Dorothy Parker’s love for animals knew so bounds. She was almost never without a pet dog. She wrote the introduction to James Thurber’s collection of cartoons, and a large portion of it dealt with her love for her furry companions.
Dogs and horses are frequent visitors in her writing. Dot loved strays, and once rescued one late night on Sixth Avenue. She took the dog home, cleaned the pooch up, and presented the animal to wealthy friends on Long Island. The thought of the mutt living in such rich digs pleased her.
Dorothy was also attracted to horses, and was known to stop and admire them after a night on the town. Read “Just a Little One”, written for The New Yorker in 1928. Parker writes:
Don’t let me take any horses home with me. It doesn’t matter so much about stray dogs and kittens, but elevator boys get awfully stuffy when you try to bring in a horse. You might just as well know that about me now, Fred. You can always tell that the crash is coming when I start getting tender about Our Dumb Friends. Three highballs, and I think I’m St. Francis of Assisi.
Of course, by the end of the story, she wants to “go out and get a horsie.”