Putting The Cart Before The Dog. And Goat. And Oh Good Heavens.

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
Well, perhaps not quite.

dog cart 3.jpg

I think this is as elaborate a tiny wagon as I found for the era, someone took great pains replicating a work-a-day model for a child.

Began this as another thread on ' Homefront ', while war raged, children still grew up at home. We have a terrific family photo of the era, an ( however many great ) uncle as a small boy tooling around someone's garden in a goat cart. Have another somewhere, a dog cart, not utilitarian like some societies- pure play. SO funny, thought this diversion on the part of children would be great to explore.
dog cart goat2.JPG

Much post war, and an NYPL stereoview- another purpose built chaise, both hysterical and cute- never met a goat this cooperative.

Well, got a little sidetracked. Not all are era so please excuse. Between Ebay, Pinterest, Tumbler and NYPL exist a world those of us easily distracted should never, ever open. Drew the line with myself at a single page- some thankfully era.

dog cart2.jpg



dog cart 4.jpg

Whatever began the phase it seems to have continued for quite a few decades.

dog cart 10.jpg

This poor puppy is sporting a bit and a very determined looking driver

dog cart 5.jpg

And then things got weird.

dog cart 6.jpg
:angel:
Someone had to say it.

dog cart 7.jpg


dog cart 9.jpg

Not sure this fellow is getting anywhere.

dog cart 11.jpg

Yes, looked it up. They raced them. Gosh. Wierder.

dog cart 12.jpg

No feed bag pulling this cart.

dog cart 13.jpg

There better not be racing attached to this image.

dog cart 14.jpg

Oh. my.

dog cart 15.jpg

Oh. My. Heavens. Why yes, that is a lion. And those are indeed small children.

dog cart8.jpg


This is why I had to sit on my hands and refuse to browse any longer. That and the alligator.

 
Dutchcrafters offers a wide variety of Amish-made goat carts. You can hitch up your favorite dachshund. But, I think you'd need a whole henhouse full of chickens to move one (if you can get them all to go in the same direction at the same time) -- might need to find yourself a chicken-whisperer there.
Well, this might work:
CBsQPMrUgAARQEX.jpg
 
I've watched ostrich racing at the Mid-South fair, people still do it. We went and visited the ostriches afterwards. Ostriches are kind of bitey and mean, and not all that bright, which makes races exciting - random things happen. Not sure about the animal welfare aspects there, they seemed more or less okay but I'm not sure how you tell if an ostrich is unhappy.

The "Miss Minerva and William Green Hill" series of books has a story involving a goat cart given to Billy, the protagonist. This book series starts about the turn of the century and ends in the moving picture era, and is delightful if you're willing to turn your "old timey racism" detector off going in. The author (actually there were two, the first author died and another took over the series) attempts to be fair - she even addresses racism head on in later books - but there's a lot to make a modern person cringe.

Anyway, Billy is given a goat cart complete with a very bad tempered and ill-behaved billy goat, whose sole goal in life seems to be making the children miserable. At one point Billy asks, rather woebegone, if he's a bad person because he can't bring himself to love his evil beast of burden. In the end, the goat upsets the cart, reducing it to flinders and stranding the children in a bad neighborhood, and returns to the drunken, savage junk yard owners he was purchased from! I definitely got the idea the writer had personal experience with goats, since I felt the same way about the billy goat (autocorrect tried to make that bully goat, which would have been more appropriate!) on our farm.
 
kind of bitey and mean, and not all that bright

NO one writes like you, Allie, that is awesome! It does not inspire me to go visit an ostrich barn but I sure enjoyed hearing about them, thank you! It does jiggle memory, on racing them- somewhere someone did mention it, maybe here on CWT. Incidentally, ' bitey and mean ' fits very well with Standardbred ( spellcheck hates all versions of that, no idea what the correct one may be ) horses- gee whiz! As a horse crazy kid remember weasling my way into the huge barns, attached to fairgrounds where the trotters were kept? Was familiar with some fairly snippy equines, Shetlands, etc. but whew! Trotters must be the ostriches of the equine world.

Wow. Not my kids, over my dead body (photos from the hippo on down)!


Right?? You just know Mother was out of the house, at her Temperance meeting, Dad babysitting and bored. The children asked about the old dog cart but the old dog was past his prime.... . I mean really. A lion? Those parents are 107 years old and still in a custody battle.

