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Dog Statues
They are frozen in time and sometimes deceptively real. Perpetuated in stone or bronze, looking over
water, streets, parks or squares, dog statues can be found all over the world.
A
Great
Dane
(1937-1944)
became
an
Official
Sailor
of
the
Royal
Navy
in
Simon
Town,
South
Africa.
A
bronze
statue
of
Jean
Doyle
reminds us at a remarkable dog.
“The greatest Greyhound of all time”. A life-sized bronze was placed
on the Village Green in Killeigh, Ireland. The story of Micks life, an
outstanding racing talent.
If
you
are
interested
in
publishing
one
or
more
of
these
articles,
illustrations
and
photographs
included
please
contact
me.
E-mail: horter@tiscali.nl
All
articles
are
available
in
English
and/or in Dutch.
1.
Dog catching Frisbee
2.
Dogstatues in Spain - Canary Islands
3.
Fala the Scotties Terrier of President Roosevelt
4.
French Pointing Dogs
5.
Halali
6.
Just Nuisance
7.
King William of Wurttemberg and German Spitz
8.
Mick the Miller
9.
Patsy Ann
10.
Pug memorial in Winnenden
11.
Ruswalp, Border Collie
12.
Ulmer Dog
Many castings were made of this hunting statue and the monument
became known under various names. The French names came first:
Le Chausseur et les Chiens (Hunter and Dogs) or Valet au Chiens
(The Dogs’ Attendant). In Australia, the name is Huntsman and Dogs;
in the U.S., Hunter and Hounds; in Austria, Der Lauscher (The Eaves-
dropper); and in The Netherlands, Halali.
On the southbound plat- form of Garsdale’s train sta- tion is a life-size bronze
statue of a Border Collie named Ruswarp. The statue is placed so that Ruswarp
appears to be looking in the direction of the hills where he had walked so often
with his master.
Winnenden is a city of about 30,000 people, situated in the federal state
of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. A memorial in front of the
Winnental Palace is probably unique: the stone sculpture commemorates
the Pug owned by Karl Alexander (1684-1737), Duke of Württemberg-
Winnental from 1698 to 1737. The Mopsendenkmal (Pug memorial) shows
Fortunatis, born in 1713, whose name means “fortunate one.” The epitaph
on the monument tells the story of Fortunatis’s unbelievable adventure.
The story behind the memorial
Born in the city of Stuttgart, Karl Alexander spent his childhood with his
siblings in Castle Winnental in Winnenden. A born soldier; he fought in the
War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) and served as field marshall in the
service of the Austrian Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg (1685-1740). Karl and
Charles had the same goal: to chase the Turks out of Europe.
Karl took part in campaigns in different parts of Europe; for example, his army
liberated large parts of the Balkans from the Turkish supremacy. In 1717 when
he left his castle in Winnenden for the final battle against the Turks in Belgrade,
he decided to bring his favorite dog Fortunatis – the “court Pug” – with him.
On August 17, 1717, the Duke and Fortunatis were present at the conquest of
the city but, in the heat of battle the duke and his dog were separated. While Karl
Alexander celebrated the victory in the company of fellow generals, Fortunatis
wandered around searching for his master. Karl Alexander assumed that
Fortunatis had died. After all, a battlefield is not a safe place for a small dog.
But the Pug survived; in a journey of 11 days, Fortunatis allegedly walked back
to Winnenden, a distance of about 745 miles (1,200 kilometres).
‘The official greeter’ of Juneau, Alaska.
The statue of a stone-deaf Bull Terrier is one of the mostphotographed
dog statues in the world. The terrier, Patsy Ann, is immortalized on the
quay of Juneau, Alaska, on the spot where she greeted thousands of
cruise ship passengers during the 1930s and early ‘40s.
Patsy Ann was born in Portland, Oregon on October 12, 1929. She
arrived in Juneau, the capital of Alaska, as a pup with her owner Dr.
Kaser (or Kayser). Although Patsy Ann was well cared for, first by her
owner and later by the Rice family, she was not content to be a house pet.
She scavenged all over the streets and was particularly attracted to the harbors,
where the cruise ships moored and tourists disembarked.
A bronze statue of a Great Dane stands in the southwest corner of the
Jubel Parc (Parc du Cinquantenaire) in Brussels. Ulmer Dog seems to be
the popular name, but Le Chien (The Dog) and Le Chien Vert (The Green
Dog) are used as well. The Dog is a bronze statue commissioned by the
city of Brussels and created in 1869 from a plaster model by Jean-Baptiste
Van Heffen (1840-ca.1890). Englishe Dogge and Dänische Dogge “Big,
heavy dogs” used mainly for hunting big game could be found all over
medieval Europe. The par force hunt was a popular pastime at the European
royal courts, with sometimes 80 to 100 armored dogs participating. In the
1600s, heavy dogs, rather high on leg, were exported from England to central
Europe; in Germany, these imports were known as Englishe Doggen (English
mastiffs). A German type developed in the 17th century, and by the beginning
of the 18th century, their descendants had become regional types – for example,
the Ulmer Dogge, a large, heavy dog with a black or black-and-white coat for the
most part, named after the town of Ulm in southern Germany. Another type,
called the Dänische Dogge (Danish mastiff), had a fawn, Isabella or brindle coat,
and was smaller and lighter than the Ulmer Dogge. In the 19th century, the term
Englishe Dogge was still in use, but changed gradually to Deutsche Dogge (German
mastiff), then to Great Dane. One of the first dog shows in Germany took place in
Hamburg, in 1863. Eight Dänische Doggen and seven Ulmer Doggen were entered.
In 1869, 15 Danish and 12 Ulmer Doggen were entered at a show in Altona, one of
the most important harbours in Denmark until 1865, now a suburb of Hamburg.
Excellent Trackers
Toward the end of the 19th century, the other pair of dogs
immortalized at Chantilly were known as Batârds Normands-
Poitevins. “Normand” refers to the now-extinct Chien
Normand. Also in 1957, its name was changed to Chien
Français Tricolore. They represent the other movement in the
French vénerie: slow, quiet and cautious dogs, excellent trackers
with a low voice.
Both types of hounds were represented in the packs of the
different kings Louis, and later of Napoleon Bonaparte. The
hunts became known as the vèneries impériales. Together with
the castle of Fontainebleau, Chantilly was the epicenter of the
French royal hunts. During the reigns of Louis XIII, Louis XIV
and Louis XV, royal hunts became expeditions of unequaled
grandeur.
Louis XIII was a talented hound breeder, especially when it
came to crossbreeding. At the age of 72, Louis XIV still hunted
on horseback, while Louis XV left his palace three times a
week to hunt deer with a pack of hounds. The Chateau de
Chantilly could, like the palaces of the kings and the castles of
the aristocracy, accommodate hundreds of horses and dozens
of packs.
The bronze Batârd Normand-Poitevin couple have an
identifying mark on the right flank – an inverted triangle, the
mark of the royal packs. In France, such identifying marks are
still in use. Once or twice a year, the mark is clipped into the
dog’s coat.
It’s quite extraordinary that we know the names of the dogs
and breeds: Fanfaraut and Brillador are Batârds Normands-
Poitevins; Lunineau and Seduisant are Batârds du Haut-Poitou.
Without any doubt they were important dogs. In the Condé
Museum there is a painting of Fanfaraut by French dog painter
François Desportes (1661-1743). Desportes