DOGS

[Bushwhacker]

Did the mountain man have dogs as a companions and for guard dogs? Were they present at rendezvous? I have read where Indians had dogs fut they were raised for a source of food. :: :redthumb:

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Seaman, a newfoundland with the Corps of Discovery made the round trip with L&C, the members got pretty hungry, ate lots of Indian dogs, but not Seaman.

 

[LeeRoy87]

Hard to generalize about Indians and dogs. From what I remember of the cultural anthropology I studied 40 years ago, many tribes (and perhaps most) regarded dogs as sacred -- living expressions of the Creator's love and benevolence. Others regarded dogs as food. A few tribes may have held both views simultaneously. Sorry I can't point to a specific source on this; it was a long time ago.

 

[Holley]

Actually, dogs were beasts of burden originally to carry small packs and the lodges before the horse. They were also good guard dogs and companions. But, they were also food. I have many pictures of the puppies being killed and then roasted. This was an honour to someone with this type meal. I understand it is still done in some comunities.

Having eaten dog, :cry:IT IS GOOD AND DOES NOT TASTE LIKE CHICKEN. :shocking:

Someone at Friendship did this many years ago.. to show his small son what use to be eaten. He was exited from camp and not allowed back in, if I remember right. :m2c: :sorry:

 

[Doc Arroyo]

From what I read (and I don't have the source in front of me), when HBC sent their brigades into California the brigades were large. Up to 50 to 75 men, many with their wives and children, 200 to 300 horses and 150 dogs. The dogs were used as beasts of burden, camp guards, garbage disposals, and in a pinch, puppy-in-a-pot.

 

[Gametracker]

Did the mountain man have dogs as a companions and for guard dogs? Were they present at rendezvous? I have read where Indians had dogs fut they were raised for a source of food. :: :redthumb:

Interesting you mention this. I just read through an account of a trip from the mountains to St. Louis by William Sublette and Black Harris in the winter of '27. They took a pack-dog with them loaded with 50 lbs. of provisions. Unfortunately, the dog eventually became provisions, in a rather disturbing way, after suffering starvation. Harris, being weak from hunger, hit the dog in the head with an ax, stabbed it, and pushed it in the fire, but it kept yelping and wouldn't die. Disgusted, Sublette finally successfully bashed its skull in with his ax. :cry:

 

[Ridge]

Lewis and Clark traded salmon for dog meat from the Mandans I believe.

I'd eat a dog if I didn't have to meet it first.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Never name anything you might have to eat.

 

[dlemaster]

Simon Kenton told of a couple of dogs he had in Kentucky that not only were companions and hunters but would warn him if indians were close by. Both dogs chased a buffalo out onto the frozen surface of the Licking River and they broke through the ice and all were lost. He also said he sorely missed them.

Regards, Dave

 

[longshot47]

Obscure fact.[?]
I seem to recall readin somewhere that Kenton is credited with originating [developing] a specific breed of huntin dog which is still popular today. Can't recall which breed?? Guess it wer'nt them what went thru the ice?
...Longshot

 

Most of the time one of the requirements for joining a group of longhunters was that you had to have a good dog.

Thomas Walker, on his exploration journey through the Cumberland Gap, had several dogs with the party. One, named Tumbler, was bitten and killed by a rattlesnake (Horses were bitten several times and survived).

The Plott family entered North America during the 1750 and brought their boar hounds from Germany. These Plott hounds have survived until today as the least polluted strain of dogs in the nation (do a google).

You can own a hound that is almost identical to the ones that lopped along beside the horses of the longhunters.

They also used dogs known as feists, large and small, for hunting small game.

The Beagle is one of the oldest breeds of hound, but was not brought to the US untill the late 1800s.


A couple of years back I ran into someone that was into the revival of the Native American Dog, which I thought was a neat attempt since no known survivors of the Native heritage exist, so how would you breed them. I found their efforts at "reengeneering" the strain had consisted of interbreeding a group of mutts with coyote stock and frosting off these coyodogs off on the public as purebread Indian dogs.

Those might be good eating!

:m2c:

 

[Claude Mathis]

Plott Hound

 

In the early days of Fort Nashboro, on the Cumberland River, the men were lured into a massave ambush by around 250 Indians. The attack occurred wintin sight of the fort at the place where Church Street crosses Third Ave. (for any of you that live near the area or go to the Wild Horse Saloon nearby).

The men were sorrounded and outnumbered, almost all of them wounded, with death certain and no one left to defend the fort.

Charlotte Robinson oppened the gates and let the pack of hounds the settlers kept out to attack the Indians.

Imagine about fifty of those brindle demons charging down on you at full speed!

The settlemant was saved by a pack of honds.

:RO:

 

[Gary]

The Spaniards used dogs to track and run down the natives. Royal American Henry Bouquet picked up on this and recommended that measure too to root the natives from the hidden forest. At Freeland Station (April 2, 1781), when a party of frontiersmen rushed out and were ambushed, they returned to the safety of the fort because the fort let loose their dogs which provided the needed distraction.