Happy Thanksgiving to Man and Mutt.  Yes, man’s best friend was here for that first Thanksgiving.  We know their breed, but not their names. We know they sailed over on the Mayflower and were part of the first settlement by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation in December of 1620.

It was in the meticulous accounts kept by Pilgrim Edward Winslow about the first permanent non-native settlement of people that he recorded the fact that among them were a Mastiff and a Spaniel. Winslow left no record of what the dogs might have been called or how they were used, but both almost certainly had their share of work to do, along with all the able-bodied colonists. Their human companion was a 25 year old Pilgrim named John Goodman.

We have no documentation about with regards to what they ate or if they attended dinner.  But man’s love affair with his canine friend starts at the very beginng days or our country.

Happy Thanksgiving to Man and Mutt

Edward Winslow