Beech Tree News Network

When Garey’s mom, Aggie, was a little girl, her family had a dog named Fido.  Anytime, a snake got in the yard, Aggie’s mom would yell, “Sic ‘em, Fido!”  Fido was glad to oblige, grabbing up the snake with his teeth and shaking the critter till it was good and properly dead.  

Fido was twice bitten by a snake.  His head would swell up to half again its original size.  Aggie’s mom would feed him pork fat, the remedy for snakebite back in the day.  It would take a few days for Fido to recover, then he would be back to his old snake-shakin self.  If you go online, you will find all kinds of warnings about the dangers of feeding your dog pork fat.  I guess, it’s a good thing Aggie’s mom didn’t know about that, or Fido wouldn’t have lived long enough to keep Aggie and her sisters safe from all the Copperheads in the area.

In today’s lexicon, the name Fido has become “a generic shorthand for “dog” itself,” as one researcher of the name stated.  It hasn’t always been that way.  If you trace the name back through the annals of time, you will find Roman dogs named Fido.  That culture was very familiar with the Latin language, and since the word “fido” means faithful or trustworthy in Latin, it stands to reason that it would be a good choice for a dog’s name (animals.howthingswork.com).

Before he made his way to the White House, Abraham Lincoln owned a Fido. He was a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, at the time, and his household was a haven for many dogs and cats.  The mixed-breed, yellow hound was his favorite, however.  He followed Lincoln everywhere he went, waiting outside the barber shop and other places Lincoln patronized when he was in town.  Lincoln’s law partner, William Herndon, would later write about his friend, stating that Lincoln would often seek the company of animals when bouts of melancholy overcame him, Fido being his most trusted confident.

When the Lincolns moved to the White House, the family worried that the hustle and bustle of city life in Washington D.C. would be too much for the little dog, so they arranged for Fido to stay with a local family in Springfield.  Lincoln left “detailed instructions for the dog’s proper care and spoiling”—Abe and I must be related somewhere back there.  Lincoln even left behind a custom sofa he had built to accommodate his own large stature, because that was Fido’s favorite place to sleep (animals.howstuffworks.com).

In Italy, near Florence, there is a bronze statue of a dog named Fido.  His story is a remarkable tribute to his name.  In 1941, on his way home from work, Carlo Soriani found an injured puppy in a small ravine.  Soriani took the dog home and cared for it until it made a full recovery.  The little mixed-breed dog followed him everywhere, so Carlo, with a nod to his Roman roots, named him Fido.

Each day, Carlo took the morning bus to his work at a factory in nearby Borgo San Lorenzo.  Fido followed him to the bus stop and would wait there on the town square until his master returned on the afternoon bus.  Fido greeted Carlo like this every afternoon for two years.  On December 30, 1943, the factory where Carlo worked was bombed by the Allies, and Carlo was killed.  Fido met the bus that afternoon, but his master did not return.  Fido went back to the Soriani home and Carlo’s wife, but the next afternoon he returned to meet the evening bus.  Fido kept returning day after day, week after week, year after year for fourteen years.

In 1953, a writer for a national Italian newspaper, brought Fido’s story to the national conscience.  In 1957, a statue of Fido was erected as a tribute to the little dog’s loyalty.  Fido was at the ceremony, as well as Carlo’s wife.  He was awarded a gold medal by the mayor in City Hall.  Fido passed away in 1958.  He was buried just outside the cemetery where Carlo Soriano is buried (apathtolunch.com).

My sister-in-law has a wooden plaque in her hallway that says, “My idea of Heaven is a place where I will be greeted by every dog I have ever loved.”  I believe all the Fidos are there, even the ones named Scout and Rusty.