Poverty, mad dogs and culling: dogs and entitlement to poor relief in England, c. 1750-1834

During the old poor law, people were struck off relief lists for owning dogs. While authorities justified this by saying that they were curtailing the spread of rabies or helping the poor to budget better, it became an important, discretionary reason why people were viewed as entitled to poor relief or not. This aspect of welfare has received little attention from historians, but it formed a vital part of many peoples’ experiences of the poor law. People were attached to their dogs and were made to decide between killing them or accepting help that they desperately needed. In looking at this topic, this article advances our understanding of entitlement to poor relief, as well as the history of medicine and rabies, human-animal relations and societal views on the poor.