CHAPTER VI 

 THE GREAT DANE 



THE origin of the Great Dane, b'ke that of many other varie- 

 ties of dogs, is so obscure that all researches have only resulted 

 in speculative theories, but the undoubted antiquity of this 

 dog is proved by the fact that representatives of a breed 

 sufficiently similar to be considered his ancestors are found 

 on some of the oldest Egyptian monuments. 



A few years ago a controversy arose on the breed's proper 

 designation, when the Germans claimed for it the title 

 " Deutsche Dogge." Germany had several varieties of big 

 dogs, such as the Hatzriide, Saufanger, Ulmer Dogge, and 

 Rottweiler Metzgerhund ; but contemporaneously with 

 these there existed, as in other countries in Europe, another 

 very big breed, but much nobler and more thoroughbred, 

 known as the Great Dane. When after the war of 1870 

 national feeling was pulsating very strongly in the veins of re- 

 united Germany, the German cynologists were on the look- 

 out for a national dog, and for that purpose the Great Dane 

 was re-christened " Deutsche Dogge," and elected as the 

 champion of German Dogdom. For a long time all these 

 breeds had, no doubt, been indiscriminately crossed. 



The Great Dane was introduced into this country spas- 

 modically some thirty-five years ago, when he was commonly 

 referred to as the Boarhound, or the German Mastiff, and for 

 a time the breed had to undergo a probationary period in the 

 " Foreign Class " at dog shows, but it soon gained in public 

 favour, and in the early 'eighties a Great Dane Club was 

 formed, and the breed has since become one of the most 

 popular of the larger dogs. 



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