Leading the pack: how dogs took over the world (or, at least, the internet)

Our four-legged friends have been stealing the spotlight for thousands of years. From the second-century BC Cave Canem mosaic found at Pompeii, to Boo the pomeranian pup with nearly 17 million Facebook followers, history is littered with tales of dogs having their day.

Cave paintings from 12,000BC show humans alongside domesticated dogs – think of it as the Neolithic version of Dogs of Instagram. And although ancient Egyptians were known for having a serious cat thing, records show that one pharaoh’s hunting dog, Abuwtiyuw, received a grand state burial involving fine linens and incense. But that’s nothing compared with the pampered pooches of historic Chinese emperors; they were said to have had human wet nurses and their own servants.

According to legend, a dog called Saurr even sat (and rolled over, presumably) as the king of Trondheim, Norway, in the 11th century. He wore gold collars, was carried by courtiers and “ruled” the land for three years until his assassination by wolves. Elsewhere in Europe, dogs didn’t really hit the big time until the 13th to 15th centuries, when pet-keeping was popular among the aristocracy and senior clergy. Noble ladies doted on lap dogs, while the lords preferred animals they deemed useful, such as hunting hounds. Think of Portrait of a Noblewoman, painted by Lavinia Fontana in around 1580, which depicts a young Bolognese noblewoman dripping with jewels, accessorised with a tiny pup, or the disappointed-looking pack of hunting dogs that steal the show in Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Hunters in the Snow (1565).

Source: theguardian