Dogs have lived with humans for tens of thousands of years. Such remoteness in time does not allow scientists to firmly assert whether a man has tamed a wolf (since 1993, a dog is officially considered a subspecies of a wolf), or a wolf, for some reason, gradually began to live with a man. But the traces of such living are at least 100,000 years old.
Due to the genetic diversity of dogs, their new breeds are fairly easy to breed. Sometimes they appear due to human whims, often breeding a new breed is dictated by necessity. Hundreds of breeds of a wide variety of service dogs facilitate many human activities. Others brighten up people's leisure, becoming their most devoted friends.
The attitude to the dog as to man's best friend has developed relatively recently. In 1869, American lawyer Graham West, who defended the interests of the owner of a dog shot by mistake, made an outstanding speech, which included the phrase "A dog is man's best friend." However, hundreds of years before the uttering of this phrase, the dogs faithfully, selflessly and with desperate fearlessness served people.
1. The stuffed animal of the most famous St. Bernard Barry, placed in memory of an outstanding dog in the Natural History Museum in Bern, Switzerland, bears little resemblance to modern St. Bernards. In the 19th century, when Barry lived, the monks of St. Bernard Monastery were just beginning to breed this breed. Nevertheless, Barry's life looks like ideal for a dog even after two centuries. Barry was trained to find people who got lost or covered in snow. During his life, he saved 40 people. There is a legend that the dog was killed by another rescued, frightened by a huge beast. In fact, Barry, after finishing his lifeguard career, lived for two more years in peace and quiet. And the nursery in the monastery is still working. There is invariably a St. Bernard named Barry.
Scarecrow Barry in the museum. Attached to the collar is a pouch containing the essentials for first aid
2. In 1957, the Soviet Union made a major breakthrough into space. Surprising (and frightening) the world with the flight of the first artificial Earth satellite on October 4, Soviet scientists and engineers sent a second satellite into space less than a month later. On November 3, 1957, a satellite was launched into near-earth orbit, which was “piloted” by a dog named Laika. Actually, the dog taken from the shelter was called Kudryavka, but her name had to be easily pronounced in the main earthly languages, so the dog received the sonorous name Laika. The requirements for the selection of astronaut dogs (there were 10 of them in total) were quite serious. The dog had to be a mongrel - purebred dogs are weaker physically. She also had to be white and free from external defects. Both claims were motivated by considerations of photogenicity. Laika made her flight in a pressurized compartment, in a container that resembles modern carriers. There was an auto-feeder and a fastening system - the dog could lie down and move a little back and forth. Going out into space, Laika felt good, however, due to design errors in the cabin cooling system, the temperature rose to 40 ° C, and Laika died on the fifth orbit around the Earth. Her flight, and especially her death, caused a storm of protests from animal advocates. Nevertheless, sane people understood that Laika's flight was needed for experimental purposes. The feat of the dog has been adequately reflected in world culture. Monuments have been erected to her in Moscow and on the island of Crete.
Laika helped people at the cost of their lives
3. In 1991 the Dangerous Dogs Act was passed in the UK. He was accepted at the urging of the public after several attacks by fighting dogs on children occurred. British lawmakers did not specifically spell out penalties for violations of the Act. Any of the four dog breeds - Pit Bull Terrier, Tosa Inu, Dogo Argentino and Fila Brasileiro - caught on the street without a leash or muzzle, was subject to the death penalty. Either the dog owners became more cautious, or in fact, several attacks in a row were a coincidence, but the Act was not applied for more than a year. It was only in April 1992 that London finally found a reason for its implementation. A friend of a London resident Diana Fanneran, who was walking her American pit bull terrier named Dempsey, during the walk realized that the dog was choking and took off the muzzle. Policemen who were nearby recorded the offense, and, after a couple of months, Dempsey was sentenced to death. She was saved from execution only by a large-scale campaign of animal rights activists, in which even Brigitte Bardot took part. The case was dropped in 2002 for purely legal reasons - the lawyers for Dempsey's mistress proved that she was incorrectly notified of the date of the first court hearing.
4. During the events of September 11, 2001, Dorado's guide dog saved the life of his ward Omar Rivera and his boss. Rivera worked as a programmer at the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The dog, as always, lay under his table. When a plane crashed into a skyscraper and panic began, Rivera decided that he would not be able to escape, but Dorado might well run away. He unhooked the leash from the collar and gave the dog a command to let him go for a walk. However, Dorado did not run anywhere. Moreover, he began to push the owner towards the emergency exit. Rivera's boss connected the leash to the collar and took it in her hands, Rivera put his hand on her shoulder. In this order, they walked 70 floors to the rescue.
