[Ansteorra] Period Dog Breeds

C. Weed cweed at austin.rr.com
Fri Dec 21 05:08:51 PST 2001


For a *fantastic* book on this subject pick up a copy of "The Hawk and the
Hound: the Art of Medieval Hunting" by John Cummings.  It lists at $15.36
and can be gotten at amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1842120972/qid=1008937815/sr=1-1/ref=
sr_1_8_1/107-4603199-3176540

One thing that the book touches on that I think is significant is that most
of the breeds that are commonly touted as 'ancient' are actually
reconstructed and usually differ from their true ancient cousins in at least
one significant defining characteristic.  The author states, for example,
that our greyhounds aren't quite as burly in the forequarters as their
ancestors and are also much milder in temperament (a breed improvement, in
most peoples opinion).

As you peruse the millions of different dog breed sites you'll see that a
large percentage like to claim ancient origin and preservation in form.  I
find most don't hold up to scrutiny.

Significant evidence exists only for a _very_ few breeds of a perfectly
preserved form and demeanor.  For one possible example see pages on the Cane
Corso:

 http://www.romancanecorso.com/   (a breeder page with the 'short version'
of the history)

 http://www.canecorso.org/history.htm (a slightly more comprehensive page
with limited documentation)

Other breeds that I have heard are well-preserved but have not yet
researched to verify are the Irish and Russian Wolfhounds, the Karelian Bear
Dog, the Scottish Deerhound, and a few of the various Mastiffs.  I'd love to
hear from anyone with any solid information on these or other authentic
ancients.

Happy Hunting,

Dieterich




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