When the Dog was a Soldier in Arms

                                                                      

The domestic dog (Canis Lupus Familiaris) is the domestic animal, which was the first to be tamed by man - and it shares the longest history with us. The dog was throughout history used for hunting, as watch dog, war dog, bloodhound, rescue dog - or just our friend and companion. It is a service dog for blind and disabled people and works for the police as their rescue dog, it is tracing drugs or works as a therapy-dog. A dog is also able to sniff his way to a cancer and to predict epileptic  seizures.


Dogs and War

Dogs and war go back a long way. More than 4.000 years ago the ancient Assyrians, the Persians and the Babylonians used Mastiffs, wearing spiked collars, to attack their enemies. The Romans were the first to train war dog-units. The dogs wore spiked collars and armour, and unleashed in the forward line of the battle they attacked the enemies legs, causing them to lower their shields and be more vulnerable to attack. Attila, king of the Huns from 433 AD until his death in 453 AD, used giant Molossian dogs, precursors of the Mastiff, and Talbots, ancestors of the Bloodhound, in his campaigns.

Assyrian

Saluki

Ancient Egyptian wall writings, thought by some to date back to 4.000 BC, depict savage dogs, straining on leashes held in the hands of Egyptian warriors, and leaping on their enemy. Ancient Egyptians raised Saluki hunting dogs. Saluki means noble one.In Iraque show the old Assyrian temple walls bas reliefs of huge Mastiff battle dogs, wearing spiked iron collars, to create fear among enemies. The regions of Rome used both giant Mastiffs and Molossian hounds while civilizing the western world, according to their scribes.  Attila the Hun used a drove of large dogs to stand as entries around his camps, so as not to be surprised by his enemies. 

A little story about the dog Delta in Pompei: It was found stretched out beside a child. Delta wore a silver collar which told that he belonged to Servenius? whose life he had saved from a wolf.

Mastiff

Pliny the Elder wrote of squadrons of fierce dogs, that fought in the ranks beside the Colophonians of Asia Minor against the Ionian enemies. After the battle was over, they were harnessed to carts hauling treasure back home. In Roman times and in the Middle Ages ran mastiffs into battle against mounted knights wearing light armour and  carrying spikes and pots of flaming sulphur and resin.

William the conqueror

Bloodhound

Bloodhounds were first imported to England just about the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, and quite possibly by William the Conqueror, who was also regarded as a great hunts man. William the Conqueror used such hounds back home in France to support his troops as well as to run down opponents of the family regime. When William took forces to England in 1066, his St. Hubert hounds guarded and defended his army camps and followed remaining dissenters to the end of any trail. 

Moss troopers

Edward I Longshanks used bloodhounds on his borders of Scotland to track down the notorious "moss troopers" ; their raids across the borders became so outrageous that the government ordered a train of warning beacons to be established and tracking dogs kept  in the various districts to assist the crown forces.
On occassions Longshank's bloodhounds quarry was of noble birth. Robert the Bruce escaped them only by wading down stream to lose his scent - and much later in history they ran down the luckless duke Monmouth after the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685.

The bloodhound who takes his name from blooded hound or purebred, traces back to the St. Hubert hounds of the seventh century AD, when everybody who was anybody kept their own pack of dogs.In Europe the Middle Ages saw the purebred dog become the prized possession of kings, noblemen and surprisingly church officials, as a new age developed for the dog, when hunting for sport became popular. Dogs were crucial participants in the hunt, and specialized breeds were developed to fulfill  various roles. Nobles kept large packs of hunting dogs, including those that used sight or scent to hunt, and Mastiffs, large dogs, used against boar and stag. Emperor Maximilian had 1500 dogs.

In 1518 good king Henry VIII of England presented 400 battle mastiffs with iron collars to Charles V of Spain, then at war with France. The Spanish mastiffs were set on the French dogs in the siege of Valencia, and drove them from the field with their tails between their legs. The English dogs perform such splendid service in the Renaissance that they were recommended by king Charles and held up as an example for his troups.  

