Download The Lost History of the Canine Race

“Hopping a ride on the rats that frequented merchant vessels traveling from Egypt to Europe in A.D.
540, fleas infected with a deadly bacillus took advantage of Rome’s well-developed infrastructure to
spread bubonic plague from the Nile valley to the far corners of Western Europe. Because everybody
was afflicted with fleas—always had been—no one, rich or poor, prominent or insignificant, was spared.
Historians estimate the mortality rate rose as high as 95 percent in many regions.” Pg 55 The lost history
of the canine race
“People were dying faster than they could be buried. When graveyards filled to overflowing, bodies
were thrown into rivers or were simply dragged out of the house and left in the street, where they could
remain for days before a cart happened by on its way to one of the many common interment pits.” Pg
55
“During and immediately following the height of the contagion, dogs were left ownerless and homeless
by the hundreds. While people, cattle, sheep, cats, and even poultry succumbed to the epidemic, the
canine race, with its inborn resistance to the plague bacillus, was subject to a rising tide of superstition
and paranoia. Desperate for food, many dogs resorted to scavenging corpses, and packs of feral hounds
roamed the hamlets each night, their snarling and yapping playing on the imagination of a populace
already convinced that the apocalypse was at hand.” Pg. 56
“Although compassion for both beast and man was in short supply after the plague, a lucky canine
minority continued to live secure lives as companions to people with sufficient political and financial
clout to access precious caches of food for animals.” Pg. 68
“’Venery’, or hunting, quickly evolved into a highly specialized, ritualized activity. It was removed from
the common realm and elevated to the status of a sport, reserved for an idle, priviledged few.” Pg. 68
“Since dogs rivaled horses as the more important sporting accessories, the services of a professional
“huntsman,” renowned for his expertise in the care and training of dog, was mandatory. Henry I of
England (1068-1135) employed no fewer than four huntsmen to tend to a kennel containing several
hundred dogs.” Pg. 68
“’Dog boys’ tended to the needs of aristocratic hunting hounds under the watchful eye of a professional
huntsman.” Pg. 68
“Venturing out shortly after dawn on a typical day’s hunt, the lord was accompanied by a caravan of
servants, among them the professional ‘huntsman’, who was expected to orchestrate a fruitful (or at
least entertaining) chase.” Pg 69
“Understandably, then, the huntsman who could make a chase come off without a hitch was highly
sought after. In a few great households he even held the rank of knight.” Pg. 70
“Any dogs not belonging to the royal kennel were subject to execution on the spot, even when
accompanied by a human and on leash. Exceptions sometimes were made for puppies or lapdogs,
thought to be incapable of catching game, but all canines had to be small enough to pass through a ‘dog
gauge,’ a calibrated wooden or metal hoop. Large dogs who herded swine or worked as beasts of
burden and belonged to peasants had to be surgically hobbled, a process in which the animal’s forefoot
was placed on a thick wooden block so a mallet-driven chisel could neatly sever three of four toes.” Pg.
71
“The term ‘cur’ derives from the medieval practice of requiring lower-class dogs to have their tails
docked so they could be distinguished from hounds belonging to aristocrats. Such canines were first
described as ‘courtalt,’ then ‘curtal,’ and finally ‘curs.’” Pg. 71
“Relations between the upper and lower classes only worsened when new game preserves were
established, an act that sometimes took farms, churches, or even whole communities. Residents were
simply ordered to vacate the premises, sometimes with no compensation or provision for relocation. Yet
they were still expected to meet tribute (tax) deadlines!” Pg. 71
“Assigned to uphold hunting laws and to apprehend transgressors were the ‘verderers’ or ‘foresters’—
medieval game wardens with the authority to search any and all premises or persons for evidence of
poaching.” Pg. 71
“…verderers were inclined to abuse the powers of their office for personal gain. They chopped down
trees, grazed their livestock in the royal forest, and routinely hunted the very game they were entrusted
with protecting. Others were known to take bribes or extort goods and services from the peasants in
exchange for not arresting a suspected poacher. Understandably, they were despised by the working
class. “ pg. 72
“Nets, traps, arrows, deer hides, even the tip of an antler was sufficient to drag a man away in chains.
The punishment for possessing such accessories sometimes was to watch them being chopped up with
an ax—dogs included” pg. 72-73
“The fourteenth century marked the beginning of a ‘golden age’ for the breeding of dogs. During the
Renaissance (approximately 1300-1600) the hunt became increasingly complex and lavish, and
noblemen vied against one another to own the fastest, strongest, most talented dogs. The goal was to
create one’s own, personalized canine variety, unique to a particular family or estate, just like vintage
wine.” Pg. 75
“Also featured with increasing frequency from the fourteenth century onward in sculptures, paintings,
and tapestries were endearing miniature ‘lap dogs’—tiny Spaniels, Terriers, and hounds—apparently
kept and bred for no purpose save companionship.” Pg 76
“The first ‘dogging’ took place in 1494 when Christopher Columbus debarked for freshwater on the
island of Jamaica, where he was met by a band of ceremonially painted Indians. Assuming they were
hostile, he ordered his soldiers to release a volley of arrows and then a large dog, which fatally mauled a
half-dozen natives within a matter of minutes.”
“During lulls in the fighting with natives, bordom tempted many Spanish officers to dog Indians simply
for sport, much as deer might be run down in the forests of Europe.”