Elizabeth von Arnim and Her Dogs

Von Arnim began by explaining that human relationships could be complicated. Dogs, she believed, were rather more dependable.

The book was not an autobiography, she insisted. Yet as she introduced one dog after another, much of her own life emerged along the way.

By then she was already the novelist best known for Elizabeth and Her German Garden and The Enchanted April. Writing about her dogs turned out to be another way of writing about marriage, loneliness, loss, and the places she had called home.

Von Arnim had wanted dogs since childhood.

Her first was Bijou, a gift from the man who was courting her older sister. Her parents weren't particularly enthusiastic about dogs, and Bijou's stay was brief.

And he was, I am afraid, very much disappointed, in spite of there already being five children, when I explained that all I wanted was a dog. All the Dogs of My Life · via Macmillan

Over the following decades, there would be Pomeranians, dachshunds, and larger dogs, living with her in Germany, England, and Switzerland.

There were also long stretches without any dogs at all. Looking back, von Arnim seemed genuinely puzzled by this. How had she managed to go so many years without one?

One of her most important companions was Coco, a dog who shared her life in Switzerland.

Von Arnim loved the quiet of the mountains, where she could spend time away from visitors and social obligations. In the book, she remembered those days as some of her happiest, with Coco beside her.

Their story also carried one of the book's saddest moments. After years of separation during the First World War, von Arnim was finally reunited with Coco. By then, he was gravely ill. She reached him just before he died.

Later, after another difficult period of her life, a friend gave her a dog named Pincher.

He wasn't necessarily the companion she would have chosen, but he helped bring dogs back into her daily routine.

Then came Knobbie, a small dachshund who made an immediate impression. Von Arnim described Knobbie as remarkably well-mannered, even as a puppy. She was also deeply attached to her.

With Pincher and Knobbie beside her, von Arnim eventually decided to leave London and return to the countryside.

She observed that Pincher had taken her to London, while Knobbie had brought her away. It seemed she was beginning to let dogs make her decisions.

Von Arnim wrote about her dogs with affection, but she was also perfectly willing to describe their less admirable qualities. Some were demanding, some difficult, and others simply didn't behave as she might have wished.

The dogs also gave her a way to write about things she otherwise preferred to leave alone.

By the time All the Dogs of My Life appeared, she had become a successful novelist with a complicated life behind her. She still insisted that the book wasn't an autobiography. It just happened that 14 dogs had accompanied her through most of the interesting parts.