Victorian Dog Grooming Parlour And My Amazing (Spaces) Dog On Wheels
I’ve always had a quiet obsession with dogs on wheels. As a child I was insanely jealous of my sister’s wire-haired fox terrier on red wheels with a red handle. It was second hand when she got it, so even the chipped enamel of the handle and its slightly threadbare fur seemed to me to add to its charm.
So when in the Amazing Spaces offices I heard that a contributor had emailed in with a potential project of a Victorian dog grooming parlour I just knew we had to have it in the series.
The original station building with its lovely Victorian architecture, combined with its new canine incarnation just filled me with visual possibilities.
The station building itself needed restoration. Sarah, the owner, is not afraid of hard work. When she bought the building it was a bit of a wreck and she worked really hard to restore it to its former glory. Although the space is a functional working environment, Sarah has injected loads of personality into it. For example, she painted all the woodwork in the original custard and mossy green gloss paint of the era, and collected old train posters featuring dogs which were put up around the walls.
I started thinking about Victorian dog portraits and the woollen tartan blankets that dogs would’ve had to sleep on in their summer Scottish hunting lodge. I also researched antique dog pull toys on wheels.
These are the simplest type of moving toys, powered entirely by the user and made from wood or cast-iron, with the addition of soft fabrics and fur to depict a certain animal. There are many such toys still popular today, such as trucks and ducks, but in the Victorian Era dogs particularly took centre stage in their design. At the time ‘Lines Brothers of England’ and ‘Steiff’ made dogs on wheels, the larger ones being advertised as “High Class Riding animals.” They are very collectable today and can fetch high prices for anyone wishing to sell one as they are now quite rare.
For the Amazing Spaces series it took much digging around before I finally managed to find an original dog on wheels in a dusty corner of a film prop house.
For me this was a lifetime ambition achieved, as at last I had a chance to have a dog on wheels of my own!