In 1599 queen Elisabeth dispatched her court's favourite, the Earl of Essex as "Lord deputy of Ireland" with an army of 22.000 men, including a large force of bloodhounds, to put down the chieftain rebellion. Dogs had long been used against individual Irish, Scot and Welsh dissenters, but the Essex force of 800 hounds and their handlers may have been the first use of official war dogs in England.

During the Middle Ages were war dogs outfitted with armor and frequently used to defend caravans.
The Great Dane and the mastiff  accompanied their masters into battle fitted with spiked collars and occassionally their own suit of armor. A number of breeds were developed for a sport of another kind, bull and bear rating as well as rat catching and pit-bull fighting. To protect dogs against the hazards of antlers and tusks would the owners protect their dogs with padded quilt wests and on rare occassions plate and mail armor.

The English Mastiff and Greyhound became standardized recognizable breeds this time, as did a few of the herding breeds. The lap dog finally became popular in Europe, as the ladies of the court took to them as "comforters".  Even the dog collars became a measure of the dog's importance, some examples being made of gold, silver, white leather and velvet. Church documents show that it was common of the parishioners to bring their dogs to services with them as footwarmers. They became objects of a number of laws. The ownership of a Scottish deerhound or Greyhound was kept off limits from all but nobility.Gifts of war dog breeding stock between European royalty were seen as suitable tokens for exchange throughout the Middle Ages.



In the early part of the 14th century the French navy started to use attack dogs in France to guard naval dock installations. These were used up till 1770, when they were abolished after a young naval officer was unfortunately killed by one of the dogs.Battle between war dogs of opposing armies took place on several occassions, once during the Swiss-Burgundian war of 1476, and another during the battle of Merta - the Swiss dogs destroyed the canines of Burgundy.The Spanish conquistadors used armoured dogs that had been trained to kill and disembowel when they invaded the land controlled by South American natives.
The first official use of dogs for military purposes in the United States was during the Seminole Wars.  The American Pit Bull Terrier was used in the American Civil War to protect, send messages, and as mascots in American World War I propaganda and recruiting posters.

The dog is still used as the soldier's helper and rescue dog. The latest example from 2011 is unique: United States Navy Seals used a Belgian Malinois war dog named Cairo in Operation Neptune Spear, in which Osama bin Laden was killed.







Sources: K-9 Military History, War Dogs; Documentary History about Dogs; Wikipedia, War Dogs.








Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog, sigh! There's so little hope for advancement.

Snoopy.

A Day's Trip in Mid Jutland on Some Old Favourite Places!

The sight of a buzzard tells us that it's a day for the hovering birds of prey - a fine day.

On our way to a heath in Mid Jutland we came  through a part of the town Viborg I hadn't seen before - a large area, Egedal, with lots of one-storey wooden houses, all in the same dark-red colour, like the popular Swedish wooden houses. Viborg was once a "military town"  - it must be the old barracks, which have been rebuilt into lovely houses. They all looked quite new.

Scarce copper

Tansy ragwort

 We first came to a flowering field with tansy ragwort, bluebells, daisies, yarrow and many other flowers. We were looking for the Dark Green Fritillary, which was seen on this location, and we found two mating Dark Greens and a single one, which might be a Dark Green Fritillary, but it is difficult to recognize from two other Fritillaries if it doesn't show the underside! There were numbers of the fine little Scarce Copper with the golden red colours. The scent of herbs was strong in the warm air.

Dark Green Fritillary mating

maybe Dark Green Fritillary

On the other side of the road was a corn field with cornflowers (or Blue Bonnets, it has got many names). The most wonderful and amazing blue colour this lovely flower. It was my mother's favourite flower, and  she knew nothing better than having a bouquet of cornflowers when I had been out. The blue cornflower is the epitome of a Danish summer, and the honey bees are humming around the flowers. This cornfield must be cultivated by an ecological farmer. I like him. There are gradually more and more ecological farmers, who don't spray the fields. This is good. Maybe it was his fallow field we have just visited.

The next stop was Dollerupbakker , the heather hills with a view to the deep lake, Hald. A bench on top of the hill, called Niels Bugge's Bænk is always our resting place for la little lunch and coffee. He was a nobleman from the Middle Ages who once built a castle by Hald lake. He opposed the king and was the leader of the Jutland nobility. Opposite the castle site is a good restaurant, Niels Bugge's Kro. He has never seem this bench, but his name is always connected to the place.  The earth around the bench is bare. Last year was the heather attacked by some disease which made the leaves red. But it will soon come again. And the cow berries too.




