About dogs - part 1

• The worlds heaviest as well as longest dog ever recorded was an Old English Mastiff named Zorba. In 1989, Zorba weighed about 155 kg and was 3,1 m long from nose to tail!

• The tallest dog on record was named Shamgret Danzas. He was 1,06 m tall (at the shoulder!) and weighed 108 kg.

• The smallest dog in history was a tiny Yorkie from Blackburn, England. At two years of age and fully grown this little dude was an incredible 6,35 cm tall by 9,5 cm long! He weighed only 113 grams! HE was approximately the size of a matchbox!
  

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• The oldest dog that has been reliably documented was an Australian cattle-dog named Bluey. He was put to sleep at the age of 29 years and 5 months!
• Most domestic dogs are able to reach speeds of 30.5kms per hour, when running flat out. The greyhound is capable of reaching speeds of up to 64 kms per hour!

• The tallest dogs are the Great Dane and the Irish Wolfhound. The largest Great Dane stood at 103cm and an Irish Wolfhound 100cm.
  
• The average city dog lives three years longer than the average country dog!
• The largest breed of dog is the Irish Wolfhound. The Chihuahua is the smallest, while breeds like the St. Bernard and Mastiff are among the heaviest.
• Dachshunds were bred to fight badgers in their dens.
• Dogs have been used as guards, hunters, draught animals, eyes for the blind, drug and explosive detectors, rodent controllers- and even weapons! In Roman times and the Middle Ages, mastiffs wearing light armour, carrying spikes and pots of flaming sulphur and resin ran into battle against mounted knights. In World War II the Russians trained dogs to run suicide missions between the tracks of German tanks with mines strapped on their backs.
• Though neutering has no effect on the overall personality, male dogs tend to display less aggression, and territorial behavior when they are neutered. They are also less likely to contract urogenital diseases.
• All breeds and sizes of dogs, from Silky Terriers to Great Danes have been caught attacking livestock. Dogs as young as 3 months of age and as old as 12 years, unsterilised and sterilised dogs of both sexes, dogs with three legs, no teeth and with the best pedigree, have been involved.
• Well-fed pets from small holdings or suburban homes near the attack site are usually responsible. A dog may attack on its own, with another dog from the same household or in the company of one or two dogs it associates with.
• Most dogs involved are friendly and approachable and do not look or behave like killers when interacting with people. This is why 90% of dog owners find it difficult to accept that their pets have killed livestock. Dogs behave very differently when on their own, away from home with other dogs or when attacking livestock.
• Chasing and attacking livestock is a normal dog behaviour. All dogs can chase, track and retrieve. They can also conclude these hunting behaviours by grabbing, biting and killing.
• Some livestock owners allow their dogs to play with or chase their own livestock. This enables the dog to gain the skills needed to attack livestock and gives it the opportunity to practice. Many of these dogs have been shot later for killing their owner's livestock, and many more have gone to other properties to attack and kill.
• Dogs will attack livestock at any time of the day or night if they are given the opportunity. Daytime attacks are especially common in semi-rural areas.
• Professional trainers will not give this guarantee if the dog is not under the control of its owner. Dogs will also chase and attack wildlife. Uncontrolled dogs and cats have destroyed many of the native animals in areas close to towns and cities. Dog owners must ensure that their dogs are under control at all times in areas where wildlife is present.
• Most dogs have been fed on meat from an early age and have already tasted blood. Dogs find chasing non-descript moving objects rewarding and this is why they are more likely to return to the scene of an attack.
• Few dogs have blood on them. Whether they do or not will depend on how the livestock was killed, whether the carcass was fed on, and what the dog did afterwards.
• Dogs are having fun, but they don't kill for fun. Several animals may be killed or mauled, but very little will appear to have been eaten. Unless disturbed, dogs will take pieces off several carcasses. Together these will make a sizeable meal for the one or two dogs usually involved.
• A frightened dog puts its tail between its legs to cover the scent glands in the anal area. Since the anal glands carry personal scents that identify individual dogs, this behaviour is the canine equivalent of insecure humans hiding their faces.

• Never assume that a barking dog won't bute, unless you're absolutely certain the dog believes it too.
• A dog who destroys your home when you're away is frustrated. His frustration has been displaced onto household objects.
• Staring directly into the eyes of a strange dog may be interpreted as a challenge and may actually encourage the dog to bite you.
• The average dog's mouth exerts 150 to 200 pounds of pressure per square inch. Some dogs can apply up to 450 pounds.
  

