Prominent writers and artists occasionally use cats, dogs, or unusual pets as inspiration for their narratives or paintings. The poet Emily Dickinson had a large dog named Carlo that accompanied her on long walks, mentioning him in a few poems and letters.
Nothing signifies one's social status as a very wealthy high profile figure like having a stable of pets.
Here are a number of examples:
1. Lord Byron
Eccentric British poet Lord Byron could be the OG regarding bending the service pet rules.
The poet was a lover of all types of animals, owning everything from crocodiles to peacocks. However, it was his pet dogs that Byron most adored, reported Cracked.
When Byron attended Trinity College in Cambridge accompanied by his dog, he was stunned to learn that Ye Olde Air Bud cannot be sitting in British Literature 200 next on him. Finding a way around the university rule, it dawned on him that he would not win the battle on having a pup in the classroom. So he grabbed a different type of animal; one that was not explicitly mentioned in the university's rulebook: a bear.
2. Charles Dickens
Being an animal person, the writer owned cats, a canary, dogs, a pony, an eagle, and several subsequent ravens named Grip. The first Grip learned to imitate speech and Dickens fondly recorded his bird's vocabulary, reported Bustle.
When the bird died, Dickens had the raven stuffed and also wrote him into the novel "Barnaby Rudge."
In their travels, Edger Allan Poe met Dickens and Grip. Most Poe scholars think that reading about Grip prompted him to write about ravens as well.
3. Emily Carr
Canadian artist and writer Emily Carr's fascination with animals was detailed in numerous writings. Carr owned an unusual array of parrots, a raccoon, chipmunks, cats, white rats, dogs, and a monkey she named Woo.
According to the 1946 memoir "Growing Pains," "My sister owned a beautiful mare which she permitted me to ride. On the mare, astride as I had ridden in the Cariboo, my sheep-dog following, I went into the woods. No woman had ever ridden cross-saddle before in Victoria! Victoria was shocked! My family sighed. Carrs had always conformed... Too bad, instead of England gentling me into an English Miss with nice ways I was more me than ever, just pure me," reported Invaluable.
4. Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo was fond of all types of animals and had numerous unusual pets. In her famous Mexico "Blue House" where she resided and worked, the prominent painter kept many monkeys, an exotic dog of the Xoloitzcuintli breed -- hairless dogs that, it is believed, and parrots.
Among the 143 paintings by Frida Kahlo, 55 are self-portraits that involve at least one of her pets.
Her deer Granizo (Hail) posed with her in numerous photographs, used to sleep with her, and served as inspiration and model for one of her most popular paintings, "Wounded Deer" where she portrayed herself as a deer with a human face.
This list reveals that many influential writers and artists are never satisfied with merely having basic dogs and cats as pets and peculiar pets are one of their trademarks.
