Professor Chris Pearson BA (Hons) MA PhD

Summary

I have run a blog on dogs and history called Sniffing the Past since 2011. This led to the development of a free smart phone app, also called Sniffing the Past. Co-produced with the University of Liverpool’s User Interface & Mobile Development Team, and using Google and Apple maps, the app features text and images that illustrate key sites and stories. The images include historical and contemporary photographs, as well as illustrations beautifully drawn by Christopher Rodenhurst.The sites include Battersea Dogs Home, the Kennel Club, dog pounds, dog toilets, dog runs and memorials. One of my favourite sites is the Quai de Tournelle in Paris where the Parisian police force unsuccessfully introduced a river rescue dog unit, much to the amusement of the Parisian press.The app is also interactive as users can upload their own human-canine sites and choose to share them with others. Available on Apple and Android, I hope that this app will provide a fresh perspective on these iconic cities, and increase awareness and understanding of complicated, contradictory and compelling human-canine urban histories.You can download it here.

You can also read a 2015 BBC History magazine article that I wrote on dogs in modern Paris here.

I am also the Regional Representative for Britain and Ireland for the European Society for Environmental History.