Breed Hysterias: Nothing New

• While it wasn't a focus of my researches, I couldn't help but notice as I went along in preparing this bibliography that breed-specific legislation was tried far earlier than I realized, and that hysterical and ignorant headlines about specific dog breeds have been around a long time, too. These days, it's Pit Bulls. Before the Pit Bull craze, it was Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers. When I was a kid, it was "police dogs"/German Shepherds. In the 1870s-80s, it was of all ludicrous things the gentle and happy-go-lucky dogs we've come to call American Eskimo Dogs. In the early 18th century, it was Bulldogs and other mastiffs, though one observer thought it might better have been Greyhounds! I'm hoping these retrospectives will put some of this in perspective.
• It is worth remembering in reading not only the articles listed here, but all popular-press articles both current and historic, that outside the doggy press neither your average reporter nor your average citizen knows more than a very few dog breeds on sight—or cares. Breed identifications in popular press articles are, therefore, often questionable even if they seem to come from a dog's owner, who may be ignorant or misquoted. For instance, I have in modern newspapers seen photographs of a Pug, a Bull Terrier, a Boston Terrier, a German Shepherd cross, and various old-fashioned Bulldogs with captions labeling them as Pit Bulls. One account of an attack by a pack of "Pit Bulls" in New York approximately 20 years ago included descriptions of all three dogs, not one of which bore any resemblance to a Pit Bull or any other bull breed—one was shaggy!

American Eskimo: a breed "addicted" to rabies?

• "untitled entry" by unnamed columnist. In: Christian Index, 8 April 1886. In the "Secular" column, a collection of extremely miscellaneous national and world news, for 30 March 1886 comes a notation that a man in Newark, New Jersey, is dying of hydrophobia, as rabies was then sometimes called, following a bite from a "white Spitz dog". For history buffs, in that part of the column with tidbits from 31 March, Geronimo surrendered unconditionally for what turned out to be only the first time.
• "A Fright in Madison-Square: A Spitz Dog's Mad Career Stopped By a Policeman's Bullet" by unnamed reporter. In: New York Times, 4 May 1885, pg 8. This account of an incident in Madison Square in New York seems to me to have left out a few details: A "white spitz dog" was spotted hurrying across the square with a wild look and headlong manner, which caused everyone in the area to panic even though the dog didn't hurt anyone. Even though it "charged" a baby carriage, all it did was to jump over it without harming the baby. Then a police officer shot it dead. The writer goes on to say jauntily, "After the body had remained on exhibition a few moments it was carried around the corner and tenderly placed in the gutter..." I can only suppose the people thought the dog rabid, in view of comments in some of the other articles mentioning spitzes during this period. Whether it was or not, one can't tell from anything in the article. The humans involve certainly sound rabid.
• "Not a Place to Kill Dogs" by unnamed reporter. In: New York Times, 22 March 1884. A man who dragged a "forlorn-looking Spitz dog by a string" into a police station became irate when the police refused to kill the dog for him, saying the police station was not a place for killing dogs. Claiming the dog had bitten him, and he had chased it all the way from Rivington to Mulberry Street, the man demanded the police kill the dog, but Captain Heddon of the New York Police Department was apparently not a believer in rabies, telling him, "I suppose you're one of those fools that think you'll go mad if a dog bites you." Cursing and shouting, the bitten man told them they could then keep the dog, but the Spitz was quickly taken off by the "troop of ragged street lads" that had followed the man in, and was last seen "making good time along Bleecker-street..."
• "Dying from Hydrophobia: The Effect of a Dog-Bite Received Nearly a Year Ago" by unnamed reporter. In: New York Times, 8 September 1883, pg 5. Detailed story of the last hours of a ten-year-old boy who died of rabies, the presumed result of a bite received almost eleven months earlier from a "half-breed spitz dog" belonging to a neighbor. It is mentioned here, as in other places, that people believed rabies could be prevented after a bite by cauterizing the wound and killing the dog.
• "Hydrophobia: A Well-Authenticated Case of This Terrible Disease in Philadelphia" by unnamed reporter. In: Chicago Daily Tribune, 29 January 1879, pg 3. Detailed story of the last hours of a wealthy young mother who died of rabies, the presumed result of a bite received some three months earlier while rescuing her little boy from a "Spitz dog". As of the time of writing, the child had not shown any symptoms of the disease.
• "A New Cure for Hydrophobia" by AV Forgey, MD. In: The Washington Post, 2 May 1878, pg 2, "Letters to the Editor" column. In view of the "fact" that the incidence of rabies has increased alarmingly since "Spitz" dogs have become common, this physician writes to recommend to the public a treatment for rabies he has invented and tried on himself: endermic injection of gastric juice. He got his gastric juices from a rabbit, but doesn't seem to specify any one variety or species for the source.
• "Hydrophobia: The Spitz Dog Adds to High Reputation—Death of a Little Child in Philadelphia—No Imagination in This Case" by unnamed reporter. In: Chicago Daily Tribune, 21 November, 1877, pg 7. Details of the death of a child less than three years old following what the parents thought a trivial bite wound from a Spitz dog.
• "Obituary" by unnamed writer. In: Forest and Stream: A Journal of Outdoor Life, Travel, Nature Study, Shooting, Fishing, Yaching, 25 June 1874, pg 313. Account of the death of Francis Butler—a well-known dog fancier who was also a florist, a linguist, an author, a poet, and knowledgeable in natural history—following a bite received while attempting to treat a sick Spitz. Interestingly, Mr Butler "did not believe in" rabies. The author refutes the "very absurd theory" that rabies may remain latent for years before developing.
• "Death from Hydrophobia: A Dog-Fancier Falls a Victim to the Dreadful Disease" by unnamed reporter. In: New York Times, 18 June 1874, pg 2. Detailed account of the death of Francis Butler—a well-known dog fancier who was also a florist, a linguist, an author, a poet, and knowledgeable in natural history—following a bite received while attempting to treat a sick Spitz. Interestingly, Mr Butler "did not believe in" rabies.
• "untitled article" by unknown author. In: Forest and Stream: A Journal of Outdoor Life, Travel, Nature Study, Shooting, Fishing, Yaching, 4 December 1873, vol 1, #17, pg 262. "The Kennel" column repeats (from The New York Times) the sad story of a Mr. Philip Meyers, who, after being bitten on the thumb while playing with a "little white spitz dog," developed rabies and died.
• "Fatal Case of Hydrophobia in Brooklyn" by unknown author. In: New York Times, 29 November, 1873. Tells the sad story of Mr. Philip Meyers, who, after being bitten on the thumb while playing with a "little white spitz dog," developed rabies and died.