Dutchcrafters offers a wide variety of Amish-made goat carts. You can hitch up your favorite dachshund. But, I think you'd need a whole henhouse full of chickens to move one (if you can get them all to go in the same direction at the same time) -- might need to find yourself a chicken-whisperer there.
Well, this might work:View attachment 112991


Well, he was larger than a chicken. This is TJ, our German Shepherd/Husky mix and my son, when we had a quarter mile trek to the bus stop, down our dirt lane one bad winter. They had a blast, many wrecks and were sorry when Spring came. Used one of those flexible sleds, much rope and a few dog leashes. OH my we miss that dog, 14 when we had to say goodbye.

ike tj.jpg
 
While starting out rather benign, those images took a dive, speaking volumes on the weirdness of humanity! Thank you for digging these out of mothballs, and posting, Annie.
 
Dog cart or dogs as a mode of transport was very common, as long as the dog cooperated. I like to think a lot of that was done out of love. My little girl, a dachshund/Chihuahua mix does not let me get far from her, and she can pull a small cart. She is strong, and big for the mix. She looks like a dachshund. I believe Lincoln's boys either had a goat or dog cart. I can't remember which. Indians had dog and horse travois, the dog first then after acquiring horses, surplanting the dog. They are man's best friend. I know I take my girl with me as long as it's not too hot for her.
 
Well, perhaps not quite.

View attachment 112961
I think this is as elaborate a tiny wagon as I found for the era, someone took great pains replicating a work-a-day model for a child.

Began this as another thread on ' Homefront ', while war raged, children still grew up at home. We have a terrific family photo of the era, an ( however many great ) uncle as a small boy tooling around someone's garden in a goat cart. Have another somewhere, a dog cart, not utilitarian like some societies- pure play. SO funny, thought this diversion on the part of children would be great to explore.View attachment 112973
Much post war, and an NYPL stereoview- another purpose built chaise, both hysterical and cute- never met a goat this cooperative.

Well, got a little sidetracked. Not all are era so please excuse. Between Ebay, Pinterest, Tumbler and NYPL exist a world those of us easily distracted should never, ever open. Drew the line with myself at a single page- some thankfully era.

View attachment 112975


View attachment 112962
Whatever began the phase it seems to have continued for quite a few decades.

View attachment 112967
This poor puppy is sporting a bit and a very determined looking driver

View attachment 112963
And then things got weird.

View attachment 112964 :angel:
Someone had to say it.

View attachment 112965

View attachment 112966
Not sure this fellow is getting anywhere.

View attachment 112968
Yes, looked it up. They raced them. Gosh. Wierder.

View attachment 112969
No feed bag pulling this cart.

View attachment 112970
There better not be racing attached to this image.

View attachment 112971
Oh. my.

View attachment 112972
Oh. My. Heavens. Why yes, that is a lion. And those are indeed small children.

View attachment 112974

This is why I had to sit on my hands and refuse to browse any longer. That and the alligator.
Thanks for posting these views of the way we were.
All are interesting. Some are amazing. A couple are so absurd it gives more reason to be happy the automobile came along.
 
NO one writes like you, Allie, that is awesome! It does not inspire me to go visit an ostrich barn but I sure enjoyed hearing about them, thank you! It does jiggle memory, on racing them- somewhere someone did mention it, maybe here on CWT. Incidentally, ' bitey and mean ' fits very well with Standardbred ( spellcheck hates all versions of that, no idea what the correct one may be ) horses- gee whiz! As a horse crazy kid remember weasling my way into the huge barns, attached to fairgrounds where the trotters were kept? Was familiar with some fairly snippy equines, Shetlands, etc. but whew! Trotters must be the ostriches of the equine world.




Right?? You just know Mother was out of the house, at her Temperance meeting, Dad babysitting and bored. The children asked about the old dog cart but the old dog was past his prime.... . I mean really. A lion? Those parents are 107 years old and still in a custody battle.




Well, he was larger than a chicken. This is TJ, our German Shepherd/Husky mix and my son, when we had a quarter mile trek to the bus stop, down our dirt lane one bad winter. They had a blast, many wrecks and were sorry when Spring came. Used one of those flexible sleds, much rope and a few dog leashes. OH my we miss that dog, 14 when we had to say goodbye.

View attachment 113021
Beautiful animal!
 
Back
Top