Greyfriar's Bobby

 

This is a bittersweet one. While we love this dog, like all dogs, and appreciate his fame, it breaks our hearts that he was so grief stricken by the loss of his owner that he guarded his grave until he died himself. It always hurts us to think of how an animal won't understand why a person isn't coming back as we can't tell them, but in this case we reckon Bobby knew, and that makes it even sadder.

Now Bobby, affectionately referred to as Greyfriars Bobby after the area assumed responsibility for him, was a Skye Terrier who was given to John Gray as a guard dog during his time as a nightwatch-man, or at least that is one version of the story and thus the one we are going with today.

Now a Sky Terrier isn't the most fearsome dog to be a guard dog, but they are loyal, obviously. So Bobby kept John company during his time in the post until his death in 1858 when he was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. It is said that he died from Tuberculosis, but like most things surrounding this legend it is under dispute.

From that moment onward, when the kirkyard was patrolled, Bobby was found curled up on his masters grave, and despite being removed several times he always came back. Nearly 10 years later (1867), the lord provost of Edinburgh paid for Bobby's licence and a collar was given to the dog so that he would not removed or destroyed. Remember back in that era a licence on a collar signified that the dog was owned, what Sir William Chambers achieved through this was Bobby's safety and proved that he was now owned by Greyfriars and therefore the communities responsibility. Luckily for Bobby, this powerful man was also a director of the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Bobby sat by John's grave for 14 years before he died in 1872. He was buried within the kirkyard, not far from his master. Lady Burdett-Coutts (of the famous Coutts bank), moved by the story, then had the fountain topped with Bobby's statue erected a year later.

Now there is loads of dispute regarding this legend. Some say Bobby was a different breed of dog, some say he was replaced with another dog as a tourist attraction after the original died which is why this went on for 14 years, some even dispute that John Grey was a policeman or night-watchman and instead claim he was a farmer. Regardless of this, A DOG, by the name of Bobby, sat at his masters grave in grief. We don't need to analyse this, it's a statement to how faithful a dog is, so true or not, this touching story is a lesson to us all. 

Obviously Bobby is known all over the world and there are tons of references to him in media and touching tributes, a fair few of them in Edinburgh. However, we have to mention how the story also moved none other than Walt Disney and he took the legend and made a movie about it. It's very old, not as well known as some of those princess tales, but it is a touching nod to dear Bobby even if the details are a little fictional. 

This story of Greyfriars's Bobby touches our hearts and we really wanted to share it with you. If you visit his grave be sure to leave him a stick! And please don't rub the statues nose, we want it to live on forever. Look, don't touch, be respectful. We need to be the change we want to see.