Lassie: 1868

A draper at Tungkwan had a black dog, who was sagacious and fond of his master. On one occasion the draper while returning from market, where he had been selling his cloth, was attacked, robbed, and half killed. The dog followed the thief, and never left him until he went into a house, when the sagacious animal ran to his master's brother and made so many extraordinary demonstrations that the brother was induced to follow the dog and was led to the spot where the wounded man lav. The dog still appeared dissatisfied and eventually induced the draper's brother to follow him to the house of the thief. When they reached it the dog pinned the thief by the leg, the cloth was found in the house and the rascal was thus brought to justice.

--From The China Magazine--

I can't tell if this really happened, but I know people like these type of stories. They like imagining their pets as intelligent, almost human. Isn't this vanity? If your dog likes you, and your dog is intelligent, that means you must be good because an intelligent creature likes you. I suppose this also explains the "my child is so smart"  phenomenon, and it probably carries over to people's feeling about their friends.

Everyone I like probably isn't as nice as I think they are!

Cats: 1893

The violent lyrics of today's music is without precedent. (I almost can't believe that song is from 1893.)

Pet food : 1847

"If you wish to teach the Birds airs, or artificial notes of any kind, they must hear nothing that can in any way distract their attention. Every time you enter the room, the oftener the better, and especially when you feed them, whistle, or play on a flute or flageolet, the tune you wish them to learn. Whistle or play that, and no other. Repeat, and repeat, and repeat, until they can pipe it correctly."

People would capture wild birds of all kinds and either teach them human songs or raise them with nightingales so they would have a nightingale's song. Some people even sold birds that had been trained this way. But getting food to feed the birds could be troublesome:

"Take some meat, or fish, or a dead cat, rat, or dog, and hang it in a shady place until it is well fly-blown or maggoty. Then place it in a large box half full of earth, and cover. In the course of a week or ten days the maggots will bury themselves in the earth, and may be dug up, if the box is kept in a cold place, at leisure."

I wonder if the cats and dogs just happened to be dead, or were killed specifically for this purpose.

--From Manual of Cage-birds, British & Foreign--

Exotic pets, 1656 edition

...and yet there was an honest woman (so always formerly reputed) executed at Cambridge in the year 1645 for keeping a tame Frog in a Box for sport and Phantasie, which Phantasie of keeping things tame of several species is both lawful and common among very innocent harmless people, as Mice, Dormice, Grasshoppers, Caterpillars, Snakes; yea a Gentleman, to please his Phantasie in trying conclusions, did once keep in a Box a Maggot that came out of a Nut, till it grew to an incredible bigness...

--From A Candle in the Dark--

Ewww!