During the latest years have Skov og Naturstyrelsen and  Viborg Kommune made a large renovation and re-establishment of the original nature, and now it is almost like the cultural landscape from the Middle Ages. Several trees, which did not belong to the moor, were removed. Large parts were cleansed for selfgrown trees, and this has created the light-open conditions which is necessary to re-create the heaths and pastures. In other places of the hills are goats and sheep grazing, keeping down the budding trees.



The hills lie now, round and pretty, with few remaining trees. We can see a flock of goats on top of the hills. They are excellent climbers. There is no eagle here to push them down,  I've heard that in Spain and other places with mountains and steep paths, the eagle pushes the goat or the sheep down from the path. That's an easy way to get a meal. I don't think the local buzzard is big enough to push a goat down from the top.



                                                                             Vrads Sande is a heath area marked by inland-dunes created by the sand drift in the 1500s -1800s. A large area is now listed, a hiking path goes through it. We met the owner of  some Highlanders. And Highlanders have my full attention. Always. I cannot resist those sweet creatures with their forehead-curls. He told us that he has 50 Highlanders, spread around in the heath. He comes with some food to them on a regular basis. "It is necessary that I'm able to call them up to me", he said. Or else the cattle take care of the themselves all year.  In winter he gathers them all in fields near his farm.





In the nearest town, Vrads is a special grocery store with a small café, a library, a local newspaper and a gallery.  It's a popular place with special  groceries. There have been a voting, and people want to keep this shop.

Maiden pink

Another fallow field on our way with daisies, eternelles,  lupine, yarrow, Maiden pink and much more. the sun was warming and it was a place I felt I couldn't leave. If I had a house close to a field with lots of flowers. That would be lovely. But I haven't downside my flat are green lawns and cherry trees and beech hedges. Very nice and neat. It would not be practical for the gardener to "nurse" a fallow field there!






Those daisies white and golden as long as I could see.

Common daisy

  In between some maiden pink. and there were some pink yarrows too. They easily get that pink shade from a special soil.  Again numbers of scarce sopper butterfly, red golden in the sunlight. and the little common blue butterfly with its delicate light blue shade fluttering restlessly   around from flower to flower.  

Scarce copper

yarrow in pink

Eternelle

Lupine

Red-backed Shrike

Whinchat

But we had to go home, and the last place was another favorite I have shown more than once in some posts here on the blog. At Brudesø. (Bride's Lake). Here is almost always a red-backed shrike, but if I ever get an acceptable photo of any bird, then it is an accident. I simply haven't got the patience to stand still behind a bush for a long time. There was also a little whinchat, and the photo is terribly bad - and I only know it is a whinchat because my son says so! No, I prefer flowers. They stand still! I'll never go out in a hurricane!

Forester

Dead viper

There was a green Forester on a pink flower. It looks like a fine little jewelry, from Cartier perhaps? And then in the middle of the path was a dead viper, a proof that there are vipers in the heather, where we had just walked for an hour or so. There are always vipers in the heather, and we never see them. They must be masters in getting away when they hear us. I don't think about them while I'm there, but the look of this dead one was a reminder.

Common Blue

Well, the end of a day's trip. A lovely day with the warm sun shining down on me!
And then home for a good meal and a crime story on TV!
 



photo 4. August 2011:grethe bachmann

click to enlarge photos.

The Giant Fly Harald/Kæmpefluen Harald

Tachnidae grossa

There are many kinds of flies -  and then there is the giant fly Harald. He is at least as big as a bumblebee, but he doesn't hurt a soul and is only found out in the pasture, where he is busy eating pollen from the flowers.

Harald is really a giant among flies, he's about 1 1/2 cm long and almost as broad. The fly looks black, but if you look closer, you'll se that the head is warm yellowish and the wings have brown edges. And flies and mosquitoes have two wings - while wasps and  bees have four wings.

