The Big Black Dog

Hi guys,

Please forgive me if this has been done before. I was speaking with a friend about where the term Big Black Dog originated from. My friend said she rather like Big black dogs and I always thought it should be Big Black Cloud so I turned to my friend google for some help and this is what I came up with.

This is my first Post so please bear with me if this topic has already been addressed.

Thanks.

Joanne

BLACK DOGS
By Leanne Dempsey - COSPER Ghosthunter

An Encounter

A storm is building. Fierce gusts of wind rip across the marshes, and the occasional roll of thunder sounds in the distance.
This is not a good night to be out walking, but Jack has lingered in the pub a little too long and has to get home to the farmhouse. Out of a superstitious whim, he decides to stick with the ancient footpaths instead of crossing the fields as usual.
A particularly vicious gust of wind nearly knocks him over. High above the wind, there is a dull drumming and many high-pitched voices yammering. Geese, Jack thinks to himself, on their migratory flight, trying to get above the storm. But he has heard the geese countless times. They don’t really sound like that.
As Jack turns into a particularly lonely laneway, he nearly bumps into a massive dog, which is standing directly in the center of the path. He freezes, heart pounding.
There are no dogs like this in the region, Jack should know because he has lived here all his life. The thing is enormous! Where can it have come from? The hedges on either side of the lane are too thick for such a large animal to squeeze through, and too high to jump. Ahead there are only farms, families that Jack knows well. It must be lost, perhaps jumped from the back of a tourist’s car and wandering.

You’d think a dog would be frightened of the storm. Jack knows that frightened dogs can be dangerous, so he stands very still and covertly inspects the animal. It doesn’t look scared. It is as big as a calf. Pitch black all over, with long shaggy fur. The beast's eyes reflect the faint moonlight like any dog – but disturbingly, in this animal’s head they flash a deep, hectic red. Jack says nervously "Good boy then, out of my way." The dog makes absolutely no response. The animal’s sides are not moving. It has no smell. Some instinct tells Jack that this is not a normal dog. The creature is sitting like a stone, eyes fixed on Jack.
To get around the dog, Jack has to get perilously close to it. He inches forward until he could almost touch it, but somehow he knows that would be a very bad thing to do. By pressing painfully into the brambles and nettles of the hedge, he somehow gets around the animal.
When he gets back onto the road, Jack continues to walk towards home. For some reason he doesn’t turn around to look at the dog again. After a few steps, he hears the sound he has been dreading.

Pad… pad… pad… pad…

The dog is following him.

Although he can’t remember how he knows, Jack is aware of the rules that apply when one is being followed on a dark, lonely lane by a mysterious dog with no smell.
Don’t turn around.

Don’t slow down.

And whatever you do, don’t run.

Jack starts to think of all the stories he has heard, of people crossing the marshes late at night, who never arrive at their destination and are never found again.
The footbridge that crosses the stream is coming up. Jack instinctively knows that when he crosses the water, he will be safe. His heart pounds. He winces with the effort of not running.
When Jack is only a few metres from the bridge, the storm breaks. For a moment the whole lane is illuminated by lightning, and immediately there is a massive clap of thunder. At the same time, the yelping sound passes overhead – it sounds very, very close. Jack loses his nerve and bolts for the bridge.
The second his feet touch the planks he feels like an idiot. Running away like a child, all because of a storm! He risks a look behind him. No dog.
Of course: any dog would take fright and run away from that thunder. The fact that he can’t see the dog at all, and the hedges are still far too high for jumping, doesn’t mean much. It was, after all, a very black dog and this is a dark night. Probably some poor lost pet, wandering all alone.
Jack makes a mental note to ask around the village if anybody has lost a dog like that recently. Somehow, he doesn’t think so. He makes his way home, getting soaked on the way. A real black dog night.

The Contradictory Canine

Humans and dogs have an ancient relationship. Since prehistoric times, both species have lived together and hunted together. Dogs were one of the first species to be domesticated by humans: although the term "domestication" doesn’t seem significant enough to encompass the immense bonds that have formed between dogs and humans for many thousands of years.
Somehow, in spite of our species’ great love of dogs – or perhaps because of it – the sight of an angry or aggressive dog raises a primeval fear. Being confronted by an aggressive dog or even a large, unfamiliar dog, is very frightening. The guardian has become the enemy; the protector has become the aggressor.
Given this breadth of emotion surrounding dogs, it is hardly surprising that the folkloric world is full of stories dedicated to dogs and our relationships with them. One of the most widespread and enduring examples is the folklore of the Black Dog, the phantom dog or the Hell Hound.

