Archived page from janumoon's beautiful dog pages.
ALTHOUGH HUMANS HAVE utilized the dogs for over 10,000 years, it has attracted very
little folklore until relatively recently. Inthe great trilogy of world religions,
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the dog is seldom mentioned and when it is, the
reference is usually negative. Two outatanding exceptions exist - ancient Persia and
China, wherre early folklore and superstition abound with dogs; indeed, they were
regularly used to participate in religious rituals. Not without coincidence, these are the
regions where some of the earliest and most important dog breeding dog breeding took
place.
A good-luck talisman(right)
There are many Chinese traditions concerning the dog. This 19th-century silken embroidery
depicts the "Fu Dog", which was thought to bring good fortune and happiness.
A French werewolf(left)
The "Wild Beast of Gevaudan", a ferocious werewolf, was reputed to have kille
dover 80 people in the Gavaudan region of France. Here, it appears in a medieval book of
illustrations.
Folklore, the tribal stories of our real or imagined ancestors, offers exciting clues
as to how people thoutht and lived thousands of years ago. The Jewish Bible - the Old
Testament - recounts, often in intimate detail, the tribal history of one ancient group of
people. It contains about 30 references to dogs, of which all but two are negative. From
the Old Testament we know that dogs guarded the flocks of the tribes of Israel, but
nothing suggests that a bond of affection existed between them, and dogs were undoubtedly
regarded as unclean scavengers.
Ancient Jewish tradition did not allow images of animals but in nearly Egypt, where
animals were worshipped, artists portrayed a variety of different breeds. However, none of
these played a significant role in religion or folklore. The Egyptian god Anubis, whose
responsibility was to accompany the souls of the deceased to their final judgment, is
depicted with a human body and what some consider to be a dog's head. It is more likely
that the head is not that of a dog, but that of the jackal. Although Herolotus wrote that
the Egyptians mourned when dogs or cats died, judging from the large number of mummified
cats and extremely small number of mummified dogs, as regards dogs, this practice was
rpobably an exception rather than the rule. Elsewhere in the region, stone carvings
indicate that the Babylonians bred great warrior mastiffs. Nearby, the Assyrian nobility
used dogs for hunting. A superb bas-relief in the British Museum in London shows the
Assyrian King Assurbanipal hunting with great mastiff dogs. Dogs do not, however, seem to
play any major role in local folklore. 
Dog deity
The Egyptian jackal-headed god Anubis personifies the popular tradition of worshipping a
deity that is half man and half dog (or jackal)
Dogs do participate in a number of early Greek legends. Xanthippus, the father of
Pericles, was said to have owned a dog that swam by the side of his master's galley to the
city of Salamis when the Athemians were forced to abanon their city. The dog was buried
beside his master at a site known ever since as Cynossema, the dog's grave. Alexander the
Great is said to have founded and named a city, Peritas, in memory of his dog.
The line between folklore and early literature is difficult to define. The Greek writer
Homer used figures from Greek mythology and historical events to create his incomparable
epic stores. Homer's magificent description of the sagacious and faithful hound Argus,
recognizing Ulysses on his return, when no one else could, and his sensitive account of
the dogs belonging to the swine heder Eumaeus, demonstrate that Homer understood dog
behaviour.
The dog's role in Greek religion was usually sacrificcial. Kennels of dogs were kept at
the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus, and Asclepius was occasionally represented
accompanied by a dog that could heal the sick by licking them. More frequently, however,
dogs were sacrificed because they were plentiful, inexpensive, and easy to control. 
The dog in Christianity(right)
This wooden benchfinial of a dog, located in Swaffham, East Angle, England was inspired by
a local myth concerning a pedlar who gave money to rebuild the churches of Saints Peter
and Paul. 
An early Christian custom(left)
In early Christian traditions, Sanit Christopher is sometimes depicted with a dog's head,
as is evident in this Byzantine icon.
The early Romans also sacrificed dogs. For example, at the annual Roman festival of Robigalia, a dog was killed at the fifth milestone on the Via Claudia. Despite this, the Romans clearly view the dogs with great affection, and their folklore abounds with stories pf dogs' courage and fidelity.
Christian and Islamic cultures inherited attitudes to dogs from their ancestral
religion. However, these attitudes were modified by the folklore and traditions of the
regions in which these religions developed. In Europe, Chritianity was influenced by
regional and Roman folklore. Stories about the devotion of the dog developed throughout
northern European folklore. The Norse Saga fo Olaf Triggvason contains descriptions of the
faithfulness of dogs, as does the story of Cavall, the favourite hound of the English King
Arthur. The saga fo Gelert, the Welsh Prince Llewellyn's great hound, is typical. Gelert
was left at home with the king's son, Owain. Llewellyn returned to find blood on the dog's
face and his son missing. He killed the dog with his sword, only to discover his son safe,
beside the body of a slain wolf. In honour of the valour of Gelert, he had a statue cast
in his memory.
The Fu Dog
The "Fu", or "Lion Dog", an ever-recurring symbol in Chinese cultures,
is representaed here in ceramic.
In Islm, however, the dog was regarded as "unclean". Islam incorporates rules
about sanitation and public health. In a region where rabies was, and still is, endemic,
the Islamic responsibility to undergo a cleansing after being "contaminated" by
dog saliva has obvious public health mreit. Native American folklore is of more recent
origin - legend says that dogs were sacrificed throughout the Americas. 
Allegorical representation
Throughout history, dogs have been used to portray human characters. In this 16th-century
anti-Catholic allegory, the dog is used to play the part of the clergy.
It is in the most sophisticated and ealiest of civilization, China, that the dog plays
its greatest role in religion, folklore, and mythology. While black cats play a central
role in European superstitions, in ancient China black dogs filled this role. Written
records from over 4,000 years ago reveal that dog trainers were held in esteem and that
kennel masters controlled large groups of dogs. The "Fu Dog", a recurring theme
in Chinese culture, has the positive attribute of bringing happiness and good fortune.
A great dal of the dog's early domestication took place in ancient China. It is probably
here that both dwarfing and miniaturization occurred, creating companion breeds. It is
here, too, that the first pack-hunting dogs were bred.
The other ancient people with an extensive mythology about dogs are the Parsees of Persia.
The religion Zoroastrianism was introduced into what is now Iran by a religious figure,
Zarathustra, about 2,750 years ago. One of the volumes of the Zend Avesta, the eseven
sacred books of the religions, is devoted to the care and breeding of dogs, and one
section describes the dogs, and one section describes the dog's many contrasting
characteristics. 
Dog-shaped vessel
This 100 BC terracotta vase, found in the Colima state of Mexico, may depict the Mexican
Hairless Dog. This breed, originally bred for food, was particularly popular in Colima.