The giant fly Harald lives from nectare and pollen, but its larvae lives as a parasite in caterpillars, so Harald is a parasite fly from the family Tachnidae, and his full Latin name is Tachnidae grossa.  Usually the entomologists choose very serious names, they are serious people - but among the serious names in the Bible about Western Europe's insects emerges suddenly the name Harald. This  was a source of wonder to many Danish naturists. What is it about this fly named Harald?


The answer has something to do with Mols. The naming is ascribed to the ecologist and nature historian Ellinor Bro Larsen, who often paid a visit to the Mols Laboratory in the 1950s. She found that the fly reminded much about the then head of  Naturhistorisk Museum in Århus (and thereby the Mols Laboratory) Harald Thamdrup. He was large and impossible to overlook. He was here and there and everywhere , since he was also the leader of the Vildtbiologisk Station at Kalø and professor at Aarhus Universitet. The name hit on the spot, and more and more biologists at the universities used it, so the name has since passed down to younger generations of biologists.


















Usually appears Harald spread and in small numbers - and in some of our neighbouring countries is it even red-listed as "extremely rare". But in some years is Harald a common sight in many places on the southern Djursland, like in big numbers at the Mols Laboratory, in Feldballe and Elsegårde. It is best to find it on pastures and fallow fields with lots of flowers like pimpinelle, yarrow and field scabious. - It is not easy to overlook.


Source: Århus Universitet, Mols Laboratory.

photo Mid Jutland, field near Rye: grethe bachmann

Dogue de Bordeaux / French Mastiff

I saw a huge dog the other day. I remember this race from the Tom Hanks movie "Turner and Hooch", but I had never seen it in real life. We had found a resting place for our coffee break by a river at Kolindsund. The dog was fetching sticks in the water, and it was a fine sight to see the muscles work in the shoulders of this big dog. When it came up with the stick it was so extremely proud! And its owner was also very proud! Unfortunately we had to leave because of my allergy. I must not touch dogs at all. Dogs want to talk to you, and they are so disappointed, if I walk away from them; they simply don't understand that I won't talk to them, so it's better to disappear at once. I take photos at a distance and then leave. But it was a wonderful dog with a friendly face.

What a face!

I found the name on Mr. Google, when I came home. And it was a mighty fine name! Dogue de Bordeaux, also named French Mastiff (or Bordeaux Bulldog); it's a big and heavy dog, who reminds about the bullmastiff, but it is centuries older. The Dogue de Bordeaux origins from the Roman molosses and was used as a watchdog against ravening dogs and wild animals,  but it had also other features, like shepherd dog, war dog, big game hunter and drover. The breed has been utilized in many different forms, from using their brawn to pull carts or haul heavy objects and used to protect castles of the European elite.

The race is still used as a watchdog in France and is considered their national watchdog.

Its past as a fearsome fighting dog has been replaced with a gentle and friendly family dog. It is intelligent and does not tolerate to be treated badly. It can also be stubborn, arrogant, and dominant. Early socialization for this breed is an absolute must. It is very attached to its family and loves children. It is a good watchdog, but it can be somewhat aggressive towards other dogs.

The massive head is a crucial breed characteristic. The Dogue de Bordeaux is claimed to have the largest head in the canine world, in proportion to the rest of the body.

The history of this dog is interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogue_de_Bordeaux


photo Kolindsund: 6. August 2011: grethe bachmann

Nørre Vorupør, Fishing and Surfing Village in Thy, Northwest Coast of Jutland.

 

Nørre Vorupør( daily called  Vorupør) is a coastal town and a fishing village in the western part of Thy, close to the North Sea and 22 km northwest of the town Thisted. The place is known for its fishing , here is (like at Thorup strand) still some commercial fishing with boats on the open beach, being pulled ashore with a winch. Vorupør is a part of Nationalpark Thy.  In Nørre Vorupør is a Fiskeri- og Redningsmuseet, Nordsø Akvariet and Vorupør Museum.

