CHAPTER VI

THE GREAT DANE


The origin of the Great Dane, like that of many other varieties
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 Hatzrude, 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 reunited Germany, the German cynologists
were on the lookout 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 spasmodically some
thirty-five years ago, when he was commonly referred to as the