The Beginning
The history of domestic dogs dates back thousands of years, when man began to use dogs while hunting. The five breeds around 4500 B.C. were mastiffs, wolf-type dogs, greyhounds, pointers, and shepherding dogs.
The next task that dogs were trained for is guard duty.
The Greeks utilized them for this task in the 5th century B.C.. Dogs were then trained by the ancient Romans and Galls to fight in battles.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, interest in dog breeding and care dropped off. This neglect resulted in abandoned dogs forming packs and terrorizing towns during the Dark Ages. People began to blame dogs for the problems around them and superstitions arose, including those of werewolves and monsters.
The Saint and The Dog
However, dogs were held responsible for great things.
They helped their masters through good times and bad. They even helped Catholic Saints. Saint Roche set out on a pilgrimage to Rome, looking for guidance in what direction his life should go. He stopped to help plague victims and his dog would lick their wounds (scientists say that there is a chemical in dogs’ saliva that seems to inhibit infections.) He would trace the sign of the cross on them and pray for deliverance. Sores began to heal and the people recovered.
Unfortunately he caught the plague and his dog was there for him. The dog would lick his wounds, and would run to a castle and steal bread for his master. An aristocrat decided to find out where this dog went with the bread that he stole, and he was impressed when he saw that the dog did not eat any for himself and went directly to his master with it. He arranged to have the Saint taken care of and then he recovered without any problems. The dog made such an impression that the aristocrat entered the service of the church himself. Saint Roche is pictured with a dog licking his face.
Catholic saints continued to influence dog breeds.
During the second crusade (1214 to 1270) large gray dogs (likely a breed of greyhound) were brought by the Middle East by a French king. This king, Saint Louis, used the dogs to breed with Saint Hubert dogs. These new dogs were very fast
They were named after the saint, ‘le chien gris de Saint Louis’.
In the fifteenth century, dogs that joined Spanish troops in battle actually had their own quilted coats.
If your dog wasn’t one of those purebred ones so carefully bred, the dog would wear a large block around their necks to prevent them from mating with the breeds from aristocracy.
After years of noblemen being reproached for bringing their dogs to church, priests became more lenient. Many people had to walk some distance to attend Mass and having a canine companion for protection was not considered irreverent. Occasionally these dogs caused trouble, from fighting among themselves to stealing bread from the Altar.
To help prevent dogs causing problems at the Altar, it is believed that Archbishop Laud (1573-1645)
invented altar rails. However, this first try needed some improvement. In 1636, the altar rails were further improved to keep dogs out. Pews and doors were also adapted for dogs.
Churches and dogs did not get along all the time. Dog tongs were invented to control unruly dogs.
However, the metal device unfortunately did more than drive dogs out; it also killed many dogs accidentally in the process.
Dogs and War
Dogs must have been important enough to be brought to America. The Mayflower didn’t just sail with Pilgrims from Plymouth, England. Two dogs, a spaniel and a mastiff sailed as well.
U.S. President George Washington was a breeder of dogs. He loved dogs so much that during the Revolutionary War, he ordered a cease fire in order to return a dog owned by the British General Howe. Soldiers had found the little terrier wandering between the British and American lines in October 1777. When Washington heard that the U.S. soldiers had found the dog and considered keeping him, he told them that it was unacceptable. He knew exactly the bond between human and dog, and cleaned the dog himself and made sure he was fed and comfortable.
Washington ordered a ceasefire and had an American officer return the dog, under a flag of truce.
The General was pleased to have his dog returned and would later refer to Washington with a note of respect in his voice. In fact, he would later refer to the incident as “an honorable act of a gentleman.”
Dogs, at that time, were kept for many different reasons.
Vendors would keep small dogs to protect their carts.
Mastiffs and Bulldogs were used to catch and hold beef prior to slaughter.
Dogs were also used to power machines. And some, like terriers, were used for tavern entertainment, put in pits with the goal of killing the most rats in a period of time.
Starting with teaching his dog to hold a long growl on command, he used treats and physically moved his dog’s lips to form the desired vowel and consonant sounds.
