Why couldn't Mary have a little dog instead of a little lamb?

Question

I know I can always refer to Wiki for info. The thing is, I want your opinion or version of WHY? the lamb instead of dog. Thanks.

Answer 1

maybe because it is what was prefered by the one who composed it.

Answer 2

omg like who really cares it was something made for little kids anyway!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!

Answer 3

Cause she lived on a sheep farm, and all the dogs were herders and worked on the farm and couldn't be used for pets cause it would affect their work skills.

Answer 4

WHO CARES! lamb proberly sounded better than anyway.

sorry but that is so stupid u don't need to know that do you???

Answer 5

maybe,

a lamb is a popular pet during those times that Mary Had a Little Lamb is composed...

Answer 6

whatta heck???!!!???!!!???  

anyway, it is good to say that mary had a little lamb instead mary had a little dog. besides, dogs are harmful than the lamb....

Answer 7

Here's the unexpurgated story according to the Society of Underground Nursery Rhymers (SUNR).  It was really a white collie (yes a dog) that was originally intended as Mary's little one.  But the poor doggie (thru his agent) phoned in sick on the day of the poem recital.  Afraid of lawsuit, the rhymer couldn't take any other dog as stand-in.  As he was deeply contemplating on his course of action, along came a farmer (yes, from the dell) with a white lamb in tow.  A light bulb suddenly appeared to the rhymer..."that's it.  this lamb is perfect!"  And the rest, as they say, is history.

Answer 8

I guess that it was probably a better character suited for kids instead of the dogs and more rhymes and materials can be composed because of it..

Answer 9

zzz... because Old Mcdonald's dog, "Bingo" is guarding his farm. hmmm... beer... zzz...

Answer 10

Yeah! It could have been a white Samoyed dog. Stupid woman.

Answer 11

Jak sie masz! My name Borat. Because Mary afraid dog. Mary not afraid snakes, crocodiles and lambs but not dogs. Great Success!

Answer 12

dog's dont have fleeces as white as snow, would have knocked the whole thing off keel!

P.S...You're sad!

Answer 13

The nursery rhyme was first published as an original poem by Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830, and was inspired by an actual incident.

As a girl, Mary Sawyer (later Mrs. Mary Tyler) kept a pet lamb, which she took to school one day at the suggestion of her brother. A commotion naturally ensued. Mary recalled:

    "Visiting school that morning was a young man by the name of John Roulstone, a nephew of the Reverend Lemuel Capen, who was then settled in Sterling. It was the custom then for students to prepare for college with ministers, and for this purpose Mr. Roulstone was studying with his uncle. The young man was very much pleased with the incident of the lamb; and the next day he rode across the fields on horseback to the little old schoolhouse and handed me a slip of paper which had written upon it the three original stanzas of the poem..."

There are two competing theories on the origin of this poem. One holds that Roulstone wrote the first four lines and that the final twelve lines, more moralistic and much less childlike than the first, were composed by Sarah Josepha Hale; the other is that Hale was responsible for the entire poem.

P.S. Use Wikipedia instead of Yahoo Answers.