[HNW] OT - non-historic blackwork

[Carol Thomas]

What's a schipperke? (besides black <g>)
--sue

Schips are a very old breed of dog.  I have read that there is a sculpture 
in Belgium from the 15th c. that shows a schip (the small modern version) 
or a Belgian Sheepdog (the big modern version).  Since there is just the 
dog, no human, it is not clear how big the model was.

Schips are small, stocky, very intelligent dogs with a somewhat foxy face, 
upright ears, a medium length thick coat, and a ruff of fur around the neck 
and chest.  In the US (and in Europe until recently) their tails are 
docked.  They were herding, ratters and watch dogs on farms in Belgium 
hundreds of years ago, and were also used as watch dogs and foghorns on the 
canal boats.  As a result, they are sometimes called the Belgian Barge 
Dog.  They are generally from 10 to 20 pounds.

Dog as fog horn:  in dense fog, the dogs could still tell when another 
vessel came close, and would bark as long as it was near.  With a schip on 
each barge, collisions were avoided.  This use of the breed continues on 
canals in Europe.  Here in the US, schips are the smallest of the trained 
search and rescue dogs.

Carllein

The website is back: http://small-churl-books.com and e-mail to 
carol at small-churl-books.com