Intro

Dogs are probably the descendants of the gray wolf. The first demonstrable signs of relationships between man and wolves date back to 10.000 to 15.000 years ago.

gray wolf - ancestor of all current dog breeds

It's not certain whether man approached the wolf, or vice versa. Both profited from the new situation: people used wolves during the hunt, for keeping flocks together and to warn against approaching enemies.
Wolves are very social animals. Like humans, they live in groups with social ranks, in which some wolves claim leadership. This made this animal suitable and attractive as a companion, because wolves accepted man as their leader.
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Stone-aged people tamed dogs to help them track game. About eight thousand years ago, ancient Egyptians raised Saluki hunting dogs. Saluki is an arabic word meaning noble one. These dogs are probably the oldest known breed.

Quite a few breeds claim to be the oldest, the first real dog. We do know that as far as groups go, the hounds and certain Northern type breeds are among the oldest documented. The greyhound type of dogs (the Pharaoh, Saluki, Ibizan, Basenji and Afghan) were well established in ancient Egypt 5000 years ago. It has been suggested that the Dalmatian was depicted in paintings dating back as far as 2000 years ago, and the Assyrians developed large mastiff-like breeds for use in hunting and war.

The dog was used as an aid to the shepherd, it was generally considered an unclean animal. Both the Hebrew and Moslem cultures forbid eating an animal that had been "torn by dogs", and no doubt, the threat of rabies made this a wise practice. (The Moslems made exception for the Saluki , as it was considered a Gift of Allah.)

As is always the case, when a country or civilization is well off, so are the dogs. During the reign of the early Greek, and later, the Roman Empire, the status of dogs began to change again. The dog was kept not only as a hunter, herder, & guardian, but also as a beloved pet. Dogs began to appear in sculpture, and had their portraits painted.

Today's dogs come in all shapes and sizes. There are now over 400 dog breeds. They still all belong to the same species, which means that all breeds can be crossbred and still have fertile offspring.

Brief Encounter

Bimbo

Today, I’m driving home from Cap d’Ail with Bimbo in the back of the car. He’s had his stitches removed – goodness knows how many? Seems like dozens. Now it’s all over. He needs antibiotics for another month – so severe was the infection but he’s a new dog now.

We’re crawling along the Moyenne Corniche. Fabulous day. Lots of traffic, which slows almost to a stop. Suddenly a grey-haired man runs out in front of the car, a little dumpling of a man wearing a hand-kitted cable sweater, carrying a rucksack, sandals on his feet. He says his car has broken down and asks if I will take him to Carnoles. Well, I’m going thru Carnoles, so no big deal. I don’t normally give lifts to strangers but he looks harmless. I tell him to hop in. He tells me he lives in Nice and his car has broken down at Cap d’Ail. 'Nice dog,' he says. 'He's a chien de chasse, isn't he?' I tell him Bimbo is a Bruno de Jura. 'Dogs are nicer than people,' he says.

As we approach Roquebrune-Cap- Martin, he asks me if I’d mind driving along the bord de la mer and dropping him at the roundabout with the fountain. I tell him that I’m going thru the middle of the town and that it’s only a short walk to that roundabout by the sea. ‘Oh it’s a lovely day and you’ll enjoy driving along the bord de la mer,’ he says. I mean – get this – here I am giving this stranger a lift and now he’s telling me to go out of my way so he doesn’t have to walk but three yards. Cheeky chappie. In fact, he’s rather nervous, talks a lot – he looks after his aged mother who lives in Carnoles and frankly I don’t think his car has broken down at all. He just wants a ride home. We talk about painting – he loves aquerelles and says he admires the British water colourists. He looks like a teddy bear, he’s wearing a sweater in a rather peculiar caramel colour that absolutely does nothing for him. But hell, he looks after his mother…

We get to the roundabout and I tell him I will drop him just the other side. There is a car behind us. He doesn’t stop talking, he doesn’t get out, so I have to pull over. He gets out but continues talking. His rucksack is still in the front of the car. He keeps talking. He leans over and picks up the rucksack. He’s still talking, the door remains open. I tell him, ‘Look I have to get home to the dogs.’ Eventually, he leans in, extends his hand, which I shake and he thanks me. We wish each other ‘Bonne journée, bon continuation.’ And off he goes.

And then there were three...

Bimbo in the refuge caravan

Saturday April 1, 2006: April Fool’s Day. Second visit to the refuge today. It’s a beautiful day, how a south of France day should be; bluest sky, slight breeze, the odd cloud wafting along – unlike that first visit when it rained all day long - the day I adopted Columbo and Rox.

Katie – beautiful, talented, artistic Katie - who created and works on the Pension Milou website, is with me. She, to take photos of the dogs for the Refuge de Flassans website and me to take notes.

