An Epitaph for the Coach Dog

This article explores the Dalmatian—or “Coach Dog”—as a historical agent within 19th- and early 20th-century transport systems, tracing the breed’s rise and decline alongside the transition from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles. Using Isabel Vallé’s 1911 poem “Saco: A Coach Dog” as a point of departure, the article examines how technological change reshaped not only human but also animal lives, attachments, and forms of labor. By situating the Dalmatian within the intertwined histories of animal work and technology, it argues that the Coach Dog embodied a form of interspecies cooperation that collapsed distinctions between animal and machine. Drawing on posthumanist and Actor Network Theory approaches, the article highlights the Dalmatian’s agency, emotional investment, and breed-specific affinity with horses as integral to the functioning of the carriage system—and to its obsolescence in the “horseless age.” In mourning the Coach Dog’s displacement, the article offers a broader reflection on the emotional and material consequences of technological transition for nonhuman workers.