Labrador Retriever - guide
5. Many dogs have gone down in history, even having never existed in reality. For example, thanks to the literary talent of the Icelandic writer and chronicler Snorri Sturluson, it is almost generally accepted that a dog ruled Norway for three years. Say, the Viking ruler Eystein Beli put his dog on the throne in revenge for the fact that the Norwegians killed his son. The reign of the crowned dog continued until he got involved in a fight with a pack of wolves that slaughtered the royal cattle right in the stable. Here the beautiful fairy tale about the ruler of Norway, which did not exist until the 19th century, came to an end. The equally mythical Newfoundland saved Napoleon Bonaparte from drowning during his triumphant return to France known as 100 Days. The sailors loyal to the emperor, who transported him in a boat to a warship, allegedly got so carried away by rowing that they did not notice how Napoleon fell into the water. Fortunately, the Newfoundland sailed past, which saved the emperor. And if not for the dog of Cardinal Wolsey, who allegedly bit Pope Clement VII, the English king Henry VIII would have divorced Catherine of Aragon without problems, married Anne Boleyn and would not have founded the Church of England. A list of such legendary dogs that made history would take too much space.
6. George Byron was very fond of animals. His main favorite was a Newfoundland named Boatswain. Dogs of this breed are generally distinguished by increased intelligence, but the Boatswain stood out from among them. He never asked for anything from the master's table himself and did not even let the butler who had lived with Byron for many years take a glass of wine from the table - the lord had to pour the butler himself. The boatswain did not know the collar and wandered around Byron's vast estate on his own. Freedom killed the dog - in a duel with one of the wild predators, he caught the rabies virus. This disease is not very curable even now, and in the 19th century it was even more a death sentence even for a person. All the days of painful agony Byron tried to ease the suffering of Boatswain. And when the dog died, the poet wrote him a heartfelt epitaph. A large obelisk was built in Byron's estate, under which the boatswain was buried. The poet bequeathed to bury himself next to his beloved dog, but the relatives decided differently - George Gordon Byron was buried in the family crypt.
Boatswain's tombstone
7. The American writer John Steinbeck has a large documentary, “Traveling with Charlie in Search of America,” published in 1961. Charlie mentioned in the title is a poodle. Steinbeck actually traveled about 20,000 kilometers across the United States and Canada, accompanied by a dog. Charlie got along very well with people. Steinbeck noted that in the outback, looking at the New York numbers, they treated him with great coolness. But it was so exactly until the moment when Charlie jumped out of the car - the writer immediately became his own person in any society. But Steinbeck had to leave the Yellowstone Reserve earlier than planned. Charlie perfectly sensed wild animals and his barking did not stop for a minute.
8. The history of the Akita Inu dog named Hachiko is probably known to the whole world. Hachiko lived with a Japanese scientist who traveled daily from the suburbs to Tokyo. For a year and a half, Hachiko (the name is derived from the Japanese number “8” - Hachiko was the professor's eighth dog) got used to seeing off the owner in the morning and meeting him in the afternoon. When the professor died unexpectedly, they tried to attach the dog to relatives, but Hachiko invariably returned to the station. Regular passengers and railway workers got used to it and fed it. Seven years after the death of the professor, in 1932, a reporter from a Tokyo newspaper learned the story of Hachiko. He wrote a touching essay that made Hachiko popular throughout Japan. A monument was erected to the devoted dog, at the opening of which he was present. Hachiko died 9 years after the death of the owner, with whom he lived for only a year and a half. Two films and several books are dedicated to him.
Monument to Hachiko
9. Skye-terrier Bobby is less famous than Hachiko, but he waited for the owner much longer - 14 years. It was this time that the faithful dog spent at the grave of its owner - the city policeman in Edinburgh, John Gray. The miniature dog left the cemetery only to wait out the bad weather and eat - the owner of the pub located not far from the cemetery fed him. During the campaign against stray dogs, the mayor of Edinburgh personally registered Bobby and paid for the production of a brass nameplate on the collar. Bobby can be seen in GTA V at the local cemetery - a small Skye Terrier approaches the grave.
10. The Whippet dog breed would be interesting only to dog breeders or deeply interested lovers, if not for the American student Alex Stein and his entrepreneurial spirit. Alex was given a Whippet puppy, but he was not at all inspired by the need to walk a beautiful long-legged dog for a long time, and striving to break off somewhere far away. Fortunately, Ashley - that was the name of Alex Stein's dog - liked the fun that was considered the sport of losers in the early 1970s - frisbee. Tossing with a plastic disc was suitable, unlike football, basketball and baseball, only for rolling up to girls, and even then not to everyone. However, Ashley showed such zeal in hunting Frisbee that Stein decided to cash in on it. In 1974, he and Ashley popped onto the field during the Los Angeles-Cincinnati baseball game. Baseball of those years was no different from modern baseball - only specialists were familiar with the game of tough men with gloves and bats. Even the commentators did not understand this particular baseball game. When Stein began to demonstrate what Ashley could do with the frisbee, they began to enthusiastically comment on the tricks on the loud broadcast. So running dogs for frisbee became an official sport. Now just for the application in the qualifying rounds of the "Ashley Whippet Championship" you need to pay at least $ 20.
