Some Very Popular Dogs

As their many attributes were soon recognized by man, it is not surprising that dogs became popular not only as hunting and working animals but also as pets. Portrayed in art forms for many a long year, they also played an important part in folklore and religion.

 In ancient egypt, dogs were mummified after their death and Anubis, the Egyptian deity who accompanied souls of the dead to their final judgment, was depicted with a jackal's head and human body. Even in the Christian church St Christopher has been portrayed with the head of a dog. Dogs were used in baiting sports and some were even put into cages with lions. Bull-running was another variation on a theme, with crowds of people running through the streets with dogs in pursuit of a bull, causing both delight and fear.

Eventually, these so-called sports became crimes, but dog-fighting became increasingly popular, taking over from the baiting sports to a certain extent. Money was won and lost and many a prized dog lost its life; ironic reward for having lined the pockets of its owner in previous fights.

Many a terrier has a reputation for being a good ratter but dogs not only killed rats as an efficient method of ridding neighborhoods of vermin, there were also rat pits. Wagers were made based upon how many rats a dog could be expected to kill in a given I period of time, one of repute having killed 100 large ones in five and a half minutes.

Dogs and hunting
Today there is much controversy over the hunting sports, but dogs have been used to hunt in one form or another since time immemorial. Many of the old hunting parties were spectacular events, and boar hunting was frequently described vividly in old manuscripts. The dog has assisted both in the hunt and in the retrieval of animals and birds. The Irish Wolfhound and Borzoi were used very successfully against the wolf, the latter famously employed in the great hunts of Russia's Archduke Nicolai Nikolajawitsch, often involving as many as 32 couples - in that time a couple comprised three, not two dogs as today — whilst in Scotland landed gentry used the Deerhound for stalking deer. Although now illegal, dogs have long been used against the badger and other animals. Bloodhounds have been used to track people down.

Dogs of many kinds have been used by the police, security and other services, 'their important work respected throughout the world. The competence of sniffer dogs is also well-regarded and there are many impressive stories to be told.

In the service of man
Another form of hunting, of sorts, was truffle hunting, a skill known to only a few. Truffles were cleverly found by the dogs whose powers of scent were greater than those of the pig or wild sow which had been formerly been used. Another dog, useful to the kitchen staff at least, was the Turnspit, a long, low-bodied dog who toiled away in the wheel by the fire to turn the roasting spit.

Draught dogs were frequently used to pull carts, especially in Europe where they were used by small traders as well as by coal merchants and others involved in industry and agriculture. Historically, there has been much conflict of opinion as to whether or not it was 'right' to allow dogs to be used as draught animals, but the pulling of sleds seems to have been less of a shock to people's sensibilities. Maybe it is relatively easy to visualize how difficult life has been for those living in regions where sled dogs were simply a way of life, undoubtedly an invaluable aid to owners who were otherwise completely cut off from the outside world.

Dogs were used extensively during the war years, for moving guns and wounded soldiers, and transporting supplies. Some even conveyed injured war dogs, a sort of canine carting ambulance service. During the war, dogs were also used to help lay mines and to convey messages to the troops stationed behind the lines, sometimes wearing gas masks.

Man's helpers
The first recorded attempt to train dogs for guide work was in the eighteenth century, when a Paris hospital provided blind patients with dogs in order to lead them through the streets. Since then there have been many blind and partially sighted people who have benefited enormously from the service provided by guide dogs; they undergo strenuous training and are judged on their performance before being accepted as guide dogs. Comparative services are performed by Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and Dogs for the Disabled. PAT Dogs provide comfort to the infirm.