Bulldog: a real sourmug?

The steady, dependable Bulldog was at one time used in sports that were a cruel outgrowth of its legitimate work in assisting cattle drovers to manage their herds. Whatever our opinion of bull- and bear-baiting, there can be no denying that these dogs had heart and courage. There can also be no denying that a dog bred to such tasks could be dangerous if its temperament with humans were bad. Fortunately, this just isn't so, but not everyone has always agreed.

• "Weekly Essays in July, 1738" by The Crafsman of the 1st. In: Gentleman's Magazine, July 1738, volume 8, pg 359. The author, having taken a stand against the popular blood sports of his time, laments recent actions against "Bull-Dogs, which are the distinguishing Characteristics of the English Valour." This brief essay was written in the high style of the age and apparently to people who knew about the events and controversies it addressed, which makes it hard for me to make out who did what. My interpretation is that certain Scots had been abusing (or at least resenting) Bulldogs in some fashion I can't quite make out, for some reason possibly involving a mad (rabid, I believe) [Bull?]dog. Also, in the Town of Lynn dogs were recently confined for 14 days, presumably to ensure they weren't infected. Dogs "of the Mastiff Kind, which includes Bull-dogs" were not permitted to be out in public without a muzzle, but I can't quite tell if that is in the Town of Lynn, in Scotland, or both. This little passage is interesting to me as the first instance of breed-specific legislation I know of other than those restricting ownership of certain breeds to those of higher strata of society.

Greyhounds: ravening attack dogs?

The Greyhounds were bred to hunt, and they were indeed intended to be dangerous to game. And they've been known to be dangerous to small, squeaky pets they mistake for game. But dangerous to humans? For most of us it's hard to imagine. But at least one 18th Century author would beg to disagree.

• "Weekly Essays in July, 1738" by The Crafsman of the 1st. In: Gentleman's Magazine, July 1738, volume 8, pg 359. The author, having lamented recent legal actions against ownership of, or requiring muzzles for, Bulldogs, gives his opinion it should be Greyhounds who have to be muzzled, they being of a "more ravenous Nature than Bull-dogs and ready to worry any Body to Death, when their Master sets them on."

sadly, much more to come!