The Dog Through the Ages

Man has even bred the dog to fight his closest wild kin. This deadly classic struggle between Canis familiaris and Canis lupus (as Swedish naturalist Linnaeus classed dog and wolf 200 years ago) echoes throughout literature and folklore. Visitors to the Welsh village of Beddgelert will be shown a monument to Gelert, the legendary wolfhound of Llewellyn Prince of Wales. Returning to his castle from the hunt one day the prince was met by his favourite hound, with lips and fangs that ran blood. In terror the prince searched inside for his little son. Finding only blood everywhere, he plunged his sword to the hilt in Gelert. Alas, only then did he discover his little boy alive and safe, a huge wolf at his side, killed by the faithful Gelert.

History is packed with dogfights. In former times dogs were thrown into the attack to aid man in war. Sometimes they wore armored coats of steel plate, mail, or leather with spikes and wicked curved knives protruding from their heavy iron collars. Roman legions, Attila's hordes, and feudal Japanese warlords all flung troops of savage dogs against their enemies.

In the army Henry VIII sent to Emperor Charles V against the French king there were four hundred soldiers that had the like number of dogs, all of them decorated with iron collars.

Canine conquistadores, sometimes armoured in quilted cotton against arrows, served the Spaniards in their conquests in the Americas.

Through centuries the dog's life was not an easy one. Man long viewed it largely as an efficient tool of the hunt, as burglar insurance, a shepherd, pulling power for a cart. Prized for its utility, nevertheless it was often used shamefully. The sports, which made dogs fight against bulls, bears, horses, even lions, and the spectacle of dog fighting dog to the death wrote dark chapters in man's relationship to his "best friend". Dog flesh never grew popular on Europe's menus, as it did in China, on some Pacific islands and among North American Indian tribes. But many European ladies wore dogskin gloves and shoes with fashionable pride. The 19th century brought changes in canine status. As emphasis on the hunt declined, the dog's role as companion came to the fore. Praise of the dog as a personality flowed from the pen of novelist and poet. Walter Scott wrote: "I have sometimes thought of the cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race, for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?"

As public sentiment grew, law banned the barbarous dogfighting spectacles once so popular. Organizations dedicated to animal welfare came into being.