Page 56 - Dog

Nonsporting dogs The Boston terrier is
MADE IN AMERICA
a very popular dog
and is one of the
few breeds to have
Nonsporting dogs is a miscellaneous been developed
in the U.S.
collection of dogs that includes the ones left over
after all the other breeds have been neatly
categorized into the other five groups (pp. 48–53,
56–59). The title of “special dogs” might be more apt to
describe the range of individual, and special, characteristics, as this
group includes some of the more unusual dogs. The history of some
nonsporting dogs goes back for many centuries – the forerunner of
the chow chow was first bred 3,000 years ago in Mongolia, Asia, for

USEFUL HELPERS use in war, and later, in China, as a source of fur and food. In fact, most
In this detail from a 17th-century of the dogs in this group were originally bred for work or sport but are
Japanese screen, a richly dressed
Portuguese merchant is shown now kept primarily as pets and show dogs. For example, at one time
with his servants and faithful
companion – his dog. French hunters sent poodles to retrieve ducks; bulldogs were once bred
for baiting bulls (pp. 46–47); and Dalmatians were used for herding
cattle and hunting game. This group also includes national dogs from
The back has retained the
powerful muscles of the various countries – the Boston terrier from the United States,
old-fashioned bulldog the bulldog from Britain, and the poodle from France.

BAT-EARED BULLDOG
In the old days French bulldogs were
used for baiting donkeys (pp. 46–47).
Today they are smaller and live more
peaceful lives, but it is still a tough
breed and a good guard dog.
Legs are set wide
apart, allowing
the dog to stand The tongue of the chow chow is
its ground always blue-black, an unusual
French bulldog characteristic inherited from the
dog’s Chinese ancestors
CHINESE CHOW
The breed of chow chow is now 200 years old, having been
developed from a pair of dogs of pariah origin (pp. 36–37)
introduced into England from Canton in southeast China in
the 1780s. English naturalist Gilbert White (1720–1793) in
his Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789)
described the dogs as “such as are THE BEST OF BRITISH
fattened in that country The bulldog is the national
for the purpose of symbol of the British, portraying
being eaten.” strength and stubbornness. This
breed was developed for baiting
Very thick fur and bulls – setting dogs on bulls for
curled tails are public sport – and dates back to
typical of spitz at least the 16th century.
dogs, like the chow
chow, for adapting
to sub-Arctic
temperatures

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