In the dark ages

During the Middle Ages, mixed breeds of peasants’ dogs were required to wear blocks around their necks to keep them from breeding with noble hunting dogs. Purebred dogs were very expensive and hunting became the province of the rich.

 

Nearer, my God, to thee.

First class passengers would have participated in an informal dog show on RMS Titanic on 12th April 1915 if the ship had not gone down. Quite a number of dogs were on board and a few survived.
Since the first lifeboats to be launched were not full, no one objected to dogs being carried in them. It is recorded that a Pomeranian belonging to Elizabeth Barrett Rothschild, 54, wife of leather magnate Martin Rothschild was lucky. Martin went down with the ship but Elizabeth and her pet survived. They were on the lifeboat 6.
Margaret Hays, 24, travelling alone, managed to carry her Pomeranian to Lifeboat 7.
Henry Sleeper Harper of the publishing company, 48, and his Pekinese went to the Lifeboat 3 and managed to escape unharmed.
As for the other dogs they drowned like their owners even though someone took pity on the dogs and let them out of their kennels, unable to bear the thought of them drowning while being trapped in there.
A canary, it would seem, also survived to the sinking!
Ann Isham, 50, refused to enter in the lifeboat without her large Great Dane. She was found in the water two days after the sinking of the ship embracing her dog.
One dog however was a real hero! The first officer's large black Newfoundland, Rigel, stayed behind with the ship. He treaded the icy waters after the sinking, desperate to find his master. At the same time, the SS Carpathia was speeding to the scene to search for survivors. In the darkness, no one saw that a lifeboat was in its path and the passengers were too weak to shout or signal their presence. Reports say Rigel swam between the lifeboat and the SS Carpathia, barking continuously. Finally, the Captain heard Rigel and ordered to stop all engines. The dog swam in front of the lifeboat and guided it to safety. Once on board, Rigel seemed physically unaffected by his ordeal. He stood with paws on the rail barking in futility for his lost master until he was taken below for food and medical attention. Jonas Brigg, one of the Carpathia’s sailors adopted Rigel.

Am I a softie after all?

Grenier in his book The Difficulty of Being a Dog writes how Napoleon was once surveying a battlefield from which the dead had not yet been removed. He saw a dog beside the body of its master, howling, licking the dead man’s face. Napoleon wrote about this in his memoirs. “No incident, on any of my battlefields (note the use of my battlefields!), ever produced so deep an impression on me.” declares Napoleon who was insistent that the death of millions meant nothing to him.
“ I had, without emotion, ordered battles which were to decide the fate of the army; I beheld, with a dry eye, the execution of those operations, by which numbers of my countrymen were sacrificed; and here I was upset, my feelings roused, by the mournful howling of a dog.”

Canine couture

I came across this portrait of Queen Anne of Bohemia and Hungary.  It is dated 1520  and was painted by Hans Maler, a German portrait painter.  Note the dog’s striking jewelled collar.

During the Renaissance, the Royal courts of Europe often set the trends in canine couture.  Detailed paintings, tapestries, early literature, letters and diaries, catalogue a collection of well depicted beautiful collars, jewels and coats worn during this period by royal canines.  Dogs are, after all, the most loyal of subjects. No expense was spared for royal hounds and lap dogs alike when it came to providing for their comfort. Dogs slept in sumptuous beds (often the king’s or queen’s), ate delicacies from exquisite bowls and had their every need attended to by servants. Louis XI of France (1423-1483), a notorious miser, clad his favourite greyhound, named “Cher Ami” (Dear Friend) in a collar of scarlet velvet garnished with 20 pearls and 11 rubies.

Egyptian dog collar

Humans have had canine companions going back at least 12,000 years and there is proof that dog collars have been in use prior to 3100 B.C. Archaeologists unearthed a dog buried with the pre-dynastic King Cuo of China wearing a collar of gold, silver, and turquoise. At the peak of ancient Egyptian civilization, collars and leads were standard for dog training and dogs wearing them were commonly found as motifs on tomb walls and earthenware. The dog collars of the day were beautiful works of art made out of leather, embellished with copper, bronze and gold. The collars were made in one long strip, and then glued or sewn together. This very fashionable collar is one of two discovered by the French explorer Loret in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian nobleman Maiherpri (1440 B.C.). The two leather collars were pink and both depicted hunting scenes embossed into the leather with one of the collars featuring the dog's name: “Tantanuit.”

Lest we forget

The Animals in War Memorial is located in London on Park Lane on the eastern edge of Hyde Park. Unveiled on 24 November 2004 by the Princess Royal, it stands as a memorial to the countless animals that have served and died under British military command throughout history.