We take our time; get to know some of the dogs. I go off and find Benji, a beautiful Griffon I’d noticed last time. I’d looked at his photograph and thought about him over the weeks, wondered if I shouldn’t perhaps adopt him but he’s a lively dog, perhaps too lively for life at Pension Milou, especially with Columbo and his epilepsy. I have enough lively dogs en pension as it is! Anyway I’ve not come to the refuge today to adopt a dog, that’s for sure.

Katie is taking hundreds of photos; we go in and out of runs to speak to the dogs – so many great dogs here who will make superb family pets if only they can find new owners.

Eventually we are thru and gather at the entrance to the refuge to say our goodbyes: to Marjorie and Maria, the caring English bénévoles (volunteers) who go to the refuge every Saturday to help feed the dogs, and to Nicole, the hard-working English girl who works there now.

Meeting Bimbo

I look around: a black and tan hound, with the longest ears I’ve ever seen, lumbers towards us, gently wagging his tail. I don’t know where he’s come from. Maria explains that this is Bimbo and he’s sleeping in the caravan at the moment, as he’s not been well.

I'd heard about Bimbo. Knew that he often gets massive ear problems. Both ears had been operated on in the past but he needs further surgery. He is recuperating, following some veterinary treatment, from another spell of infection and fever. Maria tells me she feared for his life the week before - he had been so wobbly on his legs and refused food. Today, he's weak but he comes out to greet Maria, who has been giving him special food to tempt him to eat. She says he is much better than he'd been the week before.

In the caravan

He wanders back into the caravan and I go in. He’s lying in the corner on an old mattress looking pathetic as only hounds can. Hang dog helpless. I leave the caravan. I go back in again. I come out and say, ‘Perhaps I’ll give it some thought. See how it goes. Maybe I’ll take him another time.’ Maria tells me I should only take him if I feel it’s absolutely right. Then Katie comes up and says, ‘Oh brilliant, Jilly, you are going to take Bimbo.’ She’s right of course. I couldn’t have left without him. And so whilst Nicole and I sort the paperwork in the office, Maria, Marjorie and Katie, get Bimbo into the car.

Maria & Marjorie caring for Bimbo - I'm off to do the paperwork

In the car, waiting to leave the refuge

Once home, I bathe him but avoid his poor ears. On Monday we go to Louise, my vet. She draws two full syringes of nasty viscous fluid from a big lump way below his ears. She confirms it's not an abscess and says he’ll need specialist surgery but first puts him on antibiotics for a couple of weeks. Then he goes to Dr. El Baze in Nice. He is four and a half hours on the operating table. It’s a complicated operation.

The vet has to unravel the nerves that lead from ear to eye – he says he is concerned that Bimbo’s eye reflexes will work properly. For the moment he’s having les larmes artificielles (artificial tears) three times a day and we’ll know in three weeks if there is any lasting damage to those nerves. Dr. El Baze has removed both eardrums. Bimbo has stitches right along the edges of the ear, the ear canal and way down his neck on both sides. With his head shaved on either side and all the stitching, he looks like some punk rocker except this dog won’t hear music of any sort again.

The vet asks me something about my car. I find him difficult to understand. I assume he is asking if my car is comfortable, concerned that it won’t be too bumpy a ride for poor Bimbo. ‘Well it’s an old car,’ I say, ‘15 years old, but the ride will be smooth enough and I’ll drive slowly and carefully round bends and up the hills. Maybe he should stay in the surgery overnight,’ I suggest. ‘No, no,’ he says, ‘I’m asking about your car because he is dripping serum all over the place and I don’t want your car to get messed up.’ Well, thank God for that, I think: the car passes muster. I tell him, ‘Dog people don’t have posh cars.’

A shaved, stitched and poorly Bimbo

Bimbo drips serum and blood all the way home and continues to do so for several days. The swelling in both ears is horrendous and burning hot to the touch. He’s on painkillers and antibiotics to fight the massive staphylococci and streptoccoci infections. Poor dog, he has a very bad two or three days but then, miraculously, he starts to get better. So much so that by the fifth day, following the operation, he’s up on his hind legs trying to steal food of the counter. Good boy!

I’ve never seen a Bruno de Jura before and that’s what Bimbo is - bit like a Thurber dog really. They are one of six varieties of Swiss Hound that go back to antiquity. A mosaic found in Avenches places them in the Roman Helvetia era. In the 15th century the Swiss Hound was popular among Italian dog-lovers, and in the 18th century it was extremely popular with the French. The breed standard for the Swiss Hound was established in 1882 and revised in 1909.

I can tell you that Bimbo is the most gentle dog, very intelligent and best of all, he makes my most favourite sound in all the world: thump, thump, thump - the thump of a contented dog’s tail everytime I walk past his chair.