Poetry collection that traces the history of the relationship between human beings and dogs

“It was a subject I had been in interested in exploring for a while,” says Stewart. “I thought it might be a novel initially or a non-fiction book and then, inspired by Ted Hughes’ collection Crow, I thought it might work best as a series of poems. I wanted it to have a looseness and freedom about it that you can do with poetry, and that felt appropriate because dogs do what they want really – they don’t conform to any particular narrative.”

The collection is divided into three parts with the first section focussing on the origin-myths, tracing dogs from pre-history before they were co-opted into human society, the second looking at the modern dog, beginning with the formation of the Kennel Club in the late 19th century, the concept of ‘pure’ breeding and its consequences for dogkind. The third and final part explores an apocalyptic imagined future in which dogs learn to speak, rebel, and demand their rights. The book is as much about humans, and the negative effects of human behaviour, as it is about our canine friends.

“Once human beings stopped being at one with nature and started exploiting it instead, what happened to dogs became part of that exploitation,” says Stewart. “So, for example you have Charles II who creates a toy dog – basically as a trinket. Through the establishment of the Kennel Club in 1873 a programme of dysgenics began, with terrible deformities imposed on dogs through breeding.”

The book ends on a sombre, dystopian – and powerfully thought-provoking – note. It does not offer a very optimistic view on the future but Stewart’s own perspective is less dark. “Well, things aren’t looking at the moment, but human beings are resourceful and we have been at the eleventh hour before,” he says. “The biggest challenge is the impact we are making on the environment. I went out birdwatching the other day for the first time in ages and that was quite sobering – there has been an 80 percent decrease in common birds, just in my lifetime. That kind of thing scares me. I am not a pessimist but we have to be realistic about the challenges we face. I am a writer, so I write about it but we need to do something radical.”

The book features striking artwork by artist Louis Benoit; gritty, scratchy and explosive, the images are reminiscent of the work of Ralph Steadman. “I knew I wanted some illustrations and I started looking for an artist, going to galleries and studios. A lot of the work I saw was a bit too neat and ordered, I wanted something that was a bit more ‘punk’, I suppose.” Then a friend suggested Benoit, Stewart went to meet him and was immediately struck by his work. “He came on board with the project. I had in my mind about maybe twenty illustrations and he produced over a hundred paintings. I thought this needs to be exhibited, so I applied for some Arts Council funding.”

The resulting exhibition, a combination of imagery and text, was launched at the Everybody Gallery at Artworks in Halifax this month and features sixty large and smaller-scale paintings by Benoit, plus around thirty of Stewart’s poems from the book, and a soundscape. “It is a really big, ambitious project, which is still evolving,” says Stewart. “It is interesting what has developed out of a nub of an idea.”

Movingly Stewart dedicates the book to ‘all the dogs around the world that never experience warmth, adequate shelter or comfort’ and his royalties from the book will be donated to the charity Dogs on the Streets who work with the homeless community and their pet dogs. “I have lived with dogs all my life, my grandfather and my father raced whippets and we always had dogs as pets,” he says. “I have always been interested in dogs – and I kind of prefer them to humans in lots of ways.”

The Dogs by Michael Stewart, published by Smokestack Books, is out now. The exhibition at the Artworks, Halifax runs until August 12.