Dogs and people have been together for thousands of years and of course over time a number of myths and legends have sprung up and remain with us till this day. I can think of Cerberus the dog which guards the gates of hell, the dog star Sirius and its companion star Puppis, and the dogs on inscriptions on ancient monuments throughout Egypt. In more modern times we have St Bernards with brandy casks on their collars rescuing travelers in the snow, and tales of lost dogs trekking long distances to reach home again.
The most common modern myth which every vet will be familiar with is the question of a dog’s nose being hot or cold or wet or dry. The consensus of opinion amongst dog owners is that their pet’s nose should be cold and wet, and they may well seek help if they find this not to be the case. This is not something that I ever take into account during an examination, in fact it is of no relevance at all, throughout the day the appearance of a healthy dog’s nose varies and so it could be cold or warm or wet or dry for that matter. This myth dates back to the time, not so long ago when distemper was prevalent, the old name for distemper was “ hard pad “. The unfortunate animals which contracted this disease had nasty lesions on the pads of their feet and also on their noses. People knew that if a young dog had a sore nose it might be in the throes of distemper and would shortly die, hence the origin of the interest in a pup having a healthy nose i.e. wet and cold. Another legend relating to dog’s noses is that to this day their noses are cold because one dog used his nose to plug a potentially disastrous leak in Noah’s Ark. …Perhaps!
The most famous dog legend I can think of is that of Greyfriars Bobby, a photograph of his statue is above, the old film was certainly a tear jerker! And another new film devoted to the subject was released a few years ago. The story first surfaced in the Ayrshire Express in 1865, a more coloured version of the story was published in 1912, and the details of the story no doubt changed in the telling during this time. The gist of the tale was that a little terrier dog had for fourteen years kept a vigil at its dead master’s graveside at the Greyfriars burial ground in Edinburgh. His master was called Auld Jock an elderly shepherd who came down to the market each week and ate at John Trail’s restaurant in Greyfriars place. One day he took sick and died close to the restaurant and the dog lead John Trail to discover the body. It was said that Bobby only left the grave for a short time each day to eat his dinner at John Trail’s restaurant when he heard the one o’clock gun fired from the castle, his food was paid for by public subscription. After the second publication Greyfriars Bobby mania took hold throughout Scotland and a statue of the dog was erected and it can be seen in Edinburgh to this day.
A touching story no doubt, but actually nowhere near the truth, at the turn of the last century a Mr Forbes Macgregor took the trouble to investigate the tale properly and wrote a book on the subject. There was in fact no Auld Jock, Bobby had been a mongrel dog who was owned by a John Gray who was a local policeman, he sadly died young of tuberculosis. At the time of the funeral Bobby was reluctant to leave the grave and was sometimes seen in the graveyard thereafter but this was a favourite haunt of dogs in the city at that time anyway. Bobby found a home in the area shortly afterwards with a Mr Ritchie and lived there happily till he died of old age but like other dogs in the area he may have begged for scraps at John Trail’s restaurant.
Well there is a saying that you should never let the truth get in the way of a good story!
Scott
Not found what you were looking for? Search again using the search box below.
Or have a live consult with an online vet right now!
This article was brought to you by Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS. If you have found it to be interesting or of value please share it with your social media using the buttons below.
