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.

Poor innocent dogs

Islamic terrorists tried to down a US cargo plane using exploding Bulldogs, it emerged yesterday.
Two animals, stuffed with bombs and detonators, were found by US officers at Baghdad airport. The bombs had been primed to explode during the aircraft's flight to LA.
But the dogs were never loaded on board as they had been killed by the lethal substances inside them.
The discovery, kept secret for two years, was revealed in France, days after explosives were found inside printer cartridges last week on a cargo plane from Yemen.

Animal blessing

Christians everywhere celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4 by having their pets blessed in the spirit of this patron saint of animals.
The parish of Saint Rita in Paris holds this mass every first sunday of November and this year several animals were present: cats and dogs of course but also camels, zebras, lamas, tortoises, fish, rabbits, snakes, ...

A bit of history

The history of the domestic dog was first chronicled in English in the 15th century.
Dame Juliana Berners (Barnes or Bernes) ,in her treatise on hunting in the Boke of St. Albans, which was first published in 1486 by a schoolmaster at St. Albans, gave what was the first list of recognised breeds to be printed in English. The classification was very limited, but it served to illustrate the importance attached even at that time to certain breeds of dogs and their purpose which have to this day retained their original nomenclature.
Dame Juliana's book was very popular.
A complete classification of dogs was published in 1570. It was called De Canibus Britannicus and was written in Latin by Dr Johannes Caius who was the physician to Queen Elizabeth I and the founder of Caius College Cambridge ( Gonville and Caius College ). It was first translated into English in 1576.
The book is divided into sections and is the first modern reference which classifies the dog’s purpose. The hunting of “beasts”, the hunting of fowl, finding game on water, finding game on land, retrieving, poaching, lapdog, scent hound, bloodhound. Section four is devoted to farm dogs and especially the Shepherd’s Dogge or Canis Pastoralis. In Bewick’s History of Quadrupeds, published in 1790, there is a woodcut of the shepherd’s dog. It bears a strong resemblance to the Border Collie of today. See picture.

Mr Eurodog and Belle

This is how Mr Eurodog felt about Belle.

RIP Belle

Sadly Belle is no longer with us.  After 14 years without a day's illness, she succombed to liver cancer and became only a shadow of her former self.  I learned everything I know about dogs from her.  She will be sorely missed by me and my family.