The Dog Through the Ages

Of all animals the dog is the most companionable and one of the best suited to share the life and home of its master or mistress as one of the family. This is not suprising, for the dog was probably the first animal to be domesticated by man. Throughout countless centuries men and dogs have walked together and shared the same food and fire. They hunted side by side, and the dog guarded its master's life and property.

Archaeologists have found on prehistoric sites human and dog bones proving that the dog was domesticated 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. No one recorded, of course, the happy moment when a dog licked a man's hand instead of biting it. Man and dog signed their pact countless dim centuries ago.

On a picture from Egyptian tomb fresco we may see a triumphant hunter with a hound at his side painted by unknown artist 3,400 years ago. We read the first records of this unique relationship in tablets and inscriptions carved in stone as long ago as 5,000 to 6,000 years and preserved under the hot, dry sands of Egypt. Here you can see sleek hounds of the Pharaons chasing gazelles, stalwart dogs guarding flocks, others finding favour in the home.

To these ancients, howerever, the dog was more than mere household pet or assistant in the chase. He was the object of reference as well. Egyptians worshiped him as symbolic guide and protector in the realm of the dead. They gave their god Anubis the body of a man and a doglike head. This doglike god of the underworld conducted the spirits of the dead to the hall of judgement. He had counterparts in the religions of ancient Greece, Rome, India, and Mexico.

This worshiping of dogs was not just a matter of priests, it went right into the people's homes. Herodotus, the Greek historian and traveller, tells us that when, a dog died in Egypt, the whole household went into mourning, heads were shaved, food was untouched. The body was embalmed and carried in solemn procession to the special burial place set aside for dogs in every town.

We no longer mummify dogs, but the death of a dog can still plunge a modern family into grief.

Dogs played their part in Greek religion, too. The dog of the mighty hunter Orion was transformed into the brightest star in the heavens, and the rise of this Dog Star, Sirius, marked the Athenian New Year.

The Romans as well as the Greeks sacrificed dogs to the gods, and they put three dog heads on Cerberus and posted him as guard at the gates of hell.

These were not the only peoples to put dogs on pedestals. Dog worship preceded sun worship in ancient Peru, and tribes in places as far apart as Alaska and Sumatra once traced their descent from dog ancestors.

Have you ever wondered where your dog got his cold nose? From saving Noah and all his passengers on the ark, says one folk tale. The ark got a leak and would have sunk had not the resourceful dog plugged it with his nose, chilling it forever.

The Israelites, curiously, had little but contempt for the dog. Of some forty references to the dog in the Bible, almost all are taking away his credit and reputation. It pictured the dog not as pet and companion but as the pariah dog, unclean scavenger of the streets. Today we find this feeling reflected in such expressions as "dog in the manger", "gone to the dogs", "leads a dog's life".