The dog caught on and would move his mouth to form the sentence, “How are you, Grandmama?” without Bell’s help.
Bell was only 20 years old when he trained his dog to talk. Bell, who owned dogs throughout his life, went on to become a well-known speech teacher for the deaf. He opened his own school in Boston. In his spare time, he worked on ideas for inventions, one of which would revolutionize the world as the telephone.
In 1819, Johann Wilhelm Klein founded an institute for the blind in Vienna. There, dogs were trained to guide the blind around the cobbled streets of the historic city.
He published a book on his methods but little attention was given to this important project.
However, a hundred years later, his idea got the world’s attention when so many young soldiers were blinded by mustard gas following World War I. A German doctor was walking with a blind patient on the hospital grounds when he was called away. He left his dog with the patient and when he came back it appeared that the dog was looking out for his patient. So, he decided to explore ways to train dogs to guide blind people properly. In 1923, a large guide dog training center was set up in Potsdam, Germany.
In Switzerland, Dorothy Harrison Eustis was breeding and training German Shepherd dogs for work with the customs service, the army and police. Eustis visited Germany to see the guide dog training center and was so impressed that she wrote an article about it for the American Saturday Evening Post in 1927.
As a result of the article, a blind American named Morris Frank, became the first guide dog owner in America. He said that the five-cent magazine was worth more than a million in the long run. Eustis trained Buddy for him and brought him over to Switzerland to learn how to use the new guide dog.
In 1928, Eustis set up a guide dog center in Switzerland and also established the first school for training dogs in the United States. This led the way for a future with many guide dogs in service and many organizations supporting the cause.
It would be years later that people, like the students at Holliston Junior College in Lenox, Massachusetts, would test the premise that dogs could be trained to become the ears for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. In 1976, the Hearing Ear Dog program began (the group is now known as the National Education for Assistance Dog Services). The organization also became the first to train a service dog for someone who uses a wheelchair.
The 1900s was really the time for dogs to become more than just a pet – but a tool. The organized use of dogs in law enforcement was first established in the early 1900s. This use was brought about by the development and organization of purebred dog clubs in Europe; largely Germany, Belgium and England.
America was a bit slow to officially adopt dogs for military or law enforcement. The United States apparently had a difficult time accepting dogs as viable assets for protecting troops, in spite of the fact that America’s first military campaigns were accompanied by dogs, as mascots, scouts and sentry dogs.
Years before the Revolutionary War, it was Benjamin Franklin who developed an organized method for deploying military dogs. His tactical use was based on a Spanish model. During the Civil War, dogs were used as sentry duty, to guard prisoners, and as mascots. During the Spanish American War, they were used to alert troops of guerilla ambushes. At the time of World War I, the only military dogs owned by Americans were the sled dogs from Alaska which were used by the French to haul ammunition in the mountains. Other countries were catching on, though, and their roles included sentry, Red Cross dog, messenger dog, and ambulance dog, as well as mascot.
During World War II, the United States finally got serious about using dogs to protect its military. At this time the term K-9 comes into use.
An experimental sentry dog program began with the help of the organization Dogs for Defense, which consisted of civilian breeders and trainers. More than 3,000 sentry dogs were used to keep our shores safe from sabotage and foreign invasion.
When the U.S. entered the Korean War, they had 100 sentry dogs go to Korea. During the Vietnam War, there was considerable training going on. Sentry dogs were widely used in Vietnam, but also the Air Force began training patrol dogs as a replacement for the sentry dog. The patrol dogs were much more like today’s police dogs. There were also scout dogs, mine detector dogs, tunnel dogs, and tracker dogs trained during the Vietnam War.
Dog Show
Structure
Until the mid-1800s, dogs were mostly bred only for work as trackers, hunters or herders. Over time, they also began to be enjoyed for their appearance and unique characteristics. In 1859 at New Castle-on-Tyne, England, owners of pointers and setters and their dogs were invited to the first official dog show in the world. The winners of the event, which had 60 participants, received special trophies: guns from the factory of W.R. Pape, the first dog show chairman. This first exhibition offered dog owners the chance to display their prized pets and gain a sense of personal pride.
