From Barking to Houndsditch, dogs are an ever-present part of London life. Their world is deeply enmeshed in our own, and sometimes takes centre stage. Here are 18 canine interventions that have given us paws for thought.
Out and about
Finding water for your dog can be tricky in central London. The Lamb on Lamb's Conduit Street caters for its canine customers with this upended beer keg, which we assume contains only water.
And yet just around the corner, on Rugby Street, dog walkers are treated with extreme suspicion.Some parts of London, like here in Holland Park, have dedicated 'dog toilets', which every passing three-year-old wants to play in.A thought-provoking message in Fulham.And a more uplifting message (unless you're an apostrophe pedant) from the same scribe.Dog racing was once a popular sport in London, with a particularly large track at White City. This eager greyhound's progress is no doubt retarded by the massive roundel it carries on its head. Spotted in the Wetherspoons above Baker Street station.A number of spoof adverts for dog services sprang up around London in 2018, courtesy of @themisfortuneteller.Here's another.
Arty woofsters
One of London's largest works of street art features a dog. This giant chihuahua was painted by Boe and Irony a few years back in Poplar.Another giant dog slumbers in the square next to St Mary-le-Bow, part of the 2019 City benches project.Dogs are a common motif of street art. Here we see a pack of corgis taking the Queen for a walk through Bethnal Green — based, no doubt, on actual events.A dog in a kennel, a very literal sculpture to find on Dog Kennel Hill in south London. It's in the Sainsbury's car park.A cappuccio-swigging 'Dogman' by artists Gillie and Marc is on temporary display in Spitalfields Market, alongside his companion Rabbitgirl (not pictured, because she is a rabbit, and this is an article about dogs).London's only statue of Trump... not the quasi-presidential manchild, but Trump the dog, beloved pooch of William Hogarth. Find him on Chiswick high street.
Doggy memorials
The V&A contains countless exhibits of note, but our favourite are these two dog memorials hiding in the courtyard — one of which recalls the dog of museum founder Henry Cole.A memorial to pub dog Gizmo, at the Golden Heart, Spitalfields.A recent memorial to three-legged dog Sugar above West Hampstead Thameslink station. Sadly, her owner John 'the bookman' Henderson also died within a few months of the plaque's appearance.The most famous, and peculiar, memorial to a dog is surely this faux-kennel devoted to Giro, dog of a 1930's German ambassador, on Carlton House Terrace. He is often traduced as 'Giro the Nazi dog', yet his political views were never recorded.
