In the history of Havanese dogs, there are a couple of famous people who owned them. One of note is the British author, Charles Dickens.
While searching our online library catalog for books about Havanese, the search results brought up a book in the Dog Diaries series entitled “Tiny Tim” by Kate Klimo, based on a true story.
In 1841, Charles Dickens traveled to America for the first time, where he was gifted a little white Havanese puppy that he named “Snittle Timbery” after a character in his book Nicholas Nickleby. He was called Timbery- or little dog or Tim for short.
Directed to the younger audience, this book is charmingly written in the dogs’ voice, recounting all the adventures he had while sharing his 13 years of life with the “Great Writer” and his growing family.
Author Beryl Gray in her study The Dog in the Dickensian Imagination, notes that in Dickens’s letters Timbery was “sometimes invested with more life and presence than his master accords his wife. Naturally Catherine is mentioned more often than Timber, yet for as long as the dog retains his youthful energy, Dickens manages to convey the impression that his company is more fun than hers.”
Dickens never wrote or spoke as fondly of any other dog. Clearly, even though at first Dickens thought the tiny puppy was “ridiculous,” he came to be extremely fond of his faithful companion Timbery.
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