shop by aquarie

The nearest villages are Stenbjerg 4 km to the south, Hundborg 8 km to the east and Klitmøller 15 km to the north. Like Klitmøller is Vorupør a place for the surfers. It is one of five best windsurfing posts in Europe. Vorupør is today one of few places in Denmark from where is still coastal fishing. The boats are pulled ashore with a hydraulic winch. On the beach lies a restored ship Thabor, where you can go onboard and feel the daily life of a fisherman.
Violent sand drifts ravaged the district in the Middle Ages and large dunes drifted over the land. The sand drifts destroyed the fertile fields and forced the inhabitants to move to other places and find livelihood elsewhere. That's why the fishing villages along the coast were established.

shop by aquarie

The place by Vorupør is mentioned the first time in 1689 in a lawsuit. Vorupør is also called Klitten at that time (= the Dune). In 1664 and 1668 were mentioned 7-8 houses in the dune, probably only small huts. In april 1680 came the Sandflugtskommissionen (sand drain commission) to Hundborg parish and reported about the conditons in a very disheartening way that some farms were ravaged by sand drift. "The sand flies across the fields, and the meadows are destroyed by sea water and sand". In 1793 was established the first experiments with planting to restrict the sand drift, and in 1820 was Tvorup Klitplantage laid out.

fisherman's old house

Nørre Vorupør started as a town to which people moved from Stenbjerg and Sønder Vorupør. During the 1800s was Vorupør not in good conditions. People said: "Rich Jannerup, Proud Hundborg and Poor Vorupør". The informations about the fisher population describe in a simple way how poor they were. There was no opportunity to do farming, so the fishing was the only  way to earn a living. At that time the fishermen did the fishing from barges, open three-men-boats - this was riscy and dangerous and without any big earnings. The catch of fish was sold on the beach, or the fisherman went with a basket to buyers at farms inside the country. The sight of the poor fishermen often led to derision and mockery from the prosperous farmers. In 1851 had Vorupør its first rescue station.

You don't have to buy fish! I don't like fish!

In the second half of the 1800s began a more organized fishing trade from Nørre Vorupør, and when the Thy-railway was inaugurated in 1882,  they began to export fish to Germany. Still in 1882 are the fisher population in Nørre Vorupør mentioned as poor people, living in old houses with no curtains in the small and few windows. In the 1870s came the inner Mission-revival to Vorupør. The combination of the dangerous life on the sea and the snaps had opened up a new way of life. There were some tragic drowning accidents which caused prosperity for the inner Mission. A mission house was built and the revivalism got a good hold in the fisher population. In 1982 were experiments made with new and larger boats, but in 1893 drowned 49 fishermen on the west coast of Jutland. The catastrophe meant a new prosperity for  inner Mission and a large polarization between "the saints and the unbelievers". Later was built new and safer boats.

rescue station

Today is the coastal fishing in Vorupør still visible although it in a degree happens like in a living museum. The reason is that the young fishermen have not continued the fishing tradition. It is not possible to do full-time fishing anymore.

photo Nørre Vorupør June 2011: grethe bachmann

Early Marsh Orchid/Kødfarvet Gøgeurt

Dactylorhiza incarnata




Early Marsh Orchid is an orchid with pink flowers, but  they can also be dark red or white.. It is about 25-50 cm tall and is blooming in June and well into July. Ita leaves at the base are almost always without spots. It varies much in looks, dependent on where it grows or its genetic inheritance. It also hybridizes with other related species or orchids. It is common in parts of Jutland and upon the Isles , but rare in the rest of Denmark. It grows in moors, in meadows, in dune hollows and on dry sections of beach meadows.

Variety: Pale Early Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata var. ochroleuca) has light yellow flowers. It is found in East Jutland and at Sjælland, but is very rare. It grows especially in fens with calcareous soil..

photo: grethe bachmann

Protection:

Early Marsh Orchid is listed. It must not be plucked, digged up or destroyed.

Most of its habitats are protected after § 3 i naturbeskyttelsesloven.
The species is also covered by CITES/Washington-konventionens liste II /bilag B.

 

Threats: 

• 
  Early Marsh Orchid is threatened by draining and cultivation.
  
  Nordens orkideer. Sven Nilsson og Bo Mossberg. Gyldendals grønne håndbøger. 1977.
• Blomsternes Danmark. Jens Gregersen og Bernt Løjtnant. Side 110-113. Gyldendal 1999.
• Gyldendals farveflora: Kirsten Tind. Gyldendal 2001