A Google search of "man's best friend" and "phrase" returned the
following:
From http://mathco.com/cheechwizard/animals/tribute.html
I have had the above piece for years, but never knew the exact origin
of it until recently. It is attributed to Senator George Graham Vest
during the 1870 Burden v. Hornsby court case in Warrensburg, Missouri.
Sen. Vest's oratory (Above is only a portion of Sen. Vest's speech; the
latter half of it has been lost to history.) won the case of Charles
Burden, whose favorite dog, Old Drum, had wandered onto the property of
Burden's neighbor, Leonidas Hornsby. Hornsby made good his promise to
shoot the first dog that wandered onto his property; that dog being Old
Drum. He did this even though he had previously hunted with the dog and
acknowledged him as one of the best hunters he'd ever seen.
Burden sued Hornsby for damages. Following several appeals, the case
reached the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri. Burden received an
award of $50.00 in damages for the loss of his canine. The Warrensburg
Chamber of Commerce and dog-lovers around the country had erected a
statue of Old Drum on the lawn of the Johnson County Courthouse lawn in
Warrensburg on September 23, 1958. It is said that this speech provided
the origin of the phrase, "A man's best friend is his dog."
It's the best I could come up with. Tried Brewster's Dictionary of
Phrase and Fable at www.bartelby.com, but came up a cropper.
Bob Koreis
Teacher Libraian
Meeker Elementary
Puyallup WA
Student (for 25 more days)
THE iSchool
THE University of Washington (you're getting something out of it,
whether you go there or not)
rkoreis@u.washington.edu
>>> library lady <omar13rules@YAHOO.COM> 05/19/03 11:17AM >>>
A first grader is researching this topic...
Can anyone point me to a website or book that might
help explain how dogs came to be known as "man's best
friend"?
I can certainly list some reasons of my own, but I'm
not an authority on the subject.
Thanks!
Laura D'Amato
Lower School Librarian
Lake Ridge Academy
North Ridgeville, OH
omar13rules@yahoo.com
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