Mystery Canine Photos

I eagerly opened this envelope of professional quality photos, hoping, as always, to find images of relatives of long ago.  Instead I found a black cocker spaniel dog.

There is really no good explanation.  Nobody was devoted to dogs, bred them, showed them, nothing.  This dog probably did little more than exist as a living decoration in a minimalist household, so one must wonder why these pictures came into being and then survived the ages.