Letter to Thomas Beard

Teach a new dog old tricks

Dickens often wrote about his pets to one of his oldest friends, Thomas Beard. Inviting Beard to a party, Dickens updates him on his dog Timber’s training, reporting that he ‘runs into a corner and stands on 2 legs, at the word of command’. Timber was Dickens’s companion for over 12 years, even travelling with him to Italy, where, covered in fleas, the shaggy dog had to be shaved.

Letter to Thomas Beard, 31 March 1843. A90.