Research

THEORY, EVEN BACKED UP by archaeology and scientific research, needs to be supported by documentation. Records of dogs go back a very long way, with several references dated to around 4,000BP (Before Present). When Abram is mentioned in the Old Testament, chapter 13 of the Book of Genesis, the Hebrew texts tell of the great herds of camels, cattle and oxen, large flocks of sheep and goats, and the dogs of the flocks. There is nothing more, other than God promoted Abram by changing his name to Abraham and setting him up as the patriarch of His chosen race. Later, Job (chapter 30, verse 1) makes a fleeting mention of the dogs of his flocks. About the same time, further east, Chinese chronicles noted the use of specialised dogs in the hunting of wild animals. Symbolic Feng Shui fu dogs (Foo Dogs) were placed watching doorways, to keep out evil spirits and keep the people safe.

Dogs were venerated in the Orient, and also used in ritual practices. There was a very early deity, depicted in the form of a dog, to whom dog sacrifices were made. Blood of specially raised dogs was ceremonially used in the swearing of covenants between Chinese nobles. The Mesopotamians, an ancient kingdom between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, also invoked the blood of dogs for sealing oaths. In the Zhou Dynasty (1110–256BC), the Quanrong people went even further, believing themselves to be actually descended from a pair of great white dogs, worshipping their celestial canine ancestors. The Dog is one of the 12 divisions of the Chinese astrological calendar, and all dogs have their official birthday on the second day of the Chinese New Year. Some dogs were buried in expensive lacquered coffins, their necks often adorned with bells, clappers (called ling), or neck-rings made from silver and gold. Less fortunate dogs were eaten as food.

Associated with hunting alongside man, from very early times the Han Dynasty (206BC–220AD) appointed royal officers to oversee the breeding, selection, raising and training of the very best hunting dogs. Under the rule of Emperor Han Wu Ti, in the 2nd century BC, Confucianism became a widespread philosophy and China achieved unprecedented wealth and power. Enormous advances were made in both culture and technology, porcelain and paper being developed in this period. However, it was the duty of each and every keeper of the court kennels to bring out the finest hunting dogs on the planet. On this alone did the prestige of any Emperor stand or fall.

Early scholars of Arabia studied the night sky, seeing amongst the stars a hunter and his hunting dog. The Greek astronomers referred to the constellation as Orion and his companion was called Sirius – the Dog Star. Steadily padding from east to west at the hunter’s heel, across the night skies of winter, Sirius shines with 23 times the luminosity of the sun, by far the brightest star visible from earth.

Hinduism, originating some 5,000 years ago, is the traditional religion of India and Nepal. While the ancient Greeks had ferocious Cerberus, a dog with three heads, guarding the gates of Hell, Hindu texts tell us that it is the entrance to Heaven which is constantly protected by a pack of dogs. In the Koran, Muhammad places dogs for home protection, hunting and herding livestock above all other dogs. Information passed down through oft-told stories or archaic texts can provide a pretty broad outline of our long history. Science, though, is able to fill in the picture in very precise detail. Spearheading this advance is radiocarbon dating from archaeological sites, and mitochondrial DNA analysis of animal remains. The resultant data is interesting and surprising.

A feature in the Science journal, June 1997, published a summary of the research carried out by Carles Vila et al, on the evolution of dogs from wolves. Taking information collected at 27 localities worldwide, details of 162 wolves and 140 dogs were evaluated. From 67 different breeds of dog, and the sample of wolves, there was sufficient diversity shown within both Canis familiaris and Canis lupus to form a significant conclusion. This was that there was enough evidence to support the hypothesis that wolves were indeed the ancestors of all domestic dogs. Other studies have narrowed the range further, to genes from only three grey she-wolves. The point of divergence has been pushed back, to a time more than 100,000BP.

The earliest sign of domestication in a dog was found at the Goyet Cave, in Belgium, the snout distinctively shortened – although not by much. This skull fragment has been dated to 31,700BP. Not too far away, in time and distance, cave paintings at Chauvet, France, depict a range of animals, including bears and dogs. As bears disappeared from that area around 29,000BP, we have an earlier date by 3,000 years, than those recovered from human and dog remains on that site. Neanderthal man dropped off the evolutionary tree around this time, although one per cent to four per cent of the purely Eurasian genome indicates evidence of interbreeding with modern man. Dr Peter Parham, Stanford Medical School, California, places these nuptials between 90,000 and 65,000 years ago. Ukraine has recovered traces of large and medium size dogs from a site at Mezhirich, with the relatively recent date of 15,000BP. A millennium later, the earliest known man/dog burial took place at Bonn-Oberkassel, Germany. With vast tracts of northern Europe still frost-bound, the last Ice Age not finally retreating until 10,000BP, man and his animals were content to inhabit warmer climes of the south.