Beneath the main header "Animals in War" the memorial has two separate inscriptions:
the first and larger reading:
"This monument is dedicated to all the animals
that served and died alongside British and allied forces
in wars and campaigns throughout time"


The second - but to me the more poignant - smaller inscription simply reads:
"They had no choice"

Have a smoke

Cigarette dog

Red Cross dogs

During WWI, vast numbers of dogs were employed as sentries, messengers, ammunition, pigeons and food carrier,  scouts, sled dogs, draught dogs, guard dogs, ambulance dogs, ratters, Red Cross casualty dogs and even cigarette dogs.

It's estimated that Germany alone employed over 30,000 dogs for such purposes and about.20,000 served with the French Army, the Italians fielded 3,000 dogs for the Allies, the British, Belgians and the Russians thousands more!

Many different breeds saw active duty during the war depending on the job at hand. Bulldogs, Bloodhounds, Farm Collies, Retrievers, Dobermans, Airedales, Jack Russell and Wired Fox Terriers, Sheepdogs and German Shepherds were all used in a variety of roles. Purebreds did not have any advantage over mixed breeds.  What was important was that they displayed the proper character, had acute hearing and scent, sagacity, fidelity and a strong sense of duty.
Preferred were dogs of medium build and greyish or black in colour, with good eyesight and a keen sense of smell. But the temperament and disposition of the dog usually came first!

Two of the more unusual dogs that were used during the Great War, were the ratters and the YMCA cigarette dogs. Ratters were the terriers, whose natural instincts helped to keep the rat infested muddy trenches clear.  The small Cigarette Dogs, sponsored by the YMCA, had the task of delivering cartons of cigarettes to the troops, stationed on the front lines.
Thousands of soldiers, on both sides, owe their lives to these remarkable animals.

Let's not forget Flanders Field

Dogs were used in the trenches to kill rats and mice, thereby protecting food supplies. In addition to carrying out messenger duties and various other tasks, a regimental mascot also helped to maintain the troops morale.
Most of the armies involved in 'the Great War' had specially trained dogs in many of their regiments. These dogs performed a wide range of important tasks, including carrying messages, sentry duty, acting as decoys, ambulance duties and killing vermin. Keeping a pet also helped to raise the morale of the soldiers, by adding an element of domestic home life to the trench.

Book at bedtime Part 2

In an article on training domestic dogs about feeding:
"In the old days, before war altered the lives of dog owners, feeding was a fairly simple business.  Lean meat, lightly cooked, but not boiled, at the rate of half a pound for twelve pounds weight of dog, is a fair allowance, but war rations make any meat possible, except horseflesh, and so until easier times return, the best that can  be done is with biscuits, fish scraps and whatever bones can be provided from household joints.  A point to remember is that salt in any form should be avoided.  But a fresh supply of water, supplied daily in a clean bowl, constantly refilled, is a prime necessity.  Dogs are always wantig to drink, so keep the bowl in the shade.
A reminder:  See that food intended for the household table is kept in the larder, or when needed for a meal is placed out of the dog's reach.  And if the dog should somehow find and make away with food intended for the table, do not be angry with him.  It will have been your fault."
Remember this was written at the end of the 1940s. 

Book at bedtime

I found this book on a car boot sale in Cornwall.  It was published in 1950 and has a variety of articles and interesting facts.  I have started reading "Dogs belonging to authors - Part I".
Watch this space.  I'll report back.

Dogs in the Bible

I am not getting very far with my research on dogs in the Bible.  They are often mentioned in the Old Testament but they are almost always regarded with scorn and hatred by the Hebrews who held them in low esteem.  Dogs often were the carriers of rabies, they smelled bad, were living in packs outside the cities and villages and were hostile towards humans.  It is not until later that man and dog teamed up together, each benefiting from each other’s company.  As the years progressed, different types of dog evolved, some to hunt, others to guard and to work in different ways and others purely as companions.

Biblical history

"The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land at Jezreel, no one will bury her." 2 Kings 9:10.

I came upon this quote and wondered why Jezebel was the recipient of such a unnoble treatment.
The Bible and the Hebrew text portray Jezebel as a power behind the throne. Ahab and Jezebel allow temples of Baal to operate in Israel, and that religion receives royal patronage. After Ahab's death, his sons by Jezebel, Ahaziah and Jehoram, accede to the throne. The prophet Elisha has one of his servants anoint Jehu as king to overthrow the house of Ahab. Jehu kills Jehoram as he attempts to flee in his war chariot. He then confronts Jezebel in Jezreel and urges her eunuchs to kill the queen mother by throwing her out of a window and leaving her corpse in the street to be eaten by dogs. Only Jezebel's skull, feet, and hands remain. Jezebel's last act, equipping herself in all her finery before she is murdered, has led to her being represented as a kind of prostitute.
I am lead to believe the greyhound is the only dog mentioned in the Bible but I am not convinced about that. I must do some more research on this. Watch this space.