Dog in Armchair by Alfred De Dreux, 1857
As with other luxury breeds linked to desirable spots, saying a dog felt no need to roam implied the owner had a well-stocked estate from which he should never wish to wander. The notion that good dogs kept better addresses, as we’ve seen on other stops across the Land of Fancy, was as old as aristocracy. Gordon Stables restaked that claim for pets “looking pleased and happy, and but seldom caring to leave their own well-kept lawns, unless to make a rush at a stray cat, or bark at a butcher’s Collie.”