New(?) observations.....

[probonoprobono]

No: HPFGUIDX 57691

>Karen wrote: 
> Thirdly, and this is probably as meaningless as I first assumed 
it, is the 
> dog references. Not the Sirius Black or Grim kind of dog 
references, but 
> references specifically to dog breeders and show 
dogs.....respectively, Aunt 
> Marge and as a bulldog breeder, and then Parvati in the quote in 
GoF 
> (American, page 415) "Harry concentrated on not tripping over his 
feet. 
> Parvati seemed to be enjoying herself; she was beaming around at 
everybody, 
> steering Harry so forcefully that he felt as though he were a show 
dog she 
> was putting through its paces."  This only attracted my attention 
since I do 
> breed dogs and do occassionally show them.....I don't know if the 
general 
> public in the UK is more aware of the dog fancy...in the US the 
general 
> public knows very little about it.  References to the Dog Fancy, 
especially 
> (more or less) accurate ones, are almost unheard of. In the HP 
series, one 
> reference made to it for illustrative purpose I could see ....but 
twice?  
> Either JKR has some actual firsthand knowledge or experience with 
the Fancy 
> from which she draws for descriptive purposes, or maybe there's 
some kind of 
> link between Parvati and Aunt Marge...?  It's probably all just a 
meaningless 
> coincidence, but I found it curious none-the-less...

Me: 

I don't exactly know what you mean by the term "dog fancy". I guess 
because I'm American! lol! There were some other dog-like references 
IIRC. I believe Millicent Bulstrode was described as "pug-faced" 
once and Vernon as "bearing down on Harry like a great bulldog, all 
his teeth bared." But these references might not be what you mean 
by "dog fancy". But one thing I noticed from my very first read is a 
passage in which Harry had accidently stepped on the tail of one of 
Aunt Marge's dogs and it chased him up a tree. I found this so odd 
since Marge bred bulldogs and by golly it is near impossible to step 
on the tail of a bulldog! Heck, I'd go as far as saying it *IS* 
impossible to step on a bulldog's tail, given it's sort of a squat, 
kinky little pigtail thing. 

But, perhaps that's because I'm American and I'm confusing what 
Americans call English Bulldogs with what the English actually 
consider a true Bulldog? Perhaps it's a different breed entirely? 
Maybe somebody could clear this up for me?

-Tanya