What's in a name? Every name has a history and a beginning. Meanings are often adapted and changed over decades, but they all started somewhere.
In the 1800s, it was considered a mark of status to keep an animal as a pet and nothing else. For those less fortunate, if you owned animals they all served a purpose, whether for work, food, dairy, or pest control.
Abraham Lincoln who had strong feelings about animal welfare, adopted his beloved dog Fido in roughly 1855, after he had become a successful lawyer in Springfield, Illinois. Having this dog toddle along beside him on his walks was a pure symbol of how Honest Abe had truly climbed the status ladder.
It was in part because of his love for all living things that made him a man of such empathy and compassion. There was even a children's book written about Lincoln's love for animals.
When Lincoln took the White House he left his beloved dog Fido with friends, but he did leave them with a set of rules that they had to abide by while looking after him. The rules were rather strange, but they do explain why he didn't bring the dog with him to Washington.
Fido was not to be scolded if he came back in the house covered in mud. Fido was also to be fed straight from the table like every other member of the family. Could you imagine a dog eating off the table in the White House dining room?
Lincoln's feelings towards animal welfare started when he was just a young boy. He had adopted a piglet from a neighbor, raising it to a full-fledged hog. He treated the pig very much the way you would treat a pet dog. But one day, he saw that his dad hut killed and cleaned the pig, hanging the meat for preparation from a pole near the family barn. He was heartbroken, refusing to eat any of the meat that came from the animal.
Our hats off to Honest Abe Lincoln, one of the original activists for animal rights. Hats off.