The Black Dog
In various guises, this creature lurks in graveyards, roads, and moors throughout Britain and Europe. Images of the Black Dog abound in folklore and popular literature. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle borrowed it in 1902 for Sherlock Holmes’ adventure with the Hound of the Baskervilles. Mississippi blues artist Robert Johnson, who was rumored to have obtained his musical talent from the devil, sang about it in the 1930s.
The black dog bears similarities to legends of werewolves and appears in different forms in fairy tales, such as Hans Christian Anderson’s 'The Tinderbox'. Winston Churchill used to refer to his chronic depression as 'the black dog on my shoulder', and anybody who suffers from the same malady would surely appreciate the sense of darkness and heavy melancholy that such an image invokes.
The core of all of these stories, legends and snatches of folklore is the image of a huge black canine of supernatural origin, which appears and disappears mysteriously bringing fear, chaos and sometimes death. In many variations of the legends, the hound is a phantom or ghost. In others it is a fairy creature or an elemental force.
Black dogs have many names. Barghest, Galleytrot, Hell Hound, Padfoot, Shuck, Snarleyow, Striker, Trash, Wish or Whist Hound, Yell or Yelp Hound – to name a few. They have many aims: prophecy, revenge, bloodlust, the hunt or merely a warning; but they are always dark and dangerous, and always to be taken very seriously.

Good post Jo, very interesting

Jo, thats a really interesting Post, thanks.

The night this place started, I had to give it a name, as part of the signup process with the forum hosts. The only one I could think of at the time was The Big Black Dog.

Being of limited imagination, I gave up wracking my brain and went for that.

It had everything I was looking for - small words, that I could spell. And, I knew what its bite feels like.

Great Post. There's a book about depression called 'The Big Black Dog', it's got great illustrations, it's simple but to the point about living through depression. I recommend it.

Thanks for the feedback peeps. I knew that the term 'Big Black Dog' had been around for a long time and was used to describe depression and what not, so that was fun finding that out.

I have search underway on TradeMe to look out for that book Huttlady so hopefully I have some luck soon.

Thanks again.

Joanne

Its a small storybook book for adults, and written by a guy about his experiences so the character in it is male. That made it really useful for me as I was able to give it to hubby to look at, and also to a male friend who was suffering from depression and wanted to 'man it out' rather than get help...

Thanks for that LD. Nice to see you back around these parts I wonder if I might have seen it already after having read your description.

Anyway take care.

As far as I knew, the term.............The Big Black Dog
was used by Sir Winston Churchill.
But hey I could be wrong??

Hi Angie

No, you are right, it was Sir Winston Churchill. I read it in that article that I printed.

Thanks.

Jo, look no further for the book - its available here from out TBBD Lending Library.

In the section headed Tips 'n Handy Hints, I think it is?

https://thebigblackdog.forumotion.net/tips-n-handy-hints-f7/books-available-to-be-borrowed-from-tbbd-library-t329.htm

I shall send it out to you, if you'd like to borrow it.

Pat.

P.S. There are a number of books to be added to that Lending Library over the next week - keep an aye out, everyone. And if anyone wants any of them, well, that Thread says what to do.

Oh, and did you know that as of a few moments ago, if one was to type into Google, the words The Big Black Dog , that this place ranked in the Top 10 out of about 167,000,000 results for The Big Black Dog?

Actually, it ranked at Number One.

Not bad for a free website, eh?

Hi Pat, well done, woo hoo!! That is great for TBBD. I would love to have a look at the book sometime. Will be in touch.

i have the book "taming the big black dog" jomatt. pm me ur address and ill post it 4 u to have a read if you like =) -its an easy read + has pictures

This is the picture book i was talking about. It's simple but great, to the point. I had the title a bit wrong, it's 'Living with a black dog'.
http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Health_Wellbeing/Self_Help/Depression/product_info/2708245/?cf=3&rid=1464204480&i=1&keywords=living+with+depression
I got my copy from Whitcoulls.
'Taming the black dog' by Bev Aisbitt which others have mentioned, is a good book too.

Hi Wizza

Thank you for your kind offer but I guess I should make use of the TMMB Library and borrow it from there. It's a bit closer if Pat wants to 'send the boys around' if it becomes overdue.

Hi Huttlady

So there are a few Black Doggie books around. I shall have to search them all out at some point. Thanks for the update.

YES I know about the big black dog being in the top for google::::::

Thats how I find this everytime I want to log in
Dumb aye---I should just put it into my favourites!

The reason I dont.....hubby still not rapt that I am sick, and he doesn't know about this site ((Yet))

Angie,

all you have to remember is www.thebigblackdog.co.nz

That will get you here, I promise. I set it up as an auto redirect to https://thebigblackdog.forumotion.net/

I can understand you not necessarily wanting this to show on the Favourites, or whatever - its just cool to have you here, however you find us. Take care.