9781422274965

In Egypt, tombs were raised and fearful epigraphs were written to deceased dogs. Killing and even being cruel to a dog were punishable by death. The Persians, too, considered killing a dog a crime. They even declared the dog “guard- ian of the herds and protector of man.” The Greeks said the dog was forged by Vulcan and expressed its role in mythology on pottery and sculpture as well as in literature. In pre-Columbian cultures the dog was also considered supernatural; after a man’s death, his canine was killed and buried with him.

DOG LORE What we know of dogs from physiological evidence has been backed up by what people passed on about their relationships with and beliefs about dogs. Prehistoric painters began depicting the jackal and the hyena around 4500 B.C., first in the act of helping a hunter. The handle of a knife estimated to be almost 5,000 years old is inscribed with the outline of a dog with a collar, taken to be proof that dogs were also used as guards.

The German short– haired pointer is descended from the Spanish pointer, which was introduced into Germany in 1600 by Flemish hunters. Crossings with the Italian pointer made it faster and more energetic.

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