Warhounds

[longbow]

hi chaps,does anyone have any info on celtic war dogs,what breed were they,are they any similar breeds alive today? thanks for help.

[Viggen]

Not sure how authorative this site is, however some nice info on dogs and celts!

 

http://www.clannada.org/animals_dogs.php

 

regards

viggen

[longbow]

WOW,thanks Viggen i made that post nearly a year ago

Thanks m8,Longbow

[Favonius Cornelius]

I love dogs, have a Doberman myself.

 

So lets talk about dogs. What other nations valued particular dogs, and which did the Romans prefer?

[Lost_Warrior]

The Scots have wolfhounds, don't know if they fight with them or not though. Native Americans also favor wolves it seems (if the number of 80-90% wolves people have as pets is any indication). I don't know for sure what Romans may have had, but whatever it was I'm sure they went for the most vicious thing they could find and train (I wouldn't be surprised if they, too, had wolves or some sort of wolf mix).

[longbow]

The Romans took Mastiffs from Britain back to Rome with them,i think they used them in the arena's.

[monkey]

The brits used a longer legged version of the Bulldog (of celt origin) for attacking legs, and large mastiff type breeds for major mauling and guard/hunt duties.

 

The Romans were pretty fascinated by these I believe and developed them into the Canis Pugnax, the closest version of which we have today being the Cane Corso (or Sicilian mastiff) and the Neopolitan Mastiff. When they were retuned to Rome they were set upon the fiercer animals in sport combat, and the same in the UK.

 

If I'm not entirely mistaken Canis pugnax and their owner/trainers were issued with the original 'dog tags' which could help pair them up/identify them after battle. I think most Mollossers were issued with large protruding spiked collars to assist with goring cavalry.

 

I own a Cane corso and would recomend checking out cane xi cane corso for a nice comparison shot of an engraving of a Roman and his Canis Pugnax and a very large corso called Franco.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[longbow]

Thanks for the info monkey,I have a Boxer Dog and a Border collie,the Collie is really smart and nasty and the Boxer is daft as a brush and really friendly

 

I found this site whilst looking for info on English Bulldogs,A guy back in the 70's started a breeding programme to try and bring back the lost Breed

Canis pugnax and their owner/trainers were issued with the original 'dog tags' which could help pair them up/identify them after battle.

I wondered why they were called Dog Tags

 

I think most Mollossers were issued with large protruding spiked collars to assist with goring cavalry.

I allways thought the spiked collar was for defence,say when guarding cattle, if a dog is fighting a wolf the spiked collar protects his throat,i may be wrong though i just assumed as much.

 

The Cane corso is probably my favourite looking Mastiff,nice and strong but not too big and slobbery.

[Tobias]

I have a kelpie, a staghound/greyhound cross and what's known in Australia as a "Bitza" i.e. Bits of this and bits of that

We use them all for stockwork. Just a thought; Did the Romans use dogs for stockwork?

[Princeps]

This is my (parents) Celtic warhound, called Sally.

 

[Lacertus]

Charming!

 

Is it really celtic? or it is a nice name of breed?

[Princeps]

It's a West Highland Terrier. I think they were bred in Scotland, so she is genuine Celtic

[Moonlapse]

hi chaps,does anyone have any info on celtic war dogs,what breed were they,are they any similar breeds alive today? thanks for help.

 

I don't have any real knowledge on the subject but then you say celtic war dog, I think about Irish Wolfhounds...

 

 

[Lacertus]

Irish Wolfhounds

 

"By the year 391 A.D., the breed was known in Rome, when the first authentic mention of it was written by the Roman Consul Quintus Aurelius, who had received seven of them as a gift which "all Rome viewed with wonder."

[monkey]

Hello again,

 

Thankyou very much for the nice comments about the Cane Corso. Herding/herd guards are generally more 'wooly' for some reason and the closest one I can think of is what is now called the Spanish mastiff (not a mastiff at all but there you go) these have the power and speed of the masiff but are generally considered more hardy. Corso's, whilst still used for herding in some parts of Sicily, were more for coursing medium sized game.

 

There is a guy in the states who sells reprodution Canis Pugnax tags, they are very beautiful and hint at more of a partnership of equals than an animal that was regarded simply as a service dog.

 

Just a bit of trivia, the Cane Corso and Neopolitan mastiff are renowned for their extraordinarily high pain thresholds. Could this be a genetic throw back to the Canis pugnax where only the toughest would survive?

 

The point made about the British Bulldog is correct, they have now been very successfully revived and are much healthier for it! You can find them online if you search under 'victorian bulldog'. The american bulldog is another fine example of the longer legged/less ridiculous headed version of the animal.