A plethora of settlements in Germany, Switzerland, France and Spain yielded a great many remains of small dogs – household pets. The dates recovered from these sites range from 15,000 to 12,500BP. Brought to light from the sea-cut Danger Cave, on the western edge of the state of Utah, is the earliest ritual burial of dogs in the Americas. Elsewhere, Adam R Boyko et al have published a great deal of information from Neolithic sites at Jiahu, Henan Province, China. Covering the period 7,000–5,800BP, there is evidence of people growing rice, keeping pigs, and fermenting an alcoholic beverage. Musical instruments, flutes made from the leg bones of red-crowned cranes, with five, six and seven note scales, together with finds of paper and writing, exemplify society with a high degree of all round sophistication. There were also domestic sheep, goats, cattle and, of course, a range of dogs for herding, hunting and security.

As the climate gradually warmed, man drifted northwards with his livestock, in the wake of the retreating glaciers. Dog burials have been unearthed at Skatholm, Sweden, spanning the dates between 5,250–3,700BP. This brings us to biblical times and into the compass of the earliest Chinese writings. The early Greeks, whose third century BC empire stretched east into Central Asia and India, laid the foundations of the first modern civilisation. The Greeks held their hunting and herding dogs in highest esteem. The Romans took things several stages further, as their empire swept right across Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa. A central administration created a road network, established law and order and improved all aspects of agriculture. White Mediterranean sheep and cattle were introduced to the genetically black British stock by the Belgae, a Celtic tribe from modern-day Belgium. Predating the Roman invasion, this incursion into south-east Britain brought us new breeds of hunting and herding dogs. At a later point, British-bred hounds and British-made garments were greatly prized by the aristocracy of Rome.

The Romans also developed the use of dogs in war. Large, mastiff-type dogs, already adept in the role of guardians, were now trained to fight alongside soldiers and charioteers. Not only would these dogs attack the enemy on command, they would be expected to stand their ground to faithfully protect fallen handlers. By careful and selective breeding over time, these monstrously fierce dogs became the gentle and constant companions to Medieval herdsmen and shepherds. Records tell of their guarding and driving qualities, also of an ability to handle large numbers of stock and round up any stragglers. At around three feet high at the shoulder, and some 220lbs/100kg in body weight, a present-day descendent is the docile Old English Mastiff, the largest and heaviest breed of dog in the world.

Roman annals recount that the inhabitants of Wales had no concept of money, measuring wealth only in cattle. By 942AD, Hywel Dda (Hywel the Good) had unified much of Wales and codified their long-existing laws. Extant documentation from the 13th and 14th centuries, in Latin and Welsh, give precise details of this early legislation and noted the modifications made over time. Society was divided into just three strata, the top level composed of the bonheddwyr, or landholders, the all-important owners of livestock. Not only were herding dogs fully protected by Welsh statute, a working dog was given an equal value to that of an ox.

Using a different format, the story of Irish dogs is very much set in stone, megaliths having been raised on the landscape by farming communities around 5,000BP. Records have been sculpted in letters of the ancient ogham alphabet, and carved in animal images on standing stones, illustrating the Irish veneration of their dogs. After Greek and Latin, the written language of Ireland is listed as the third oldest, and there are many later, written accounts of the prowess of herding, guarding and hunting dogs from the Emerald Isle.

In mediaeval England we turn to architecture. Henry VII and Henry VIII were great benefactors of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, finishing the work started in 1446 by their immediate predecessor. The magnificent late 15th and early 16th century stained-glass windows are mostly the work of Flemish artists. In window number one there is a sheepdog, complete with a heavy spiked collar, keeping watch. The throat would require extra protection during any skirmish with marauding predators, especially wolves. An east window, dated 1792, in the south aisle of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, shows a moonlit pastoral scene of angels, shepherds, sheep and a sheepdog. A Treatise on English Dogges, 1576, written by Johannes Caius, contains a fund of information. The court physician in turn to Edward VI, Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I, Caius is considered by many to be the founder of zoological science.

Caius describes how the shepherd, by means of pointing, shouting and whistling, has his dogs bring the sheep to where he wants them to be. Also, with little effort on his part, the shepherd’s dog will take the sheep to the place required. The doctor details the role of the Comforter Shepherd’s Dog Mastiff in protecting both man and sheep. Alternatively known as a Ban Dog, from the Old German ban and Old Norse bann, meaning to command in the military sense, this is the precursor of the much more placid Old English Mastiff. Caius records that as he travelled northwards, the ears of dogs became noticeably smaller and placed closer to the head. This is simply an adaptation to reduce heat loss in colder climates, a trait Caius clearly observed in Iceland and Scandinavia.  