Competition
The idea of a dog show quickly became very popular, and two show organizations were established: The National Dog Club and the National Dog Society. At the second year’s competition in Birmingham, England, 267 dogs competed in two newly formed divisions. The first division was for sporting dogs and the second included sheep herding, non-sporting, toy and terrier dogs. Soon the dog show spread to other English towns and cities, including London in 1863. Within three decades, more than 200 different shows were being held throughout England.
Dog King
They have served humans as war dogs, police dogs, guard dogs, and, perhaps most importantly, friends. One dog, named Saur, even served as king. He took the throne after the people of Norway killed Onund, King Eystein’s son. After his son’s death the king gave the people a choice – they were to be ruled by a slave or a dog. The people chose the dog, thinking it would be easier to rid themselves of the dog. Saur ruled for three years, and was treated quite regally. He had his own gold collar, the best food, and an opulent palace, fully staffed of course. Apparently, he even stamped all official documents with a paw print. Sadly for Saur, his reign was cut short when wolves broke into his home and tore him to pieces.
Dog Hero
A dog named Delta was discovered during the excavations of Pompeii. The dog’s corpse was frozen in time by the hardened volcanic ash. He was hunched over a small boy, his master, apparently trying to save him from the disaster. A collar around his neck revealed that this was not the first time Delta had been so heroic. The collar mentioned not only the dog’s name, Delta, and his master Servinus, but also that the faithful hound had saved the boy three times before, once from drowning, again from 4 robbers, and finally from a wolf set on attacking him at the sacred grove of Diana. Apparently, Delta’s heroism lasted until the end. His corpse, frozen in time, will forever be protectively draped over the body of his beloved Servinus, a sort of living monument to devotion and fidelity.
Pictures of Vesuvius the destroyer of Pompeii
Dog and Science
Our canine friends have also been trailblazers in the sciences. A dog named Laika was plucked from the streets of Moscow to become the first living creature to enter outer space. She was trained with other dogs, but Laika displayed an uncanny ability to remain calm under pressure. She was launched into space inside Sputnik II on November 3, 1957. Unfortunately, Laika didn’t make it back. She died in her spacecraft. But she paved the way for future space programs and human astronauts
Hachiko, A Dog Story
In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo, took in Hachikō, a golden brown Akita, as a pet. During his owner’s life, Hachikō greeted him at the end of each day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Professor Ueno did not return. The professor had suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and died, never returning to the train station where Hachikō was waiting. Every day for the next nine years the dog waited at Shibuya station.
Hachikō attracted the attention of other commuters. Many of the people who frequented the Shibuya train station had seen Hachikō and Professor Ueno together each day. Initial reactions from the people, especially from those working at the station, were not necessarily friendly. However, after the first appearance of the article about him on October 4, 1932 in Asahi Shimbun, people started to bring Hachikō treats and food to nourish him during his wait. This continued for nine years with Hachikō appearing precisely when the train was due at the station.
Hachikō died on March 8, 1935, and was found on a street in Shibuya. In March 2011 scientists settled the cause of death of Hachikō: the dog had terminal cancer and a filaria infection (worms). There were also four yakitori skewers in Hachikō’s stomach, but the skewers did not damage his stomach or cause his death.
At last that is the histories of many dogs that i can provide you with,but let’s take a look at dogs in this year of millenia.
Today dogs is used for many purposes,such as guard dog,pet,military,guide dog,mascot,and many other purposes.
But people mainly keep them as pet
Now a deeper look into dog’s life stages
Dogs go through many of the same emotional and physical changes as humans.
Depending on the breed, dogs can live an average of 10 to 15 years or more and with an improved understanding of veterinary medicine, dogs are living healthier and longer lives. Like humans, as dogs progress from youth to later years, they go through physical and emotional changes. Each stage has its own uniqueness and importance and the ability to recognize and accept these changes makes the human-dog bond even more special.
I guess the saying dog is man’s best friend is true after all. As we can see the human history is covered in pawprints
blueatmostsphere 