Gidget makes the peremptory “woof” and shuffles up, Frisbee clamped in her canines, eyes locked on yours.

Play, that’s what the black-and-white border collie wants, play, and no bones about it. Thing is, Gidget can be, well, a bit fuzzy about what to do with play when it actually beckons, said owner Patricia Cosgrove, director of the White River Valley Museum.

When the service-trained collie isn’t meeting or greeting visitors, or offering a toy or sniffing the air for trending treats, she has serious doggie duties to attend to at the museum — delivering mail to the museum staff, by name.

Now, here’s something fresh to add to Gidget’s resume — she’s the spark of Cosgrove’s inspiration for WRVM’s latest photo exhibit: “Best Friends: Antique Images of Animals and Their People,” on display through April 15.

“The love of animals connects eras,” Cosgrove said. “You may look at a Victorian photograph and marvel at the long skirts, gloves and waistcoats, but the expressions of pure happiness because the family dog is in the picture resonate with you.”

Cosgrove crisscrossed King County to find the 40, sharp, black-and-white images on display. In them, that far off sentimental world of animals shakes off the dust of a century and leaps to life tail a wag, purring, even whinnying.

Among the photos, a formal shipboard portrait of a sailing crew and its Newfoundland dog. There a pinafored girl enjoying a tea party, constellation of kitties in attendance. Here a small boy astride his prized steed. The Knights of Pythias, in their dress best, and their little dog stare out of another photo.

Beneath each photo is a bit of poetry or folk wisdom. Like this: “The greatest pleasure of a dog is that when you make a fool of yourself with him, not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.”

Documented in the earliest books, paintings and even hieroglyphs, the tie between people and their furry, four-legged family members has been a source of wonder and delight since the dawn of human history. It’s no wonder, then, that people and their pets remained popular subjects when photography began and are so today.

“As I’ve worked in museums a few decades, I’ve been able to browse through photo collections, usually looking for an image that might be really formal, a downtown scene, a portrait of a building. But what kept catching my eye were these closer-to-family snapshots during the Progressive Era from 1900 to 1920, somewhere in there. There were these sentimental, usually completely informal images of people and their pets. Just like we do when we pull the cat out and put it on somebody’s lap for a picture.

“You see those expressions when people had just started to move off of farms and began to have more of a pet relationship with animals. I guess I indulged and allowed myself to put together these images of things like that,” Cosgrove said.

=====

Upcoming museum events

Kids Program: Best Friends Movie Night at the Museum, March 30, 7 to 9 p.m.

Kids ages seven to 12 will enjoy the “Best Friends” exhibit followed by a dog-themed movie and popcorn.

Cost is $5 per child and includes museum admission. Pre-registration required by calling 253-288-7433.