Taxes on dogs had been imposed in Britain since Saxon times, to raise revenue for the Crown. There had also been restrictions on dogs of certain types, a step to limit the poaching of royal game. Herding dogs had always been exempt from such regulations. Restored to the throne of England in 1660, and desperately short of money, Charles II brought in a dog tax. Again, dogs for herding animals, along with those for controlling vermin and the leading of blind people, were deemed to be excused. Any dog not liable to the tax would be docked at the tail, known as being cur-tailed.

In 1811, Thomas Bewick refers to a Cur as a distinct type of working dog, chiefly used as a cattle-droving dog. These were noted as being stronger and more fierce than the dogs used by shepherds, many whelped with short tails, naturally cur-tailed. Kurre is a Swedish term for a dog. In Bewick’s time, more than 120,000 head of Scottish cattle were being driven annually into England. Bewick’s A General History of British Quadrupeds, published in 1790, was enhanced by his own woodcut engravings. As well as his signature, Bewick impressed a fingerprint on his work, surely one of the first to appreciate the uniqueness of such a mark. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie, in the 1840s, travelling from the south of England to Ross-shire each autumn, remarked in letters to her friends and family on the number of collies, all quite unaccompanied, making their way steadily northward. Their owners, at the end of the drove, would stay on in the south, earning extra money at harvest work, whilst the dogs returned home alone.

George R Jess, another English dog enthusiast, published History of the British Dog in 1866. Mention is made of the worth, ancient laws and many charters appertaining to the dogs of shepherds and cattle drovers. Up and down the land, dogs were busy driving cattle, sheep, geese and turkeys to market. Emerging railway companies actually not employed collie dogs, as in upland areas it was essential to keep the tracks clear of marauding sheep.

Scotland can certainly lay claim to being the birth place of the most famous of all sheepdogs, the Border Collie. Renowned throughout the world, Border Collies feature in the works of several notable Scottish writers. Two, Robert Burns and James Hogg, had personal experience of working with sheepdogs and fully appreciated their true worth. The poems of Burns and the prose of Hogg are enriched with references to their favourite sheepdogs. The formation of the International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS), in 1906, set out to bring a degree of organisation to the plethora of breeds, strains and bloodlines in the world of herding dogs. Irrespective of size, colour or texture of coat, classification was simply as Working Sheepdog or Bearded Collie. The emphasis was totally on working ability. Mr Reid, a Scots born secretary of the ISDS, coined the term Border Collie in deference to this strain rapidly becoming numerically dominant, and originating in the Cheviot Hills.

The Border Collie Club of Great Britain was established in 1975 and, with a breed standard now based on beauty and not brains, was in a position to apply for Kennel Club recognition. But it was in the field of obedience and agility trials that the Border Collie rapidly proved its versatility – and complete mastery. Through the stud books of the ISDS, first published in 1955, bloodlines of registered working dogs can be traced back for more than a century. Success on the sheepdog trial field is helping the ISDS achieve its main aim – improving the working prowess of sheepdogs. Even within the Kennel Club competitions, it is only in the show ring that looks are more important than other attributes of stamina and skill. However, it is under the auspices of both organisations that the Border Collie has become ever more popular. There is a worldwide demand for British dogs.

A widespread trade in dogs began long ago with the Chinese and Phoenicians. The lasting influence of Viking transactions can be seen in present day British herding breeds, Corgi and Lancashire Heeler, dogs clearly descended from Swedish Vallhund and Norwegian Lundehund stock. Later commerce dispersed excellent working dogs from Britain to the colonies, with good and lasting effect. From imported bloodlines, a family called Smithfield developed an Australian cattle dog, now known by that name. Either by chance or design, genes from the droving dog of London’s Smithfield Market were included in the mix. Alexander McNab, in the late 1800s, bred a new strain from the old Scotch Collie, itself an ancestor of the Border Collie, to work his livestock in California. About the same time, a Scottish émigré and his dog, Friday, were making a name for themselves in New Zealand. A vast tract of South Island is still known as Mackenzie Country. There is a monument to that rather infamous sheepdog at Lake Tekapo, and also a 40 cent New Zealand postage stamp with a picture of the statue. The full story will be told in the next chapter.

The Importation of Dogs Act 1901 was a concerted effort by the government to prevent the spread of rabies into the British Isles. A rash of rabies cases after World War I, caused by returning combat troops smuggling home pet dogs, was soon brought under control. Since 1923, with few exceptions, the six month period of quarantine has held the virus at bay. In the 21st century the world seems so much smaller, and the same rules no longer apply. Under the Pet Travel Scheme (2000) dogs can journey to the furthest corners of the globe. Dogs have even ventured out into space. Very few places still have full quarantine restrictions and, with the correct documentation, veterinary clearance and the necessary microchip, dogs can travel easily to and from 54 different countries and territories. This has had the advantage of facilitating the import of entirely new breeds of dog to these shores, many of them excellent workers of livestock. Whether they will make up for the lost inherent qualities of extinct native breeds of sheepdogs and collies, featured so vividly in past records, only time will tell.