him after twenty years, and walk away without a word.
Caesar: The Dog Who Walked Before Kings
In 1910, a scruffy wire fox terrier walked ahead of nine kings at Edward VII’s funeral—and everything the palace had tried to keep private walked with him.
Anubis Was Real: The Dogs Behind Egypt’s Most Famous God
In 1935, archaeologist George Reisner pulled a limestone tablet from the rubble near the Great Pyramid and found the name of a dog a pharaoh had buried with royal honors 4,300 years earlier.
Greyfriars Bobby: Edinburgh's Most Profitable Dog
The famous story of a terrier's 14-year vigil at his master's grave was likely Victorian Edinburgh's first coordinated tourist attraction — and there may have been two dogs.
Seaman: The Dog Who Crossed a Continent
Meriwether Lewis bought a Newfoundland for practical reasons — but when three armed men were sent to get the dog back, it was clear this was no longer about utility.
Hachikō, Tokyo’s Loyal Dog
Hachikō returned to Shibuya Station for years after his owner died—how did one Akita’s devotion become Japan’s enduring symbol of loyalty?
Dogs Playing Poker’s Real Name
Everyone knows the dogs playing poker painting, but do you know it’s real name, the artist, or how a cigar ad became an American icon.
Scooby-Doo: The Dog Who Was Drawn Wrong
The man who designed Scooby-Doo spent fifteen years learning the rules of perfect draughtsmanship at Disney — then broke every single one on purpose.
Dulux: How a Sheepdog Became a Household Name
For more than sixty years, an Old English Sheepdog has padded calmly through Britain’s living rooms, and into its collective memory, as the faithful face of Dulux paint.
Why Victorians Dressed Dogs Like Humans
A single dog in a top hat opens a window onto a forgotten Victorian obsession - when pets were dressed, posed, and photographed as reflections of ourselves.
Sergeant Stubby: America’s First War Dog
The story of Sergeant Stubby, a stray turned war hero whose service in World War I and bond with his American owner made him the most decorated dog in history.