From the indispensable book How to Raise a Dog in the city and in the Suburbsby Dr. James R. Kinney with Ann Honeycutt (illustrated by James Thurber, 1953 edition):

IF YOUR DOG HAS A FIT ON THE STREET

If your dog has a fit on the street, throw a coat over him and get him into a doorway, into a small shop or house, or into a taxi, if that is possible, and just sit there with him until the fit subsides. But get him off the street. The confusion and noise are bad for him but worse than that is the possibility that his convulsions will be mistaken for rabies. The sight of a dog foaming at the mouth and the cry of “mad dog” from some hysterical bystander can cause havoc very quickly. If your dog should be imprudent enough to bite somebody at such a time, he is liable to get shot by a policeman. All of this sounds very dire. Dogs have fits on the streets every day and very few of them come to any such calamitous end, particularly when they’re on leashes. Nevertheless, such misfortunes can and have happened.

In New York City I am in the habit of seeing people have fits on the street, in every manner of speaking, quite routinely, but never have I witnessed a dog doing so.

Perhaps this suggests a new form of therapeutic animal: a dog who will walk with you, and, when you have a fit (clinically speaking or one prompted by the usual urban stress) he will drag you into a doorway and lie upon your head until the fit subsides.

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