11. In 2006, the American Kevin Weaver bought a dog, which several people had already abandoned due to unbearable stubbornness. A female beagle named Belle was not really meek, but she had great learning abilities. Weaver suffered from diabetes and at times fell into a hypoglycemic coma due to his low blood sugar. With this type of diabetes, the patient may be unaware of the danger that threatens him until the last moment. Weaver put Belle on special courses. For several thousand dollars, the dog was taught not only to determine the approximate level of blood sugar, but also to call doctors in case of emergency. This happened in 2007. Belle felt that her master's blood sugar was insufficient and began to worry. However, Weaver did not take special courses, and just took the dog for a walk. Returning from a walk, he collapsed to the floor right at the front door. Belle found the phone, pressed the paramedics shortcut button (it was the number "9") and barked into the phone until the ambulance arrived at the owner.
12. The 1966 FIFA World Cup was held in England. The founders of this game had never won the world football championship and were determined to do it in front of their own queen. All events directly or indirectly related to the championship were formalized accordingly. Older readers will remember that in the final match England - Germany, only the decision of the Soviet side referee Tofig Bakhramov allowed the British to win the world championship for the first and so far the last time. But the FIFA World Cup, the Goddess Nike, was entrusted to the British only for exactly one day. For which it was stolen. Straight from Westminster Abbey. One can imagine the murmur of the world community at the kidnapping of the FIFA World Cup from somewhere like the Kremlin's Palace of Facets! In England, everything went just like "Hurray!" Scotland Yard quickly found a man who allegedly stole the Cup on behalf of another person who intended to bail out exactly $ 42,000 for the statuette - the cost of the metals from which the cup is made. This was not enough - the Cup had to be found somehow. I had to find another clown (and what else to call them), and even with a dog. The clown's name was David Corbett, Pickles' dog. The doggie, who lived all his life in the British capital, was so stupid that a year later he died by strangling himself on his own collar. But he found the goblet, allegedly seeing some kind of package on the street. As the Scotland Yard detectives raced to the scene of the discovery of the cup, the local police had almost received Corbett's confession of theft. Everything ended well: the detectives received a bit of fame and promotion, Corbett survived the pet for a year, the one who stole the statuette served two years and disappeared from the radar. The customer was never found.
13. There are three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. German Shepherd Rin Tin Tin acted in films and voiced radio broadcasts in the 1920s - 1930s. His owner, Lee Duncan, who picked up the dog during World War I in France, made an excellent career as the chief dog breeder of the American army. But family life did not work out - in the midst of Rin Tin Tin's film career, Duncan's wife left him, calling Duncan's love for a dog the reason for the divorce. Around the same time as Rin Tin Tin, Stronghart became the star of the screen. Its owner Larry Trimble managed to re-educate the stern dog and made him a favorite of the public. Stronghart starred in several films, the most popular of which was The Silent Call. A collie named Lassie never existed, but it is the most popular dog in the world of cinema. Writer Eric Knight came up with it. The image of a kind, intelligent dog was so successful that Lassie became the heroine of dozens of films, TV series, radio shows and comics.
14. The annual Ayditarod dog sled race in Alaska has long become a respectable sporting event with all the attendant attributes: celebrity participation, television and press attention, etc.And it began with the feat of 150 husky sled dogs. In a little more than 5 days, dog teams brought anti-diphtheria serum to the city of Nome from the port of Ciudard. The inhabitants of Nome were saved from the diphtheria epidemic, and the main star of the crazy race (the relay cost many dogs their lives, but people were saved) was the dog Balto, to whom a monument was erected in New York.
15. On one of the shores of the island of Newfoundland, you can still see at the bottom of the remains of the steamer "Iti", which at the beginning of the twentieth century made coastal voyages off the coast of the island. In 1919, the steamer ran aground about a kilometer from land. The storm delivered powerful blows to the side of the Ichi. It was clear that the ship's hull would not last long. A ghostly chance for salvation was a kind of cable car - if a rope could be pulled between the ship and the shore, passengers and crew could get to the shore along it. However, to swim a kilometer on the December water was beyond human strength. A dog who lived on the ship came to the rescue. Newfoundland named Tang swam to the rescuers on the shore with the end of the rope in his teeth. Everyone on board the Ichi was saved. Tang became a hero and received a medal as a reward.
